I will not live in property during rehab period.

Buy lists of targeted groups and send postcards periodically.  

His typical rental period is 1-2 months, and he gets roughly double the monthly rate of a standard year long renter.  

There is one that is a condominium building that is being marketed to investors, they guarantee you a tenant for a period of time and offer certain property management services.

I understand about coming to terms with price, terms, and time period.

Is it even possible for the court to refund the auction because the CT has not been provided yet and still in redemption period?

They allow a free demo period but the system does cost around $97/month.

And remember the earnest money is cashiers check upfront, you don't close, it's gone, period.

Periodically he has seen that others have written about the same problem - but how were they overcome?

I think I fell victim to the former on my last offer because it was a HUD property going for an asking price of $300k and the realtor told me it went for $360k (It was owner occupant bid period so presumably investors couldn't bid, and it went for a price that doesn't justify a rental- someone probably fell in love with it and wanted to live in it and pay 60k over the asking price although Idk why bc the property needed around 35k in repairs).