I few things I do:-as a girl, I wear a nice-fitting golf shirt, pants, and running shoes (in case I need to run...seriously)-I go Saturday or Sundays during the day-stand at a 45 degree angle from the door, so if they see you through the window, you don't look intimidating. 

Put your self in their shoes,The first step is for you to find out what is their expectations: (examples)Tell me about the property?

Hey, I was I your shoes a few months ago.

Nice car ,           I had the car discussion with my wife , when she moved in with me I carried boxes of shoes , a boat load of them .

I put myself in the seller's shoes and can't imagine doing anything but throwing those cards straight into the trash can.

And, the sales process justifies them saying they sold it, the lady in the shoe store sold the shoes to the customer even though they didn't own the shoes that were sold as sales are her job, duty and function.

BUT, which of the above ideas make sense if you were in my shoes?

So in your case, 1000 letters would cost me about $554 from purchase to mailing.To me it makes sense to do it myself, as I am working on a "shoe-string" budget.

If you buy shoes at Walmart, you might think all shoes are bad.

I remember writing my first yellow letter campaign from scratch. 250 letters and and about 15 hours later I wanted to cry..haha.If you are really on that shoe string budget, then keep doing what you're doing.