How to find a deal? (buy and hold rental - Denver area)

[Kevin H.]

I was hoping some of you experts could tell me how you go about finding your deals?  I'm looking to invest in single family homes, or possibly duplex to quadplex properties for the purpose of generating rental income.  I'm in the Denver metro area, and real estate is hot here right now…  obviously that's not the best time to look for deals, but I'm certain that some folks are still finding them out there somewhere (some of you on this site have even alluded to that fact).  

I ran the numbers on a property that I got a lead on from a friend, and this property could cash-flow reasonably if I could get it for the right price.  Unfortunately the "right price" for me is about $20K less than the owner of this property offered to sell it to my friend for about 6 months ago (not a good sign with skyrocketing prices at the moment).  Even at that price it would be competitively priced in our local market, where a lot of places are currently selling above asking price.    

So, how can I go about finding a great deal (or, even just a fair deal) in a market like this?  Do you guys have any general strategies you use to locate good deals on single family homes (or other 2-4 unit rentals)?