Other than depreciation and standard deduction, not much else he could do.

Ft Myers has been stable and steadily increasing rents.Cape Coral was decreasing rents for several months but stabilized.

Thanks to the Cost Segregation Study, the property investors were able to reclassify the property components and accelerate their depreciation for a total of $356,000 in the first year.The use of the accelerated depreciation strategy helps real estate investors to reduce the tax liability immediately which therefore increases their bottom line due to the offsetting of income.

The primary reason to leverage the asset is to increase your returns, or diversify your holdings.

Alternatively, you can opt for other strategies like STR, MTR or rent-by-room to increase cash flow. 

Is there a way to run a standard background check on someone without a SS#?

Listing inventory looks to have a trend that is counter to most other markets in Massachusetts; usually inventory increases in the Summer and lessens in the Winter!

What is standard practice?

I learned about finding a deal which should have positive cash flow but it seems increasingly impossible in today's market, especially in Austin TX area.

I think most of the work would be purely for the purpose of being able to increase and maximize the rent per sq ft.