Can anyone recommend a good alternative?

You also need to meet the 100-hour material participation rule, and your average period of customer use must be 7 days or less, per IRS regulation.

If one spouse qualifies for reps and materially participates in the rental activity, then all the rental activity should be eligible to write off any losses against active income to better help, can you describe how your mom is a real estate professional?

In most cases, the property manager ends up being the one truly running day-to-day operations, which makes it hard for the IRS to see you as “materially participating.”To meet REP requirements, two things have to happen:-You (or your wife) need to spend more than 750 hours a year on real estate activities, and-Those hours have to make up more than half of total working time for the year.The challenge is proving that level of involvement when a property manager is already handling leasing, maintenance, and tenant issues.

Are fence materials considered a write-off?

With stricter lending guidelines, more investors are turning to alternative funding sources.Do you think this shift is temporary or a long-term trend?

At some point people realize they can't borrow their way out of debt, they need alternatives, this is an alternative that doesn't need banks and large bank fees.

Additionally, offering alternative options, like accepting an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) where possible, may help accommodate a wider range of applicants while still adhering to your qualification standards.

Stessa, Wave, Xero are good alternatives. 

I'm not seeing fluctuations now vs. a few months ago that are having material impacts.