Throw in some pointy pieces of white-painted wood and you've got the American dream. 

Give it to some foundation that will put my name on a piece of granite where birds can crap and kids can parkour?

Yes Richard Smith Enterprises LLC he or she is lying piece of ****.

Once piece of advice, just buy their raw csv data for the past 12 months sort it yourself so it's usable/meaningful.  

The basic scenario runs like this:  seller gets a marketing piece, or goes to your website, or whatever, then speaks to you after passing through all the hoops set up to weed out the unmotivated.  

I feel like I'm missing some piece of the puzzle, but I just don't know what it is.

Unless you are well capitalized and don't need participation from lenders, then seed capital is the critical piece of the equation to get things going. 

I already have my list of subs and suppliers that I've dealt with for years, so the construction piece is taken care of.  

I also purchased a few pieces of land through a tax deed sale, using profits to purchase a 4-plex I held for a couple years.

I'm not sure how often other investors mail out pieces but I like to take a two step approach.