Many others we attempted to negotiate fell through & we didn't pursue them.

Then attempting to house hack into another multi family to get access to the FHA low down payment benefit again?

It seems like attempting to make contact with the owners during preforeclosure may be the best way to save the largest amount of money, is this correct?

JD is an electrician by trade, along with many other talents; I'm the painter, tiler and a few other tricks so this is our attempt to volunteer some of our free time.

I think, after all of this solid advice, I am going to move forward with attempting to split electric and water. 

You might be able to make reviews more valuable by providing a specific format (e.g. questions with responses on a likert scale - strongly disagree to strongly agree) with only a small number of characters permitted for free text responses.I second @Bob Floss II's comment that it may be useful to require that reviews come only from members with a certain amount of BP credibility (posts, votes etc). 

I house hacked 1 property in Guttenberg (two blocks in between West New York and North Bergen off of Blvd East) and have attempted to do it with a second one.

It is a B- or C neighborhood and building.Ask price is $159,900.Been listed for 2 years.I will be attempting 100% no recourse financing or 96.5% through a HUD program, or FHA, USDA, etc.I would appreciate advice regarding my offer and strategy.

Suggesting this because I’m afraid you have trained them to disregard your notices and attempts.

They'll foreclose long before they'll accept a short-sale.Regarding sub-to, I would urge you not to attempt one without basic training and also excellent paperwork.