This was Virginia, so not very cold, but right around New Year's we had some pretty cold weather.

I was thinking of either sending handwritten letters to local dev firms, cold calling or emailing.

You would be hard pressed to find another investment vehicle that can provide the risk adjusted returns that real estate can provide.

It's darn cold outside and no matter how much people tell you they only smoke outside, when it's below zero and you have to have cigarette it's going to be very hard to go outside to curb that appetite.Know this, smoking is not a protected class.

Cold weather damage to pipes.

It was easy to get homes under contracts, via cold calls, bandit signs and referrals.

As I mentioned, there are a number of very similar houses for rent in the same neighborhood, and I believe that the cold weather is keeping people away.  

Be it money lost in time or cold hard cash just like Jay Hinrichs mentioned in a comment above.So my poll has proven itself to be valid ;)Without going into to much more philosophy I'd just like to say that some disagreeing with my post is awesome especially since I started this one.Their comments entertain the audience and bump up my post to the top of the thread.My name get's seen more often and so does that of my business.I have received 7 colleague requests and 5 messages along with numerous inquiries through our companies website with the last 24hrs heheSo by all means, please keep disagreeing with every single one of my posts.I suggest putting my name "Engelo Rumora" in your keyword alert and whenever I post something, just disagree with it please heheMuch success

hey joel, i imagine driving in the winter is a drag. somewhere warmer is understandable (but in fact i just moved to the PDX area and think it's great). you're looking at TX, FL, AZ and CA... if you REALLY want to minimize the cold season that's about it. keep in mind that the sacramento area is not coastal CA, and thus is much less $$ than the big-ticket places. and i'd say wherever you look, there's a site called city-data which, while not a real estate site, offers GREAT insight into specific neighborhoods via the forums. local knowledge can't be beat. also, wikipedia gives a decent overview of nearly every town in america. best of luck!

I have see construction companies fantasize about this stuff, they see it as constant work for their guys in the cold months, they do the construction and leave.