@Andy Nathan @Suzanne Player @Mike McCarthy thank you for replying and pointing out additional important questions I didn't even think of, much appreciated  

We did track all hours worked to make sure wife qualified as Re professional she is retired now so no other job to compete with.

If there are competing bidders, the person willing to accept the smallest percentage interest in the property wins the auction.

The most important player to a short sale is the actual Borrower/The Person That Defaulted.

@Jeffrey S Kowalski It's also a numbers game and is an advantage to bigger players.

Major players have planted roots here like Amazon, Google, Ford/Argo AI, Duolingo as well as dozens of smaller start-ups fueled in part by Carnegie Mellon's influence.

@Suzanne Player Those are very good links.

@Suzanne Player yes we have!

Your earnest money deposit should be held by your title company in escrow until closing or termination of the contract.The buyer has the option/right to select the title company unless it is an attorney state, in which case the buyer's attny would select who will do the title work.That being said, until you know the ropes a bit more, the earlier suggestion about speaking with a competent real estate attorney is valuable advice as per @Nicole Holcomb. 

It’s getting bad and taking down many a power player.