There are quite a few inspections involved in the rental process, and all of those take time. 

I think house hacking first is your best bet.

But with this kind of negative cash flow, you are betting that appreciation is growing more rapidly than the interest you're paying--just to beat putting $900/mo in a savings account.On top of that, you're still in the window where you call sell this tax free using the primary residence exemption.Using the $80K on a $350-400K multi or two $200K homes on a 30 year fixed will provide the same appreciation while having someone but you pay off the mortgage.

Tell her that and do not get involved.

I think that should be ok if the parties involved are used to foreign transactions. 

Your best bet might be calling around to some local banks (portfolio lenders have flexible underwriting) and seeing what they will require to get a commercial loan on multi family properties. 

Misleading numbers are a waste of time for everyone involved.

He finds heirs usually are out of state, far away, and often uninterested to take over, so often, he buys at a good price.Now, this is a long game, your involved with the property for long periods, unlike a flip, where you come in, you find a buyer, you're gone.

I have been involved with self directed accounts in a number of ways.

The situations where land and/or vacant buildings were owned prior to 2018 are usually the most complicated and typically involve the a little more tax risk application of the OZ rules.