I advertise the houses that way, even if there's an appliance or two that the previous owner has left in them and I don't mention them so that the people coming aren't (or shouldn't be) expecting to find them. 

We see it in our market here in College Station, Tx. also... the bigger properties do really well during our peak season but tend to be pretty stagnant during the week and sometimes even the weekend during our slower season.

If the numbers aren't there yet, I'd suggest focus on growing your income, look into house hacking as previously suggested, or consider partnering with other investors who can qualify for the loans.

I'm currently in college, but will be home for winter break.

I specialize in STR and co-living and both these strategies work best closer to the downtown and college areas.

@Erik EstradaThe crazy part was that when I had spoken with the Self Directed IRA custodian, Equity Trust Company, they had given me a list of lenders clients had previously used.

They literally went through each operating agreement and prepared an email listing out each member of each LLC and clarifying they each had to guarantee the loan despite the fact none of those entities were even being used for the purchase (which was previously explained to Dominion Financial). 

The ones I manage total to 20 bedrooms.These rooms rent for between $125 to $225 per week depending on room size and amenities in the room (beyond basic amenities may include: Desk, Tv, private entry, tenant controlled AC, additional storage).This month after padsplit takes their 14.25% cut of the revenue I am recieving, from the units I own, $15,230 from 3 homes.

Same type of cars, vacations, toys, kids in college, etc.  

All my peers and clients who previously bought tax sale properties moved away from the strategy a number of years ago so I don't have any recent experiences to go off of,  but wouldn't be surprised if the lead time is longer this time of year due to the holidays.