I find government will not guide you, they do everything possible to obstruct you, so you need to dig in to what the rules are, you may find out they cant prevent you from making it a duplex, and dont need a zoning change. 

I will say that most property management companies are going to require you to sign a non-compete agreement that may prevent you from practicing management for 1-2 years after you leave the company (within a certain geographic area) and especially while you are working there, so it may be difficult to start your company while working for another company. 

I am planning on spending a lot of time at home improvement stores in my area but outside of doing this or hiring somebody to help me design a flip house is there anything else I can do that would prevent overspending?

If your relationship w/the tenant is good, as them to leave the refrigerator door open to help prevent mold.I would put out my For Rent sign though and start screening applicants. 

You need to understand the South to understand what's going on here.Mainly, the neighborhoods in transition have Architectural roots.

I would repaint it to prevent further damage. 

Having someone to draft effective contracts for you may prevent your being dragged into claims.

This has prevented them from being in a higher interest loan longer than they had planned. 

In the mean time I want to go in and at least spray to prevent the problem from getting worse and going to other units, but he won’t answer me.

If she prevents you from coming back in, some police departments will do a civil standby and/or come out and explain to your mom that she can’t just kick you out like that if you lived there.