Driving me crazy! 

It would be hard to figure all this out if we didn't drive to properties regularly, walk the area, manage in-house and so on.

Some homeowner hires you for a project and they give up, get burnt out, and wanna sell instead, you're right there, and didn't even have to go driving for dollars or futz with bandit signs.

I like the fact that Fayetteville is within driving distance so that I can do some recon work on my own for my first investment.

I've had banks just do a drive-by appraisal when I set up a line of credit on a duplex I remodeled.   

The income drives BOTH the ability to get a 'normal mortgage' AND having that down payment. 

I have literally been driving around, looking at properties that appear vacant and getting information through the local auditors site to contact the current owners.

You wouldn't just hand a wad of cash to a guy to go down to the car dealer and pick you out a car; you'd visit the dealership, hopefully test drive the car, look up the values in Kelly Blue book, maybe let your mechanic look it over, make sure they gave you a valid title without liens, etc.

start by driving around areas in your town you would want to invest. find houses that look like they need work (bad roof, bad siding, long grass, etc) and look them up on the tax assessor website. try to get in touch with them (facebook, google, etc) and see if they want to sell. research rents and comps in the area and make sure your purchase price and after repair value will work as a cash flowing property. this is the cheapest and easiest way to start.

There are a number of ways to find deals, driving for dollars, direct mail, SEO (with website), communication with all you come in contact with, etc.As for "lipstick" deals, good luck.