@John Zhang If your wife qualifies for Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) and materially participates in managing rental properties, there is no limit on the amount of rental losses, including depreciation, that can offset your W-2 income.

If the applicant comes from the pool of people that I or my tenants know, I use real estate as a way to give back as many of my tenants will not qualify credit wise or may even have a criminal background or would struggle for another reason if I were to just stick to the "background/credit check" criteria. 

My mom says to ask if they're almost done with the application and let them know that another couple inquired and offered $1,700 and see if they want to match that price.

I am hoping to find a reasonably priced photographer to take some sharp  photos of a Property. 
The property is in San Marcos, Texas. That’s a little south of Austin, Texas.
Can somebody make any recommendations or...

I highly recommend you reach out to him, he is fast, professional, and does amazing work.If you would like me to make that connection, reach out to me.

And, yes, there are years of data points to validate that just within my office, tens of thousands of dollars of wasted appraisal and inspection fees for deals (mostly not mine, thankfully) that had 0.00% of going anywhere but the "Loan Application Declined" bin. 

Have you already started connecting with any local professionals, or are you still searching?

Worst case scenario, if that doesn't work, I can simply do fertilizer applications and landscape lighting as they don't require much labor.

While you should always consult a CPA and/or attorney for their professional advice, here's my 3 cents (I'm sure others will chime in as well):1) Having an LLC may make it "easier" to track but it's not needed in this situation as you can run this through your personal return just as well.

Wholesaling real estate is among the hardest possible ways to start out your professional career.