If at all possible, owner financing is your best bet; Just be sure to keep copies of your payments and expenses made in order to secure a conventional re-financing down the road.

Richin-sur-ance (in' shOo rəns), 1. n. a widespread legal form of gambling where the 'house' may raise antes in response to excessive pay outs and/or utilize several forms of double-speak and legal-eze to welch on the 'bet' altogether.

You bet it's regulated!

So it just goes in my trash.Face to face will always be the best bet.

I also add columns to keep track of how many times I've mailed them, if they've contacted me, and any notes I might want to enter.

He said all bets are off.

I'm betting it is vinyl - though the house is old enough there could be a linoleum layer under there somewhere.  

Assuming your home only needs basic spit and polish (paint, carpets, a quick landscaping job, etc)  I know some people on this site might bristle at the suggestion but your best bet might be to find a listing agent willing to spend some money up front on those things (to be paid back along with selling commission) in hopes of getting the  home to sell for substantially more.  

Funny thing...when I saw you are from Philly the song from Fresh Prince of Belair came into my head....bet your singing it now too!

My feeling is that if you have a 20-30yr time-frame you are likely taking larger risks/speculating by betting on markets where initial cash flow is high but the market could see both property price depreciation (in real terms) going hand in hand with rents not keeping pace with cost inflation.