However, HUD will allow for a reduction in the offer if a problem that's unknown now crops up after the offer has been accepted - I know several people (including my mother) that got some money off their HUD deal.

The issue here is you are paying an agreed price for the short sale BASED ON the property being vacated and in a certain condition at the time of possession.What the bank wants is to dump the property on you with the former homeowner still in place so you handle the problem.Depending on if you are flipping this property,renting it out,etc. you can have lost income (holding costs) and damage to the property from the home owner staying after closing.If I was doing this I would go back to the bank and give them 2 prices.One is with the property vacated and secured and one is with the former owner or tenant still in place.If you are going to take on a problem like that I would ask for a substantial reduction in price or not buy at all.The bank has to understand if they want to dump a problem it is going to cost them not to handle it and get the people out or to comply with the purchase agreement.I don't really see how an agents commission plays into this.They can't force the current owner to do anything.I think people get confused with the power they believe brokers and agents have with legal issues in a transaction.

Since the property has already been sold, and you have the proceeds of the sale in hand, I see no tax reduction strategy or tax deferral strategy here.

Will they be able to sustain a 15% to 30% reduction in gross, and still be able to maintain the properties, especially if refinancing/sales is not an option due to a credit crunch?

Keep all your price reduction negotiating tactics on the down-low until your in escrow and the inspection period is running out.  

Just include cash flow, principal reduction, and some conservative estimate of appreciation (if applicable) in your analysis and you have all the inputs 

Multi-family homes provide more cash flow, risk reduction, and economies of scale, but they need more capital and may have higher turnover.

All you get is that satisfaction, you get no money (other than a reduction in taxes owed as a result of the write-off).

It was actually a put off and the fact that it has been on the market for a bit with a price reduction of $13K shows me several indicators about this wholesaler.

The points were the high costs of the materials, the high interest rates and the difficult conditions that families have today to pay either the mortgage or the rent and we came to the conclusion that it is not the time to make any financial movement until next year 2023, taking into account the political elections this year 2022 and waiting for the reduction of interest rates by the FED, we are talking about the market in South Florida, I do not know if it applies in other states.