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.

Plus the drive into Champions Gate all the way to our home is beautiful!

I use Mac with Gmail & Google Drive mostly.Background on my specific task -- need to organize email content from various Google or Yahoo investor groups (Yahoo forwards to Gmail).

Man I wish I had your drive and foresight to start investing at your age.

I’m not opposed to driving for dollars or local meetups, but those are not feasible from a distance.Between now and the end of the year, my goals are to:- Read four REI books, including David Greene’s Long-Distance Real Estate Investing- Analyze 200 deals in areas that we’re interested in purchasing some STRs- Build a relationship with some banks and real estate agentsMy goal in 2022 is to purchase two or three properties.