When I tried to cancel at the end of the month I received a great deal of push back (they were trying to charge me for a full membership) and it got pretty ugly. 

I have found www.corporatehousingbyowner.com to be excellent. 

I signed on with Real Estate Federal's lead service in December 2017, and as of now (Mar 3 2018) I have received no leads whatsoever for my $1950 initial investment with them.

So if I reduce the expenses to get the property cash flowing I will get penalized by the HUD who I am told will account for these reduced expenses thus reducing the Section 8 subsidies I receive, possibly cutting rental income by about 70% !!

Other than that, you could look into receiving financing from hard money lenders, banks, other people's self-directed IRAs and 401ks (as long as you are not a disqualifed person), or partner with others.

Do they receive the difference in sale price once the foreclosure auction/REO sale goes through?

I decided on Charlotte after conducting a ton of research on the top markets in the US, and taking a variety of factors into consideration:Home ValuesAverage Rent / Income ratiosUnemployment RatesCrimePopulationEconomic GrowthNet Migrationand most importantly, where we'll be happyI started out with Bigger Pockets own excellent 2017 Market Analysis, and added my own numbers to help me give more weight to the factors I felt were most important.

They are all great condos in newer buildings and excellent locations in the Belltown neighborhood.  

You may also elect to take 50% bonus depreciation which will give you around $450K in the first year (according to the estimate you received), or you can do the regular accelerated depreciation, which can still give you a large deduction in the first year. 

This is in respect of an unsolicited bid received by the broker from a single party.