My preference is to go straight through the title company, put that money into renovations, and send the agent a couple hundred dollar gift card to Amazon for their time. 

Would hate for you to get to the same situation as we did where we paid hundreds for appraisal, let our bridge loan tick away for weeks leading up to refinance, and only find out this info at the end of the process where we get our rates switched on us.

I have no problem devoting hours to research—hundreds if need be—but I really have no clue where to go.

They have a pipeline in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

They deal with 100’s and the IRS deal with hundreds of thousands, they’ll spot a mistake at first glance.

I want to analyze one hundred deals with my family so that we know we are getting into a profitable deal. 

Although we may see more inventory hit the market as people can escape "rate lock".I invest in today's market by searching hundreds of properties on the MLS, then going to see the top 10-20, then making an offer on the best at a price where I can cashflow after all expenses and putting 25% down.

There are hundreds of other steps along the line that all have to be executed perfectly.

If it were me I'd offer her a couple of hundred dollars cash to be out asap, and screen more carefully for a better renter in the future. 

Are repainted cabinets fine with tenants, or do you need new, modern flat panel cabinets to get your underwritten rents?