Buying Off market homes for flipping

[Steven Alspach]

Anyone have experience direct mailing/contacting a home owner to make an offer even if its not on the market? I see a lot of run-down homes that have a lot of potential as a flip but are not on the market. I know someone who does direct mailed offers for land (he usually offers 40% of market value for the land, hoping to catch that 1 fish who wants to just get rid of a plot they inherited or never cared much about.....and it works). Wondering if anyone has applied a similar method to occupied, run-down homes and if it has worked.