@Louis Hamilton,If a HELOC doesn’t work, you might consider these options:1.

Read "Set for Life" by Scott Trench or "The House Hack Strategy" by Craig Curelop.

Good to have ONE SIGN set aside for a property on a busy street. 

If your property management company is good and has built an internal maintenance team which has set rates and had strong relationship relationships with licensed contractor which should keep costs in control, you should never need to shop contractors on your own I wouldn't think.So in short, our policy is give us your preferred contractors upfront if you have them, but then we work all tickets to resolution including dispatch, and payment of invoices.This is of course for operational expenses.  

Pretty sure they will have it covered in their PM contract.Their PM contract also probably allows them to set rental prices.

That is probably a good start to setting the goals you need to achieve to make the dream happen.

To avoid that, set a firm, realistic budget from the beginning and make sure you stick to it.

@Jason Burkart To maximize tax benefits, consider buying the property as a rental and leasing it to your mother at fair market value (FMV).

You are correct there certainly are ways for things to be done badly or illegally, but these are BAD MESSY situations before a sub-to deal would even be considered.

I think you will definitely want to talk to your lawyer because there may be items linked to this transaction you are not considering.