Having trouble making offers, please help

[Martin S.]

I have 2 markets that I am desperately interested in. North Carolina, and Florida. I'm in NYC. I want rental houses that I would actually live in. I mostly look at mls, dont know how to find wholesalers, and could potentially find deals on auctions. But I cant get the realtors to submit my offers. I just contacted a realtor over the phone (listing agent) to make an offer 15% under ask price, which is a reasonable offer based on recent sales. I just pretty much told them I want to make an offer and they told me another agent will call and nothing happened. I'm sure this is going to be a dead end and they wont call me. How do I make offers on homes listed on mls/zillow?