Cold Emailing to buy a property that's not listed for sale?

[Andrew Bissada]

If you found a property that is not listed on the MLS, and is not listed anywhere for sale(its listed for rent), but you thought it might have potential and wanted to look further into it, would you:

1. Take your time, rent/live in the unit to get an in-depth feel of whether you like it or not

Pros: The obvious, you understand the property better. Its not for sale so you are less likely to have to worry about it going "off the market in a few days"

Cons: If you wait to ask, you may have wasted time to only find out they are not even willing to sell. 

2. Immediately contact them to see if they would be interested in selling

NOTE: Assume you found this place because you are looking at places to live in since your current apartment lease is ending soon, and this was originally thought of a backup plan if you did not find a property to buy/live in before your lease ends.

If you tell them that you want to buy, I suppose this could still be used as a backup plan for a place to live even if they said no.

Also, how would you approach the email? Would you be straightforward and tell them the entire story? If so, they might just say no to selling, because they would rather have you as a tenant. Or would you just do option #2 and say something like "I am actually in the market to purchase a xyz type of home to live in, and was wondering if you would be open to the possibility of selling yours?"

Thoughts?