I will start investigating starting an LLC, it will be in TX, I heard they are pretty business/landlord friendly.

Do the walkthrus with your "free" quoters, once you get the bids and you've investigated and have made a final decision, don't sign any contract before materials are listed, how long before job completion and include in their contract NOTHING is DONE without discussion with you and you get a change order or any changes! 

I would contact the officer in charge of the Narcotics Investigation for advice as well. 

This is an area that can be investigated throughly in most home purchases, but the tax sales just usually do not allow us enough time for our due diligence to get that intense even if we were to think about it.

Now most of us don't have to be as thorough as him (he was hunted by Spanish authorities for a while), but there is a lot of good info about keeping your home address hidden, how some private investigators found seemingly impossibly hidden people, and horror stories about people who didn't take some basic precautions.

My plan is to fully investigate what happened to the extent of my ability and then negotiate something out of next months rent or some other payment.

One thing I'd note from investigating student rentals is that a lot of leases start in August but get signed in April for the upcoming school year.

Be sure to investigate this further.

From experience, the WSJ does not spend enough time investigating their sources and their younger staff is seeking a scoop that will increase their reader following.

I'd investigate that first.