My key areas of rejections are: any past eviction in last 7 years, past due car payments, judgements/bankruptcies , utilities in collections, address/social security mismatches(I've caught a lot of scammers this way), fake landlord references(usually caught through simple county searches).

If you aren't actually practicing regularly, but only using your license for your own occasional investment purchase, you might end up where the only type of broker that will accept you will be a desk fee type, which is another cost you should account for.I'm not trying to talk you out of it.

We’re willing to pay hourly for the work or accept bids but need it done ASAP!

Multiple offers were coming but agent botched the process and I was forced to accept a lower offer.

On average, how quickly does it take folks to find a deal and get an offer accepted?

This issue thought me big two things, one never inherit tenants and two even if you do not have the social security of the tenants you can report delinquent to the credit business bureau, I use Sperlonga Data & Analytics if you are interested.

There are a ton of travel nurse pages on FB and other social media sites which makes it easy to post properties and get quality tenants seeking the typical 90 day rental contract.   

Push credit and debit card payments hard, to make life easier for you (auto-payments), and make cash payments very difficult to do and/or not accepted (eg no office onsite, etc).

I'm OK buying a unit that has negative cash flow as long as the principal reduction and appreciation offset it to an acceptable return.

If she refuses, then your next step HAS to be taken with good legal advice (can be a Property Manager instead of a lawyer), but I always recommend doing your very best to act in good faith which in this case means just accepting the loss of rent until the repairs are complete.