If i hadn't tried several other things, I would have never found this one and I'd be sitting on the rental portfolio doing nothing right now. 

If your local market is very active and homes are selling fast, you may be able to get by with doing less.Your Home’s Condition: If your home is vacant or has a unique layout, using a professional stager who can bring in the right furniture and accessories may help buyers truly visualize its full potential.Your Budget: Talk to your agent to get an idea of staging costs in your area, as it can be the difference between your house selling and sitting.

They buy properties, do not know the area put substandard upgrades in the property then sell them for market value or try to and the property sits for a long time.

Right now, land (unless in a hot market) takes a special type of buyer/developer to turn it into money, so you're better off finding the thing the people with the money want. land tends to sit a long time...

That means YES, they are actually with people sitting down and scrolling through new listings every day looking for people to tag.

Any other expenses are using up funds that would otherwise be sitting in your checking account to make a mortgage payment with.

There is a saying "if you've been sitting at the poker table for more than 15 minutes and you don't know who the patsy is...then you're the patsy".

The funds that we have are sitting outside of our retirement accounts

Maybe sit down with her and look at the finances for her and if it makes sense for her to buy the X out and refinance if that is even possible. 

This time competition hadn't really changed, but it didn't make sense for us to sit with vacant units.