It does not matter if your soft skill is data manipulation, person to person networking, social media, people management, there are some universal talents that you can use to build invaluable relationships worth far more than one grand with only the cost of some sweat equity. 

It is very easy to manipulate a proforma: reduce exit cap a few basis points, increase rents by 10% in the first year, reduce economic vacancy to 5%, etc. and you get to an IRR that looks attractive.

IRR can be manipulated depending upon the future value (FV) of the investment. 

Me, I'd be temped to let my mother  take over, and she would go in a completely different direction.  

WE have a number of contractor friends & they are always at the mercy of their subs & temps but their reputation is what ultimately suffers. 

Something to consider is that you would have to increase the rent to offset your cost for paying for gas and how much would it cost to set this up and will the tenants be able to control their temp.

I see the City has a Temp occupancy Tax (TOT) of 10%  for renters less than 31 days...not sure if others have found these type of ordinances "writing on the wall" regarding a change in attitude towards rental properties.   

The room temperature is always below the thermostat temp by 2 degree.

I play what-if every year with my tax software as I can manipulate a lot as well. 

Few can predict when but there will be a correction because nearly every economic metric that is used for analyzing the potential for a market correction is manipulated in some form or fashion which causes a false sense of security by the consumer.