If you really wanted to learn about an area from the sidewalk up, you could get a new Prius and sign up to drive for Uber...the other way is to not depend on the "Pros" out there and just learn how to use Zillow.com.

And end user show up all the time at the auction looking to buy a house and either show up late or are not ready to bid on the house they want due to not having the correct cashiers checks or signed up with an auction company.

I'm in Livonia / Canton area and I haven't attended any Washtenaw County or Ann Arbor REIA events but I do attend the Oakland County REAI meeting in Troy as well as the Michigan REIA meetings in Troy and they are super helpful and if you sign up to get their emails you can check the topics in advance to make sure it's worth the trip for that meeting.They usually have really good speakers. 

Best way to stop this in future is to not pay upfront and get signed lien waivers.

In my opinion Option 1 could be a bit risky in today's environment as we are not sure if prices have hit the bottom yet, there are positive signs in the CoS market that point to price appreciation in the future, but there is a good chance the interest rates are not coming down for a while, which will have a negative impact on home values. 

Many lenders have private money brokers who have signed up with them.

We have all the no trespassing signs.

I've noticed vacation rental signs here in Newport Beach where I surf, indicating that short-term rentals are allowed.

BBL has very strict STR guidelines, if your Max Occ sign doesn't match what they have on record, according to the County Assessor, you may have code enforcement come calling.

You should be transparent will sellers because doing otherwise could be illegal (if you have insane person sign a contract to sell a house for $1, or mislead and lie to seller about their property value in order get a contract you could be liable for fraud.