@Greyden PiechnickYour mom's CPA/accountant is not explaining it correctly or not doing her return correctly.She is  eligible to write off real estate related expenses on her return regardless of her(including stepdad's) income including depreciation.There are some limitations when the income level is above $100,000 / $150,000.

Which may also include, but not be limited to: Escrow Agreements, Truth In Lending disclosures, Assignment of Rents, Anti-Coercion notices, etc, etc.

I'd recommend that you help others that are looking in cheaper markets with their flips and ask to join them with the limited capital you have.

Fannie Mae and Freddie recently limited 7% of their portfolio to be investment/second homes so this has caused rates to increase for Conventional investment properties. 

However, my broker is limiting anything under 100k now.

You will be limited to 75% of ARV.

We are doing this with a portfolio lender and paying a bit of an interest rate premium as we are over the limit for Conventional financing. 

I've tried perusing the California tax laws and it taxed my limited brain capacity, so I had to give up.

Only limiting it to 3 things is tough but I’d say the 3 most important things I’d recommend to newbies are:1.

Along these same lines, an app like Venmo may work with a prepaid card (registered to a network brand like American Express, Discover, etc), but the issue with the daily/monthly send limit would be an issue I think.