During the cold months I also pay for the heat as it does both sides of the duplex and can’t be separated.

You can do some sourcing yourself through facebook groups, wholesaler email list and and even picking up the phone and cold calling some home owners that may be tired landlords, doesn't owe anything and has built up some equity.With enough volume you should come across some solid deals that are worth closing on by the end of the year as you planned. 

and are all you wholesaler's cold calling?

Broken appliances, missing basics like a cork screw, no artwork on the walls and cold, ratty furniture that was clearly second-hand, noisy neighbors, and more.

I have yet to have a conversation with a seller but I will keep continuing to mail and will also cold call.

Also id love to hear from you whats not working or what your struggling with .For me, hiring a few Vas to cold call has been paying off, text messaging is doing decent. 

I drive for dollars and cold call and hit all the local networking events.

A good investor agent can find deals for you, you can cold call, drive around, and scour city data.

Are meters for hot water lines more expensive than for cold lines?  

This is for someone with zero RE investing experience and has only bought 1 house so far that had 2 other investors and RE agent helping so they would have a learning curve on spotting deals that would turn a cold call into a viable lead to sell and learning about contracts.