go to the courthouse steps and attend a few auctions.

I have the same idea as you and I think thats the best, most reasonable way.

It's in the ballpark of 71%.

I truly believe the first rental property is the most important, less so financially, but most importantly to get you in the investor mindset and make it real! 

Welcome to the community, Timothy! 

I’ve been using IRR to evaluate my deals, but I wasn’t entirely sure if that was the best approach.

If you want to stay in your house, then your only option would be to leverage equity which will probably be in the 8-10% interest rate range.Not knowing the entire situation, I think you could consider downsizing and then using the proceeds to buy a 2-4 unit property and start making $40-75K right away with still no debt. 

Quote from @Andres Lasaga: I am in the process of selling a property to the tenant I have been renting the house for 4 years.I want to outsource the promissory note collections and reportsIt would be only ONE property, for now, any recommendation of a company that can manage the collections and reporting?

https://tptla.org/Even though the law is the same across the state regarding tax sales, when you get to the nitty gritty, every county handles it differently. 

At some point in the future, the economy will have another crisis.