Is your W2 based on bonus or commission income?  

So if after rehab and lease up the property rents for $300 more per month than it did when purchased then your agent and property manager each get a bonus of $540 (assuming your agreement was 15%).

(e.g. you could income strip from Sch C to Sch B and avoid SE taxes) Effectively you'd be loaning yourself money (i.e. from one pocket to the other).Bonus points for authoritative citation.

As a bonus question, she own the condo outright for $270k and is cash flowing $850/month.

Your fee would be 3% of the purchase price ($4,500) and a 3% "bonus" for the equity game ($3,000) for a total of $6,500. 

Admittedly starting with the Sequoia's all vehicles were 179'd along with bonus depreciation (if needed).

We completely transformed the closed off, carpet everywhere home into a home we would want to live in (and we did for a few months!).

Also the layouts, are they true 2-bedrooms or is a "bonus space" counting as a 2nd bedroom that almost nobody would use as such? 

You could qualify for some safe harbors ( such as if your expenses were below 2500, you could expense it).In general, you could probably use 179 in the property going forward (after the new tax law) but using bonus depreciation  (100% depreciation) is appropriate.

And for some, I also give them a bonus 'kicker' when I sell or refi.