Actually, yes, it is.
And this is more than "hello"; it's not only getting a good enough handle on the game to understand that you need an estate to have an income, but also getting up enough courage to not only talk to these people you don't know, but ask them for something relatively serious.
Frankly, DamnTaffer, BattleMaster can use more players even if they aren't the chatty type. If everyone in the game were as talkative as you or I, sure, we'd have a lot more interactions—but the chances are, we'd also have a lot more discontent, since talkative players also tend to be players who want positions for their characters, and you start running into a "too many chiefs, not enough Indians" type of problem.
I agree with this. I'm not really shy, but still feel at a loss with some aspects of the game. Especially the interaction aspect. It's easier to join, learn, see what's expected and what the culture is like before becoming talkative. That way, maybe I'll make less of a fool of myself? I've already received comments in chat (unflattering ones) about my grasp on the game. (Actually it was two and five days after I had started playing) It feels a little like a wall I need to climb to get in the 'in' group or a bit like getting in the ocean for a swim - cold and do I ease in or take the plunge? You say you want new players but this is not always the case. Each experience will vary of course and mine has been a mixture of positives and negatives. The culture is geared to the experienced players. I am enjoying playing or I wouldn't be, but you as a community could do so much more to help and encourage us newbies.
However expecting me to choose a family estate on joining and assuming I have all the facts and the understanding to be happy with my choice is rather silly. I still couldn't make a wise choice in that now. I get that politics have evolved over years (in game and out) and that I need to play a while and get involved to feel comfortable. But still I feel at sea after so many months of playing. I may have some of the basics and I do have a player (players) teaching and explaining to me. (Without him I would have quit by now) So in all I think this suggestion is beside the point and perhaps instead you can look for other suggestions to make the new players experience more comfortable.
More populated area might be useful or more active players in the area also, but the majority of players don't seem keen to help new players so maybe that should be the focus? Impossible to program of course. Having said that, is the estate so important? One can roleplay around what one wants as family estate? The location of my family estate is not near my active character or those I interact and learn from, but near my first character that I randomly placed as I like the sound of the name.