Fortunately social security for her children kicked in quick and she is able to afford the mortgage and living expenses however the family of her deceased husband took it upon themselves to file for the death certificate without her on it and send it off to the mortgage company.

Decades of college degrees and debt and negative image of construction jobs is catching up with us quickly.

IMO the lower quotes aren’t always for inferior work and in fact are sometimes very good, small owner operator types like that if they work quickly and efficiently can get things done for cheaper, and having a general handyman that is good is invaluable. 

That's the scope of work as quickly as I could put it.

To add to this non payment fiasco the tenants want to stay at lease end promising that payment will never be an issue moving forward.

If you connect with an existing, large brokerage, they can feed you a ton of business and help you grow quickly.

Just a quick thought, you might be able to do a house hack near your school which could cover your housing cost and make college a little cheaper. 

Even minor updates will surprise you on how quickly $5k will blow through.

I see a good BRRRR or quick flip scenario if your ARV is correct.  

You'll notice quickly that there is a common theme throughout the information and you just need to figure out how to apply it to your particular situation.