There was an opportunity to help a fellow investor who had his family growing and needed to dispose of the property to get rid of problematic tenant issues, rising taxes, and invest in other opportunities closer to home.

Also make sure your tax basis is reduced as part of the sale since your land is being reduced. 

I have never had tenants or applicants complain about the old windows.I see a lot of landlords that throw a ton of money into cosmetic work that will never earn back the costs - be thoughtful about whether this is truly necessary.

You should look at any limitations on gift taxes though, and she may actually want to structure it around any of this.

Look at your finances and see how you can spend less and/or earn more. 

An accountant would help here, as you can make gifts to family members every year to a certain amount tax-free.Finally, you could simply sign over the dead to your son, if you trust him to pay you back over time.

The seller wants to sell it for $50k but has requested to put it down on paper for $5k, so he can pay less tax; the remaining $45k would just be given under the table. 

Even the house is fully paid off, the 1% property tax + 1% maintenance offsets 2% annual gain.

I would talk to a lender, they look at your Schedule E section of your tax returns and add back depreciation, so basically, as long as that number is greater than the mortgage, your property will be a net zero on your debt to income ratio or it will be at a positive best case and small negative worst case, so you only have to really qualify for the next property. 

However the property is still under my name, Do I have to report taxes for the SM LLC (which has its own EIN) that technically has no income?