Obviously, cold calling these folks you will get a variety of responses.

The owner would get the house back and the private lender would be left out in the cold.

If @Bill Gulley wants to refer to me as a student I guess I can live with that but he has to buy the first ice cold beer at class meetups.  

Will the PTAC unit in the living room adequately heat and cool the whole house or if I close doors will it be too hot or cold??

I don't know how it is up there in Rochester, but down here in NYC and LI, evictions starting once the cold weather hits are a pain.

I would probably cold call them... use whitepages.com... or some of the other background check websites to find contact information.The key when you get them on the phone is to find their motivation... perhaps they need money and would sell... perhaps they are struggling to find a deal and you can put them on your buyer list.By all means, mail them as well.

Go half and half on marketing - you handle the cold calling and in effect are an assistant in the office.

The Real Estate Investment Map Out : *Generating Leads : Direct Mail, cold calling, online advertisement, Driving for Dollars, For sale by owner, distressed houses / vacant.

The key is to .have cold hard cash in your bank that is not borrowed anything less is not really a true BRRRR deal.

I also started cold calling every property manager around the Boston area for any off market deals.