I want to contact the owners of tax deeds /pre foreclosure before they hit the auction block.

It's doable as a market to do what you want, but you must understand the block dynamics if you are going for Chicago proper.

Do you have a concrete or wood subfloor? 

How can I unsub or block these annoying emails?

If you can find a very similar property (properties) within a few blocks that is golden....but you will find that often there will be few, or sometimes none, within a close proximity.This is when your talent will come into play.

(This is just an example, and not concrete.)We'd send them more customers and hopefully they would also be able to edit our videos for us too. 

I guess the road block is just finding the deals and some confidence/experience.

A concrete yard in full in TX seems hot.

Experienced Detroit investors all know an investment should be done with a block-by-block strategy.

I'm also charging less than Rentometer suggests I should.There are a few equally nice units a few blocks away that charge comparable rent.