Multiple people had some bad things to say about the area, but when I moved and realized that it was a low income area with a lot of homeowners, I was motivated to improve the property to match the effort my neighbors have put in. 

Leverage the CPA path: Your auditing and financial background will give you an edge when scaling.

Repairs made while the property is your primary residence are not deductible, but improvements can increase your cost basis, reducing future capital gains tax when you sell.

Prioritize your financial stability.

I've been a financial planner for 17+ years and one of the main things I've learned is that the more I think I know what's going on, the less I'm actually correct. 

If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

From the sentiment of your post it seems like you're viewing the buyers as strictly investors when they may lean more towards traditional homeowners looking for a quality of life improvement or an improvement on their current financial situation today.Let's say the buyer pays 465k and has a 5% interest rate.

From a tax perspective, you'll want to take what you paid for the property plus calculate the improvements you made to the property during your time of ownership.

Maybe she’s financially illiterate and won’t see what a scam your seller finance offer is, but she did have $100k laying around to buy the property, so probably not. 

It takes a lot of practice and sucks in the beginning, but if you stick with it long enough and keep improving it will be worth it