I plan on driving alot to find distressed or run down multifamily properties that possibly are owned by an out of state investor and reaching out however would like everyone's opinion or personal experience on some other creative ways.

i think you can be successful if you are willing to do what you alluded to, which is spend time in person in your chosen market. 

You can find something in Durham and parts of Raleigh, specifically zips 27610, 27603, and parts of 27604 that would meet your criteria, however generally speaking most of the inventory that would fit what you are looking for in Raleigh or Durham would likely be in neighborhoods that I personally wouldn't want to invest in, C- to D type neighborhoods.

Suddenly realizing that what you don’t know can hurt you a lot.

When was the last time my coach/mentor/instructor personally closed a deal? 

Personally, my favorite way of sourcing deals is building relationships with brokers and nurturing those relationships by checking in consistently.

Because personal growth and financial stability sounded like a better combo than Netflix and takeout.

Quite the opposite - I invest my personal money as just one more member, in each investment we end up doing as a club. 

I personally had two encounters with Zach.

I have about 100k in assets both personal and business I could sell, but part of me thinks that’s extreme and I’ll sell “myself” along the way with all my stuff.