But it's looking like a long-term rental is not going to be the best approach for the area I'm looking at.  

The challenge for investors with this approach is that they/we, as individual investors, have no control over the market.

Quote from @Hanna Brown: @Jay Hinrichs If the bidder at the auction pays cash for keys to get the homeowner out, does the person redeeming from the owner position (exercising rights of redemption w/in 180 days) have to reimburse them for those costs they paid to get the homeowner out? 

Would love to hear how others have approached similar deals!

This approach provides both security and potential upside in a deal.

I'm looking for tips on how to find good deals, how to approach investors, and what steps I should be taking as a beginner. 

Ideally, you'd want to have signed leases from each tenant, but the strategy part of it is that you also wanna make sure that you don't run people away while you are either increasing rent or preparing any units that are currently vacant.I would probably take a step-by-step approach.

The national debt is approaching $36,000,000,000,000 if the government numbers are to be believed.

I love this approach.

-Getting into a situation where you’re borrowing additional funds to close, which if it is an unsecured personal loan, will have an astronomical interest rate compared to borrowing a secured debt like a mortgage.