Not to mention upkeep (repairs, taxes, water, insurance) of her personal property (reverse mortgage) and mine.

Creating an LLC from the get go and purchasing properties through it would exclude you from utilizing this financing.I run a $40 Million portfolio in the Cleveland area & I can tell you even at that scale the risk of a life changing lawsuit is incredibly low, especially if you are acting like a responsible property owner.

If a seller is on board with a short sale, usually their credit is not perfectly sterling anyway..if they cannot afford the house any longer and may end up losing it anyway, I believe that It is better to get them some funds to move on with their life from the bank and also to make a profit for myself or a client.  

I also know great people for home insurance policies, a great loan officer etc.  

Currently renting out the old primary residence at $1800/month with a cashflow (after mortgage, insurance, taxes, vacancy, maintenance, cap ex, etc.) of over $500/month; with the other two investments each pulling in between $250-350 a month.I also decided to make tennis my "full-time" job and pursue real estate more heavily as my career.

Expenses: holding costs such as utilities, taxes, insurance, lawn, snowCity fees - permits, potential fines and assessmentsLending fees if anyI would get an attorney involved and write up a partnership agreement that you're both ok with.

This was really the worst possible sort of storm as far as insured losses.  

For example, the W-2 income makes life easy when applying for new loans and implementing the BRRRR strategy.

This rent covered all expenses on the 15 year mortgage, insurance, and HOA fees with small profit that got eaten up on paper by LLC expenses, depreciation, PM and accounting fees, etc.  

Sometimes life delivers a crazy hand that we are dealt.