Redoing the titles and warranty deeds for our properties is costing us money I could have avoided if I had known better. 

Mid-priced cabinets at Ikea are perfect for a STR and would help lower costs for you!

In both of these cities, four of the top five source cities are higher cost.

You will also have added costs because the primaries that are currently mortgage free will now have mortgages.

All of your equity will be eaten up by closing costs alone  

As a flipper, you are trying to control your costs to maximize your return on each deal.

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

For things like cleaning, painting, etc; she should be hiring people to do that (or if she wants to then contract herself) and bill you those at cost. 

Depending on the nature of what needs done, *in general* a good contractor will cost you about the same thing as you acting as the GC yourself because they get better pricing from subs than you will get, and pocket the difference as profit.

You could even look into Opportunity Zones.Other options are doing a Cost Segregation study depending on the property.To drag out the gains, you can do a Deferred Sales Trust, or Installment Sale.