I am new and getting nervous about my first buy

[Jonathan Wooten]

First of all, thank you for reading.

I am 24 and I live in Chattanooga, Tennessee I have made my goals for the year ending 2017...to have one owned hack house and one investment property. I have access to 40k liquid and have spoken with hard money lenders about pursuing an interest only loan with the goal to refinance after 12 months. my problem is quite common. I am having issues finding deals. I just offered on a for sale by owner and it was shot down real quick (expected) My big question is (If you were in my shoes, how would you go about getting your first deal using creative financing? I have all the pieces lined up, but I feel like my market is tapped due to the high amounts of sellers increasing home values. should I be contacting landlords for portfolio properties, old run down houses, fsbo, or pre-foreclosures...offering to buy the owner out of their foreclosure?)

thanks so much for the input everyone!