I’m not going to replace toilets for that, but when the time comes and they need to be replaced I will replace with old school toilets that can manage the crappy situation.

I had a freind who partnered with someone in a similar situation, and they were able to acquire their third property much quicker than going solo.There's also the BRRRR strategy...

How do I protect myself in this situation, while also helping a relative? 

Curious to hear the good, the bad and the ugly from multiple perspectives. 

I'm currently flipping properties in my backyard (SoCal) and have the liquidity to fund multiple projects.

As a few have mentioned, the best way would be to call the listing agents directly, but depending on how much time you want to dedicate, setting and going on multiple appointments with different people could prove to be time-consuming. 

The challenge we're facing is the lack of short term rental data for the appraiser, and we won't know if it will meet the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) requirements until the appraisal is complete.Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

Just depends upon the situation I guess! 

There are a lot of areas that multiple property managers won't touch.  

My guess is that with the recent fire policy changes in CA there are likely caps on the fire payouts and many homeowners will be in the situation of example 2.