As part of punitive actions by a court a lender can lose their creditor's position, the loss of all amounts owing as well as fines or other penalties available to the court. 

$5k is probably within the limit of small claims court.  

I now have to wait until the 23rd for the court date if he decides to stay.The real problem I'm having with that is the renter is moving out on the tenth(lost his job) and is having all the utilities cut off.

I just looked those up... the mortgage states are the ones where the lenders had to go through the courts to do foreclosures a few years back and that was all over the news about how the courts were backed up with that.

Anyways, in our case we felt that a court would see all this as his intention to vacate, so we cleaned up the apartment and moved on.  

If the court then rules in the landlord's favor, the landlord may collect up to three months' rent or three times the actual damages, whichever is greater (KRS 383.695).Note: Any time the Act requires that notice be given either to the landlord or tenant, the notice should be in writing and a record of all correspondence should be kept.

The leverage you use is that if they fail to execute this agreement then you can sue them in small claims court for lost rent and utility costs while you are attempting to re-rent the property (You have to make an honest attempt at re-renting-it would be a grey area to offer it for rent and for sale at the same time).

I'm trying to work primarily in the Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Wellington areas and while there are deals, they go quickly even with tight numbers.

Make sure wherever you're running the credits provides specific details about credit accounts, education loans, defaults, housing court history etc.    

You can pay off their loan... whatever is owed plus trustee and court costs (if applicable).