From my own experience, I've had a progression that changed as my personal reserves and risk tolerance ability changed.

SEO companies are also super vague on what they are doing, so making sure they aren't just taking your money for nothing is hard to do without a few months/year of progress reporting. 

Would love to hear if you have made progress in tax sales in the past 8 months.  

So I have this tenant in my 3 unit complex that I've had a lot of problems with over the last few months. Aside from these issues, she stopped paying rent at the beginning of August. I really want her out of there and...

It feels good to progress, you know.

@Benjamin Andrew Pogue  Let's interpret "optimal" and "sweet spot" to mean:a) you can find one fairly easilyb) you can rent it fairly quicklyc) it will cash flow and the likelihood of you losing money is lowWith those assumptions, your best bet is 3/2/2 in a subdivision where it is easy to determine value (After Repair Value based on comparable sales AND likely rent) and where home prices are 50-80% of the median home price for your area (working class neighborhoods). 

you sound like me not too long ago....... i so wish I would of held out for renters with better credit..... late every (EVERY) month atleast a week or two..... have to constantly call to get rent..... willing to bet that the one month deposit i made them give up front will ( in their head) be the rent i dont get before they move out.

@Jason Boyer thanks for sharing your progress to date - love hearing stories of how people are investing and their backgrounds.

I will definitely use your tips and I will update my progress!

I guess our best bet is to hope they don't get a cash offer and then maybe they'll work with us.