If you're going to send letters I'd actually prefer to make approaches in person. You could introduce yourself to the owners and indicate your interest. A face to face encounter will provide you with much more information. A letter is simply sending a message in a bottle. If it fails you have no idea why. The personal approach at least gives you a shot at understanding what's happening which then gives you opportunities to counter objections or motivate the target.

As far as getting to the next phase of possible contracts I would tend to use a buyers agent as a consultant to walk me through the first one or two. They will provide the contract docs (if the seller doesn't engage an agent themselves) and help you navigate the complexities and overcome problems.

Do the initial grunt work yourself then bring in expertise to handle the various components of a transaction. 

You should adopt a team approach to buying just as you would if taking on a conventional purchase.

I think you're jumping the gun a bit. 

Making an enquiry with someone out of the blue is a fairly common occurrence.

I would never introduce myself in writing. Too scammy. A professional approach is almost always done through a reputable agent. 

Anyone could be your agent. Your solicitor, a buyers agent, friend of a friend etc. It should be seen as legitimate or you risk not being taken seriously. You can either have an agent negotiate for you or use the agent to introduce you if the response is positive and you do the negotiating personally.

Whatever you do you must have your ducks well and truly lined up before you initiate contact. 

Haven't laughed this much in ages…

Joe I'm going to promote you from unofficial Sidekick to Gofor. Sorry but the pay grade is the same. Monies are tight and we all have to make sacrifices especially non executive Gofors. Now go get me a beer this is thirsty work.

Cheeves welcome aboard. I always luv a good debate especially with someone who has a an IQ in the double digits. 

Let me phrase the debate thus far. Nigel and Rob like FL. I couldn't care less other than to play devils advocate. I have no skin in this game at all. The current discussion is also oriented around the Aussy investor not your local cowboy so the implications are deeper. 

I have a medium to long view of markets so I tend to comment in that context. My comments are primarily focused on investing not speculating which is a whole different ball game. So to summarise I'm commenting in the context of an Aussy investor with limited skill, knowledge and resources looking to invest in a foreign market for at least 5 years and up to 20.

So lets address your first point:

I will say that your posts reflect "Rubbish" charts and spuculative 

and you refer to this chart specifically:

Charts with future projections are always problematic for most people. There's a tendency to take them literally and therefore dismiss them as unrealistic. Understanding them requires looking past the superficial data and interpreting what they're trying to convey. In this case Moody's are saying given their research they see those states and muni's as the most likely to be the last to recover and provide a projected timeline that it may or may not occur along.

2030 seems an awful long way away but in reality it's a mere 17 years. The areas indicated were probably the worst hit and given a rough average in property median price drop for FL was around the 50% mark these areas are likely to have seen worse and consequently recovering back to pre crash levels will in all likelihood take some time. If they could average 7%pa over the next 17 years they'll probably meet that projection. But hey 17 years is a long time so anything could happen.

OK next point. Your a main player as well as personally investing so I have to consider anything you say as having an element of industry bias. In saying that though you are least putting your money where your mouth is.. bravo!!

Next point: you've alluded to state initiatives and economic conditions as attractive elements to attract business, increased enquiry rates  etc etc. I've already alluded to this up tick in commercial on another post;

The market appears to have bottomed for the time being. That would be expected as sales have increased as prices have fallen. Less time on market, fewer properties on market, increasing rents etc. There now seems to be some equilibrium in the market.

You said;

Florida is an area that is in a steep recovery and by the end of the year, you'll see a plateau in my opinion.  Maybe Freckle is ignoring the alternative energy companies, and other corporate giants coming to the area.  Sure, the economy isn't solely dependent on job growth but it is the leading indicator, isn't it?

I don't necessarily agree with the idea Fl itself is in a steep recovery. There are property hotspots for sure but that makes me even more wary. By the time they've disclosed themselves the immediate opportunity has gone. They're projecting FL GDP at some where around 2 – 3% over the next 12 months. So what's driving this growth now? My analysis indicates it's a combination of states who offer better trading conditions, FED QE and hot money looking for a home. Businesses are gravitating toward economic high ground for self preservation not because they're looking to actually expand their operations as a rule. QE is now an absolutely necessity to just maintain the economy and hot money is fueling bubbles everywhere.

The problem I see with this so called recovery is that it is mainly synthetic and not organic. That lays at the heart of long term investing. So what happens when hot money slows or even stops, when QE is withdrawn (being considered at the moment). Corporate USA has shed jobs, shed inventory and is now moving to economic oasis in an economically growing desert. To me it's like playing poker on the Titanic.  It may look and feel like your winning but if(when) the ship goes down you'd better have a lifeboat ready just in case.

In other words there's absolutely nothing underpinning economies other than some CB with their fingers on the CTL+P buttons. God help us when we run out of ink.

You have the benefit of local knowledge, experience and your not a foreign national investing with foreign currency. You have a head start in chasing down the best properties. My guess is that less than 1 in 10 Aussy investors will actually do OK in the US. The vast majority will either scrape buy or cop a flogging. 90% of them don't have the smarts, knowledge, experience, resources etc  but most importantly the aggressive motivated approach to be hands on and in the the thick of it to survive. 

Sorry Cheeves but I don't own property in the US never have. I don't own property at all these days. I'm working on dying in debt if at all possible. I can't take it with me and I'm sure as hell not leaving any behind if I can help it.

The graphs suggest don't buy the southern half or in coastal regions. Insurance premiums must be a killer if you can get cover. it seems the NW quadrant is a relatively safe bet on a statistical basis anyway.

Climate Impacts in the Southeast

Over 70 million people live in the Southeast. [1] The region includes many cities with populations over 250,000, including Houston, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami, and New Orleans. [1] The region's economy includes forestry, tourism, oil and gas production, and agriculture. The Southeast also includes 29,000 miles of coastline. [2]

The region's climate is generally warm and wet, with mild and humid winters. Since 1970, average annual temperatures in the region have increased by about 2°F. [3] Winters, in particular, are getting warmer. The average number of freezing days has declined by four to seven days per year since the mid-1970s. [3] Most areas, with the exception of southern Florida, are getting wetter. Autumn precipitation has increased by 30% since 1901. The number of heavy downpours has increased in many parts of the region. [3] Despite increases in fall precipitation, the area affected by moderate and severe drought, especially in the spring and summer, has increased since the mid-1970s. [3]

Average annual temperatures in the region are projected to increase by 4 to 9°F by 2080. [3] Hurricane-related rainfall is projected to continue to increase. Precipitation in southern Florida will likely decrease. It is unclear how precipitation will change in the rest of the region. Climate models are currently inconclusive as to whether the net change will be an increase or decrease. Models do suggest that rainfall will arrive in heavier downpours with increased dry periods between storms. These changes would increase the risk of both flooding and drought. [3] The coasts will likely experience stronger hurricanes and sea level rise. Storm surge could present problems for coastal communities and ecosystems.

Again you struggle with the sub themes of this thread. Recovery as you like to proclaim as occurring within your chosen locations is a future narrative that requires a modicum of understanding. All investing requires some degree of fortune telling. 

Any future recovery has to consider future head winds. Understanding the best case worst case scenarios from whatever cause will or should enable the investor to make sound decisions with concomitant strategies to deal with extreme events.

Food water energy climate are all significant factors that affect Florida's economy YoY. It has a significant agricultural base that employs thousands; it's a transport and export hub for the southeast quadrant, tourism and climate are significant factors in its economy and to top it off that region experiences some of the worst that climate can throw it. 

So any long term investor considering the southern states economies would, if they were a serious investor, have to consider the 10 – 20 year time frame in their deliberations.

In a little over 150 years human civilisation has gone from horse drawn carts to running robot probes on mars; from 1 billion people to 7+ billion people. 

If you want to be an investor anywhere you'd better start understanding where were going as a race over the next 50 years or you'll be in for some nasty suprises. 

You've lost me?? What's the point of your incessant Florida, Texas, Orlando posts all about then. Just chit chat to pass the time of day? 

You must think we're idiots. Your motives stick out like a sore thumb. You and your associate playing forum tag all based around a pecuniary interest in your own markets. You guys bang on about nothing other than what serves your personal interests.

I could tolerate it better if I thought you two actually new what you were talking about.

Hate to shatter the illusion Joe but we haven't had the crash yet. 08GFC was just the first signs the system was breaking. We've done nothing to rectify the causes of that event. On the contrary. Things are now much more fragile and the correction when it comes will be many times more severe. If anything all 08 did was ever so slightly uncover the political, corporate and criminal fraud within the system. As we progress down the timeline more and more of this fraud is being exposed but with a political class entwined in the fraud nothing is improving. If anything it's getting worse. 

Europe sinks further into the mire month by month. The US pumps US$'s into Europe's banks trying to keep it afloat because it knows when Europe goes the US will follow shortly after. China's fiscal position is a catch 22 for them. They're only holding on by printing as fast as the US and pouring that into malinvestment that is dragging it under as well. It's QE programs are a zero sum game that will pull us into the mire as well. Japan has just got the green light from the G20 to print to infinity. 

We're in a full blown currency war as global economics conditions fail time and again to react to more QE. There is no escape now. It's just a matter of time. 

When things finally do go pear shaped for real there'll be no recovery in 15 years. I doubt the world will see a recovery in my sons (30 & 27) lifetimes let alone mine. Over the next 50 years we have to deal with population growth, food production, energy shortages and global climate distress. Even healthy economies would struggle to deal with these events individually but a distressed global economy is somehow expected to mitigate these events as if they're manageable. 

This year could see the first time ever we have no Arctic ice. It takes 1 calorie of energy to melt 1ml of ice. That same cal will raise 1 ml of water 80F. The amount of heat energy that is likely to be absorbed from the loss of snow covering is said to be of real concern. Historically 83% of global climate predictions have underestimated the outcomes. A developing consensus amongst some serious researchers is that  a 2degC is now backed in. If we stopped all industrial activity today we couldn't prevent that 2degC rise. They are now talking of a NTE. Near Term Extinction

Since 1840 the sea has lost an estimated 90% of fish stocks and is expected to collapse by 2050. 

Civilisations have spent the last 4000 years consuming the planet. None more so than recent western civilisations. We can't survive without killing our planet. It's that simple. We are nearing the end now of this earths ability to sustain a growing global population. 

The economic reset is one of many that will occur over the next 50 years. The worst will be the population reset. The most pessimistic research that this could occur within 30 years but almost certainly within 100 years. 

The only good news is that the northern hemisphere is likely to take the brunt of global warming weather events.