She’s the one who hired contractors. You need someone who decides what work needs to be done, find the people who are qualified, and pay them.

Not all contractors do good work, she got scammed once by a guy who does crap labor and tries to upcharge to fix it. It happens

Even if she sold the houses, the person buying them would probably want a return on their investment and end up renting it out to people

The only way rent would be cheap is if there was a lot of supply of it, less restrictions on building like zoning, fewer fees on developers.