In this age of Internet and public records and ease of access, It's very difficult to stay off the radar.Everybody leaves a digital footprint somewhere.Here are some basic tools I use to find people.Free first:Whitepages/anywho/zabasearch/Google is the most underrated tool to finding a person.  

Great man, I appreciate this info and it definitely makes me feel a bit more at ease about the situation. 

It does matter because it's an extra potential factor of motivation -- tired landlord, vacation renal that's not performing, vacation rental that the owners have decided they won't be using again, property that's too expensive to repair, etc.A list of 800 should be find for a decent marketing campaign, especially if you plan to use multiple touches.As far as "what chance do you think they will be motivated to sell given an appreciating market and relative ease of managing a rental".... stop that thought process.

In todays digital arena I can append a telephone number and email address to a property location with ease.

Sift through enough of then and you will find one motivated enough to trade their equity for the speed and ease of transaction.There are also sites like webuyhouses.com.

The other thing I love is the ease of tweaking the campaigns...

And to really ease your mind, familiarize yourself on how to raise all the private money for Self Storage that you'll ever need.  

Using cash to get a cash discount and or a negotiating edge due to ease of closing and the fickle lenders and associated appraiser issues melts away.  

I like LLCs better for my passive commercial holds only, personally.My reasons for having the mgt corp were for anonymity (it has a very generic name) to pay rents to, credibility (new applicants are more ok giving my corp holding monies), having a 'bad guy' I have to check with for tenant requests, ease of p&l/bookkeeping, 1 place to receive all 1099s for HUD and agency pays, one mileage platform to record on (not every property), retirement account options, a way to obtain health insurance if needed, etc.  

Because I'm a business owner with complicated Schedule C and E income, I like going local because it's less hassle for me and I'd gladly pay higher rates for the ease of doing business with, as some others have said.