I've seen deals where investors accept a deal that's not so hot just to comply with the time frames. 

In other words, it's the jerk who doesn't give 24-hour notice to enter the apartment and who is renting out a dump with a broken hot water heater to a tenant with no background check that will have the most problems.Since you're local, you learn how to work with local tenants, property managers and contractors.

Thousands of STVR owners have pools and hot tubs with no financial loss via lawsuits.

A/C, hot tubs, leaks, appliances, etc.?   

It is common misconception that the limit is 10 conventional loans. so, folks will say will lets do a DSCR loan on this one to save a slot for a conventional loan.

I believe Raleigh has favorable macro-economic factors, yet is still semi-affordable compared to other hot markets such as San Diego, Denver, and Seattle. 

Have a really nice and memorable feature for guests to distract them from other things (huge tv, fire pit, hot tub, PS4) 7.

I would recommend you get way into the weeds on your due dilligence- septics, roofs, subfloors, hot water tanks, drainfields, etc. 

Honestly though I like your idea of the hand written letters if you have a few hot leads.

The only thing that you should be concerned with is how hot the market is, what the true ARV is (based on actual comps in the past 90-180 days), and how much they are asking you to pay for the deal.