With out a specific property to assess it is difficult to run numbers, but if my first sentence is on track I get the intent.

A agent might do some searching or set up an automated search but except in the relatively small number of deals where the agent has an inside track about a property to come available the agent isn't making a huge difference for the finding of the deal.

If she has a buyer in house or does dual agency , not bad for a weeks work .

I saw it as an opportunity to improve some of my data tracking & categorization practices.

--> Automates a lot of your expense tracking --> Much cheaper than most softwares/fancy sheets --> Will probably save you a couple of thousand extra on your taxes if you follow all the recommendations. 

This might give you mother a jump start on tracking hours for REPS purposes and taking depreciation.That said, she wouldn’t necessarily have to “forego” having a W-2.

You shouldn't need to keep track of the PM's receipts as long as you know the monthly expenses.

who keeps track of the payments?

You keep track of all of your real estate related transactions (date, amount, vendor name, purpose, property identifier) and then create a pivot table from this data to quickly create a rough Profit & Loss Statement.

When I had to deal with problem tenants in BC, I kept track of who I talked to at the residential tenancy board and when, so I had a record as well.