I simply raise them as 'potential' waters to fish in.

its old as the hills.. nothing special here.if you ever read hunting and fishing mag you see cheap land advertised at the back of the mag.. same thing.there are millions upon millions of these types of parcels.. throughout the west.. and of course florida etc etc.the trick is finding the buyer...

I suspect that this will automatically arouse suspicion that I'm fishing for listings, which couldn't be further from the truth.My initial thought was to send out yellow letter/postcards saying that I was looking for a primary residence - this was so that people wouldn't think I was just going to submit a lowball offer as an investor but that I had a vested interest in the property.  

Would you go fish without knowing what you're fishing for and what the appropriate bait would be? 

Saw these all over Vagas and always had the thought "These guys are bottom fishing" - - but that's just me.If you get business with them, more power to you :)

But all the previous months, of course you can.Here's how.Lets say the tenant paid 1k in rent and was late in january by two weeks and you charge them $50 for the late fee.Then in february, they are late again and only pay 1k again.They don't get to apply that 1k toward feb and tell you to go fish for jan late fee. 

I love fishing, muscle cars, camping, and all wildlife recreational activities.

It's reasonable to assume the seller will now 'mystically' know your max purchasing power, which typically isn't something you want a seller to know.That being said, if you're writing offers from Georgia in the SF Bay Area, no one is going to trust a lender from out there, especially if it's a national big bank lender, and especially if the sellers are fishing for an all cash offer.

You started with wholesaling, which sounds to me like fishing out deals and selling to investors, so if you like the idea of fishing out deals then perhaps you can flip, and if you like the idea of selling perhaps you can become an REA?

Thanks @Matt Fish, made an offer that was accepted this past Friday.