, that's just the hook to get the conversation started, ask them about the property, condition, motivation, etc.

We get more calls with handwritten, but it's usually from people really not motivated to sell and are more curious.

Are you talking about permanent movers, or those on vacations of some sort, or people who are temporarily to be housed due to an emergency and then intend to move back to their old stomping grounds?

Just looking for someone I can learn from and shadow, sort of like a mentor figure.

I can see where a lot of supply would temporarily disappear if they rent instead of sell ... still a motivated seller, so those units are likely to hit the market in the future.  

Cold outreach is all about volume because you are trying to find the 0.5% of sellers who are motivated to sell.If you are looking for leads of sellers who are already looking to sell, you are better off doing inbound marketing such as SEO or PPC, or buying leads from companies that run their own PPC campaigns, which are called PPL (Pay Per Lead).For PPL, I would recommend https://propertyleads.com/

I've got sort of tall ceilings.

The motivation is great, but I disagree with most of the advice here because at 20 years old, it's pretty silly to say "I don’t want to be chained down by the 9-5".

That sort of stuff....I just don't know that you can find a GC that is going to run a full labor only cost on a ground up new build. 

Everyone has their own motivation.