Accounting costs are shared among LLC participants, which do slightly reduce take-home returns, but that's the price of going in on these deals together with small amounts per person. 

I can pre-authorize an amount and if the expense is below that, the vendor can do the repairs without talking to me live4) Urgent maintenance issues - say a pipe breaks, or tenant is locked out.

Another option that I've seen in the local market is purchasing a heavily distressed or big rehab project with a local hard money lender that will allow a smaller downpayment due to the amount of equity in the deal on the back end.

The government of Florida (and other states) require building inspections and money be set aside (Reserve Funds) to fix problems so that things like balconies crashing to the ground doesn't happen.Her HOA has underfunded their reserves.

The owner attempted to fix the issue but tore up the drywall and couldn't locate the source of the leak.

How would you suggest I use this money to generate the maximum amount of monthly cashflow? 

An option could be doing some research to ball park what these estimates would come in at and remove that amount from your offer. 

She may run into gift taxes to the kids depending on the amount.

We usually like to see the land purchased and the permits in hand before we fund the construction phase, but the amount spent on the land and other soft costs go towards the down payment.

This is the primary weakness of a hobby landlord and amounts to asking your tenants forgiveness for operating your business.