I wonder if going with PPB has hurt your search ranking and maybe that's why you get more from VRBO/HomeAway.

Best bet, if you’re motivated, search, or have someone knowledgeable search the all the recorded documents, mtg, foreclosure action, etc.  

It will also reduce time spent asking questions, searching the forums and all that.

If I have found a "good deal/discount property" for 285K-300K that needs 15-20K of improvements.  

Wanted to know good markets to start my wholesale search.

Do a search on Duckduckgo.com for "Mortgage Brokers" in your area.

Maybe start by inquiring about markets close to you, setting up a keywords search for them and following those that are major BiggerPockets contributors in those markets.

As you probably found on your housing search many (possibly most) houses that are being sold for rental income have illegal units or rooms somewhere on the property.

@Harley Tigreros Just so you know:Clerk of court website, Official Records, search by owner name...is where you find recorded doc.s, deeds, mtg, LP, etc.At the top of the LP will be the foreclosure case number, something like 50 2018 ca 002468xxxxmbClerk of court site, Court Records, Civil....you can look up the foreclosure case no.

If you're getting good deals on the investment properties, that will actually improve your DTI, assuming an investor friendly local lender that isn't riddled with rental income overlays such as "rent must appear on two years of tax returns for us to 'count' it."