I am a regular attendee of Jon's Lowell event and it is a fun time every month.

They rent properties out regularly, know the tenant base, and have to manage in those areas.  

Mobile/Manufactured homes are considered vehicles in many states (hence the VIN - vehicle identification number), so it would probably only have details about the features the home came with from the factory.If this is for a pre-fabricated home that is on a regular foundation and such, the manufacturer would be able to tell you about the VIN.Either way, just like with anything used you should make sure you do a full inspection on it so you know what you are buying first!

I could be wrong, but I really don't imagine that in this market 2%+ houses come on a regular basis, especially at the $20k range.

It can happen but it sounds to be possibly a regular occurrence in her case. 

I have several identical buildings, rented at different times.

If you had regular operating losses for the previous years, including depreciation, and they were blocked by high income, they are released at sale for an additional loss.How to properly record all of it in the books is another conversation.Besides, if it's a single-member LLC and is disregarded for tax purposes, all transactions between the owner and the LLC have zero tax impact.

Thinking of trying to save maximum cash for when deals start showing themselves more regularly.

With regular cash flows over a five year period, it should be pretty quick to figure out, even on your calculator (as opposed to excel).

The company regularly has to fly her from NY down to Florida to run things because the qualified and reliable talent pool down here is so limited.