Inside the envelope, I write a few short sentences with my name and contact info.

If I were looking for housing via Craigslist I would be very wary of any of those two-sentence ads you see with no photos and poor grammar.With all that said, dropping the price down to $1195 isn't a bad move necessarily, but if I were in your shoes I wouldn't feel in a rush to do so just yet.

Specifically, the last couple sentences. 

Simple sentences.

For cold calls/door knocking, I've heard that we get about 10-15 seconds (couple sentences) with a distressed homeowner (NOD, NOS, 60/90 day late) to avoid a flat rejection and get  them to continue talk.I'd like to hear what initial opening lines people here think work best to get the lead to open up and talk about their situation. 

One sentence in your posts worries me - "Newer construction apartments down the street rent for more like $1,400."  

To clarify that last sentence I would rather have a 100k property that rents at $1200-$1700 per month than a 20k property that rents for $410 even if the ROI is less.  

As my opening sentence probably lets on I am a relatively new in regards to real estate investment.I am originally from Santa Monica, California and I am a technical writer by day.My goals in real estate is to assemble a portfolio of 100 properties.

Anthony -Other than a few sentences added to the conversation, there is no different "script".Usually when I arrive at the house, the first thing they do is bring up either that it has taken them a long time to get the house cleaned out or 2) which is much more likely; they say I'm really sorry the house has so much stuff in it .

The difference in you and I isn't real estate experience - it's I've spent time digging in, talking with, visiting with, meeting partners of and seeing "green newbies" make money with the man and you have not.Appreciate the new word though - "gauche" I'm going to memorize it and put it in a sentence :)I think a good approach to these scenarios is a response like "Hey BP - Mike is very inspiring with these articles but we have had scam artists on BP many time so make sure you do your homework."