She has an excellent tenant profile, but private rental home inventory is low at holiday time.QUESTIONS:Would it be too much to1. locate the owner's email or phone number and then contact them?

For your due diligence, you can also ask to see the tenant's original application and screening reports. 

TLDR: Pre-approval seems like a good thing but it can lead to lost bookings or a time sink (has anyone spent less than 20-30 minutes on the phone with VRBO trying to fix something??).

Willing to chat more over the phone or Zoom if you’re interested. 

I talked to numerous California investors in real life and phone/Zoom calls who have lost money in far away OOS markets, mostly Midwest markets (e.g. repairs, capital expenses, bad tenants, properties vandalized while under renovation, evicted tenant stole all the appliances, property managers with high fees or overcharging for repairs).

Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of the screen and look for local investors or meetups in your area.

If real estate traded on a screen, this may be a good strategy.

Review the quality of the tenant base (do they have a history of paying on time, what were the original screening criteria, do they have applications on file).

I had already had a great phone conversation with Bob Dreher and am on their investor list.

I've acted as a "deal warning person" to many new California and a few NYC investors who I've talked to in person, Zoom, and phone calls who want to buy the Midwest or South because the price points are lower.