She's resorted to intentionally running up utilities and running the washing machine and dryer for one item.

This will help any personal items away from any leagal suits your company is involved in.I think, eventhough I have never been there, that Central Floride will be a good place to be.

Also, you really should have some cash in reserves to address any bigger ticket maintenance items that may occur after you have a renter in place. 

If you want to work retail store sales or something like that, entirely different story.

Occasionally we will get some crazy items returned on an inspection that we will balk at, but for the most part I would say that inspections catch rather mundane items and are usually easy to correct.They should always be encouraging you to get one, they should help to get a full inspection done even with a resident in place and they should be willing to fix most items within reason as rarely are there any crazy items that come up.  

You must use 1099 forms designated and approved by the IRS available from stationery or office supplies stores, or follow its procedures for filing electronically.

Tread carefully my friend...you may be missing some major items.

I used to digitize it and throw away the paperwork, but have started storing the actual papers.

The way to finance closing costs is offer aggressively and with FHA you can ask the Seller to pay up to 6% of the sale price for your closing costs & prepaid items like an entire first years worth of home insurance, attorney fee etc.

They are depreciated just like any other item on a tax return.