Off Market House Hunting Strategies

[Jeffery Neal]

My wife and I have decided to house hack for our first investment property. We have settled on a neighborhood in Clayton near St. Louis, MO. The area we selected is a nicer area due to the fact that we will be living in one of the units. With that said we have been watching the area and none of the properties have shown up on the MLS (or to rent for that matter). So we have decided to try a targeted mail campaign for our first investment property. Which mean we know very little about what it takes to get some one to respond to our letters.

I have done a property search of the area and the majority of the properties come back to and LLC or a trust, so I am assuming that most of the people I will be sending my letters to are investors. I have been able to get the owners address from these records but I am having trouble writing the letter. I have search the intra-blogis-sphere for example letters to send and haven't had much luck.

So here are my questions: 

Does anyone have an example letter directed to investors that own small multifamily properties that they would be willing to share? Or tips of what I should include in the letter?

Should I have a Lawyer look over my letter? (probably just paranoid) 

What are the opinions and experiences that people have about targeted mailing campaigns for small multi-family properties?

Is there a way to find their phone number with any kind of certainty? Bad idea? maybe.  

Would it be better to start talking to property managers and if I find one that manages one of the property have them reach out to the owner? Would they even do that? 

Do you have a Multi-Family property for sale in the Demun neighborhood of Clayton? JK.. but seriously?

Many other questions but I probably should stop.  lol