The folks who are having the most success with these are door knocking, and even at that, you have to be careful.Seems like a no brainer, right?

I don't know your financial situation , however if you own a home currently as a primary residents maybe you could use a home equity line of credit as a means for emergency funding or even reserves. my advice personally would be to make sure whatever you do you prepared to stay in this business long term and not get knock down or even out on your first deal. hope this helps!

I knocked on the door the same day each week, they opened it and handed me the rent money. 

You've obviously never heard that a collapse in a marriage can have a knock on effect to other aspects of one's life.

Take a percentage of the cash flow and start to knock out the important stuff first.

Open house, social media, blogging, talking to friends and family, door knocking...

I suppose the risk is, upon buying the place, they're so far gone they'd have to be knocked down. 

One agent who is knocking down 500k plus a year but spending 600k.. 3k suits 700 dollar lofers.. new benz every 6 months.. renting a jet to go to vegas.. etc etc.and then the other extreme  successful but a money hoarder..

@Jim Goebel, Oftentimes the contractor, through years of hard knocks, does know the right way to do something.

What I would recommend is just do driving for dollars in the area you are looking in and just look for forsale signs and just contact the owners or knock on doors.