Pre-Foreclosure with Negative Equity - Zillow Real Estate Advice

I've spent a month on the market, looking at homes and haven't found the right one in my price range, so I'm beginning to entertain foreclosures.

It seems like there are 25x more pre-foreclosures than actual auctions...many of which have negative equity.? My question is, wouldn't negative equity force that property into short sale if it reached major default?? Obviously I'm not going to pay over market value to erase their debt...do banks sometimes forgive debt in pre-foreclosure sales, or should I limit my search to those without a huge negative equity?

Thanks!

Source: http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/Pre-Foreclosure-with-Negative-Equity/459374/

49ers game ravens ray lewis steven tyler national anthem paterno newt gingrich joe paterno dead