So here is whats going on. There is an apartment complex in Missoula MT with about 30 or so units with a mix of 1 and 2 bed rooms in a great location. I called management to ask if there were any available units to rent. To no surprise there was an active waiting list from dozens of other people which spanned back 9 months. 

Im not seriously considering purchasing this property but it got me thinking.

The apartment it self is run down, beat up, and outdated. It smells like cat urine and its an eye sore compared to the surrounding buildings. The owner(s) dont have the property listed for sale and why should they? Its fully occupied with a 9 month waiting list of eager tenants just ready to jump at the next empty unit. 

If I was going to offer to buy this apartment from owners that have no interest in selling it, how would I or someone else do so? Its not like it can just call up and say "hey your sitting on a diamond incrusted gold mine. Let me buy it from you for the price that it looks and smells like then rehab it and make a huge profit renting it out".

How do you offer to buy a rental property thats run down and not for sale without sounding like a jerk? Not that im trying to be a jerk but the place has huge potential that the current owner is not capatalizing on. 

Unrelated: if there are any construction companies out there reading this. Missoula MT NEEDS affordable apartment accomodations. The student population here is starving to find a place and end up having to rent entire homes because of the lack of apartment units available. You would make a killing building a new apartment complex here. There was actually a front page article in the local news paper a fewish days ago talking about how bad of a shortage there is for apartments here.