You could do very well on some of the tax liens but with 3-4 days of the auction and then a clean up sale after that, the high interest rate tax liens will go very fast. 

Consider what I saw routinely - a teenage girl has a baby out of wedlock, works part time and gets 1,000 of EIC.

@Joe Splitrock  good catch.having been in the finance side of distressed assets for more than a few decades I see this stuff routinely.. you should see the 5 hoarder houses I bought this year... stuffed to the rafters with stuff stink so bad you need a bunny suit..

Clean each time. 

Having said that,  1) you mentioned credit, I would recommend doing whatever you need to do to get credit cleaned up, credit cards paid off etc.  

I have upgraded the units with things like luxury vinyl flooring, clean surfaces painted with good colors, good but non fancy kitchen cabinets.  

I work full time and my tenants are super cool because they helps me clean the property. 

I have house that needs a good carpet cleaning as well as some light repair work where there are some bunched spots.  

The street is nice and clean and there was one 5 doors down that rented for 1175 same size and floor plan etc.  

If you find something sub-to, you probably want to clean it up and sell it with the buyer getting a new loan or paying cash.If you got seller financing and the seller did not have a loan on his property AND he is ok with you wrapping his loan, DO IT.