Can I approach the seller as someone interested in buying the house, then offer to list it if they don't like my offer?

As far as agents vs. auctions, both of those routes are incredibly difficult.

People are different and not everyone has the same approach.

I've thought of looking up other properties for rent in town and asking them how long they have vacancies, but am not sure if that is a good approach (too straight-forward?).

Gary West, just another item to consider in your one-at-a-time approach, but markets and interest rates fluctuate, and while Feb 2014 probably won't be that different, waiting several years for each one may hurt your ultimate goal as right now we are still in a record low interest rate environment along with low home prices, but in 5 years, you may be looking at 8% rates or prices too high to justify buying to rent them out.

Add that on to the management fee and you're approaching 20% of your GROSS revenue going away right off the top.

Two teens and two toddlers have created some significant wear and tear on the house.My initial approach was to get a HELOC of 15 or 20k to really spruce up my house to make it fetch more at resale.

Today I much prefer the turn key/rent-ready approach (as do my clients) because they're easier, less risky, and there are so many goods deals out there.$20k is very low - even in many of the more depressed markets which I would strongly question looking at, especially for your first investment.

Sounds like you can use one of several "creative" approaches.

I suppose there is value in a mass market, or "shotgun" approach to marketing, but you'd better have a big budget for it!