If they don't need the money to buy their next home, it could be an incentive.

Sounds like as others alluded too that there may be an additional unforeseen lien pop up on title that would need to get released. 

The fact they are complaining online might be an indication the property manager dealt with them properly so be sure to ask the manager for their side of the story.I hope this basic guide helps.

That will be an additional $190 they will owe you.

It is also much easier to qualify as an RE professional if the person striving to be an RE professional does does not have other full time employment. https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/08/04/basics-of-real-estate-professional-status-tax-irs/If we do two units of rehab in a year (each rehab likely takes a few hundred hours as the hours add up fast), then the wife qualifies fairly easy as an RE professional when combined with her usual RE duties.  

This would be an out of state purchase.

Again, as some of you have mentioned, there will have to be an official lease, security deposit and record keeping to qualify.

I guess my question here is if you are a DIY'er, what is the one task you would really like to be an expert at?

I’d recommend checking out this article as you get started: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/20-team-members-newbies/If you ever wanna grab coffee and talk real estate, let me know.

If you'd ever like to grab coffee and talk about how to get started let me know.