Any real estate agent on your mls can look up the historical performance of multi family units in Oakland and tell you which agents are selling a lot of them or agents who have sold them near you.

Many people prefer the security of a one-year lease in SF, particularly for rent control and eviction protection. 

Every situation is unique and there is not a one size fits all approach to protecting your mother's financial security, but there are some options that each has an upside and a downside to.

All funds, coming and going, must pass the security checkpoint first, before moving through the door to the next location.1 - The loan money sits in that account until the borrower/REI has the investment lined up that will make the payments back to the lender. 

I'm still very premature in my knowledge in how (or when) to secure funding.

@Blake Edwards - I just keep my tenant's security deposits in a savings account. 

In any event make sure you follow the law regarding security deposits.  

He/she would still perform the same functions as if the property were managed by a third party company, but instead, the property would be managed by a company he/she owns. 

The "make it worth it" part would be that cost to have an outside engineer firm come into your property to perform the cost segregation study.

Do you or the wife have any contacts up that way that may be able to ask around for the correct contractor to perform work.2.