I will have the sole and exclusive right to purchase the property at any time of my choosing for the nominal amount of $1 from the seller and whatever arrangement I might make agreeable to satisfy the relevant creditor bank's remaining debt.

"Pre-foreclosure" really only means "prior to the auction sale", not "pre-filing".That said, if there's still a hard-copy newspaper in your target area, check the legal notices, or try their on-line news website if it does not require a subscription.

I look for other online adds, newspaper adds and call local realtors and property managers, to see what rents they are getting for various properties.

*Teya; very good article in today's Pocono Record regarding Pocono rental properties.This is a very small newspaper but the story is on the front page. 

Gouging = An act of extortion or swindle Neither are exclusive to unfair competition laws, or lending, or to any large scale enterprise. 

For sale of a primary residence, most states (but not all) follow the the federal income tax Section 121 guidelines on exclusion of capital gains.  

Or online news papers?

I used to exclusively go after old listings.

It's like the person who's been married 5 times but claims it's always the spouse who had the issue, not them or their inability to spot an idiot before they marry them, over and over again.If you see some of my former posts regarding becoming an agent, I've joked many times how low the bar is to become an agent, but "low IQ" and "unethical" are not  mutually exclusive, you can be either, both or neither.  

Under that policy they list what makes up a certain percentage of their brokerage business and exclusions under the policy.