My husband and I have been renting since we moved back to California last July because we were living in a new area and wanted to get a feel for the neighborhoods before purchasing. We recently decided which neighborhood we wanted to live in and so I hand-wrote personal notes to the owners of the 17 homes that are not owner-occupied (using the owner's mailing addresses as opposed to the property addresses). One day after mailing them, I received 2 phone calls from owners. One wanted to sell, one to rent (he was looking to replace his current tenant with a higher-paying, multi-year tenant). Two days later, I got another call from a third owner, also wanting to sell. Four days later, I got a call from a fourth owner, also wanted to sell and expressing amazement at the timing of my letter because they had just that week decided that they would not be moving back to the Bay Area and would be selling the home they had been holding on to for that eventuality.

So, we've now toured the one house of the owner who had a reasonable approach to selling it (the other two had purchased near the top of the market and wanted prices above what they had paid at the peak!). It's a lovely home and we're thinking about how to craft an offer that might be appealing to the seller. Stay tuned for the next chapter...