Cold Emailing Property Owners??

[Adam Cole]

Hello Everyone! 

I'm excited to be part of this community and I am hoping that all of you can help provide some insight into how I should approach this situation.

Quick background: 

I currently own 4 homes in Flint, MI that I rent to Kettering University students. Home location is crucial since Flint is not the safest area, therefore choosing the right area to buy in is typically known by those who attended the school. The home cost, on average, is $60k and the rent is between 1800 - 2000 per month. Needless to say I want to expand this portfolio as much as I can in order to take advantage of this ROI.

Current Dilemma: 

I have sent cold letters to the homes in an attempt to identify potential sales not available on the MLS, but to no avail. My suspicion is that the tenants toss the letters and that they aren't actually making it to the property owners. Using the property gateway for Gennessee county, I am able to find the actual names of the owners (not just the property management company). Using the name, I am able to use either Linkedin or Facebook to obtain their email addresses. I want to utilize this information and obtain deals in that area, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had success doing this.

I know that cold calling / sending letters is a big thing that a lot of aspiring property investors have utilized, but have any of you had luck with sending cold emails. If so, did you follow a particular format or just send an email letting them know you want to buy their crib?