Would it be worthwhile to hire a realtor and sell as is and get a better offer and give the owner the 177k, minus commission fee (Realtor) and pocket the difference ??  

But I know if i hire a property manager it will take money out of my pocket.

Daniel,have to know how the numbers break up, as Kevin was saying, did you include management, electric, gas, lawn care, leasing fees, water and sewer. if you do not hire a property manager are you taking care of managing the property yourself ?

You actually are considering hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit only to drag some poor schlep before a judge thinking the judge is going to tell him to write a check for $50K just so you can buy a house at a bargain? 

This may be a simple matter of hiring them as your trustee, which you'll need anyway.Of course your situation begs the question, why are you in this fix?

Regardless no way you pay that much unless you hire a union company like Allendorfer. 

In MA many go back to the early 1800's.As I said, not sure how it works in CA but I think that is an overview of what you want to accomplish.One can also hire a title examiner/title chaser/title company to do this work for you.

However, since you're not an expert in selling, hire an expert for this area (aka real estate agent)!

I hired a contractor who used a horizontal bore to run the new line right up into the same spot as the original.

You may choose to hire an interior designer, or perhaps seek out talent at the local interior design school.