Is this a good idea or should I press for gas heating?

There's nothing wrong per se with cold calling - - you might just catch the owner when they've made a decision to sell but not yet signed an agent contract. 

First the tenants were improperly using the trash compactor to “see what would happen” if they threw a bike or cinder block in it and pressed the start button.

Greetings everyone I've noticed there aren't many 4plexes on the MLS , so I wanted to know where can I find a List of 4family homes in Oakland county Michigan , thinking of cold calling owners to make them offers,any help would be appreciated .

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.