go to the courthouse steps and attend a few auctions.

About a week ago, the borrower came through, paid all past due payments, paid all the costs associated with the foreclosure, and the note is now current.I learned this strategy from one of my clients.

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

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. 

It's in the ballpark of 71%.

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

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! 

Quote from @Jay Jones: I have a HELOC on my primary residence but was told by the bank I have it with that they can’t give me a HELOC on my Quadplex because it’s a multi family rental (they could pass a single family rental off as a a vacation home.  

A "kiddie condo" is the concept of buying a residential property with "owner occupied" rate financing made possible by having an adult child living in it, if only while they're in college or single.