My husband and I have recently engaged a live-in carer fot an elderly friend. It's important to understand that live-in care does not replicate what a family carer would do. The carer has working hours, typically two shifts of five or six hours with a two hour break in between, and when her shift ends she is off-duty and is not at the beck and call of her client. If the client cannot be left alone during the breaks you have to pay for another carer to cover those. Typically, there will be a primary carer who will work for a number of weeks and then have a week or two off and a second carer will cover those periods. Four weeks on - one week off or six weeks on - two weeks off are common but this varies from agency to agency and carer to carer.
If the client wants to go to bed late / potters around until late at night / wanders at night / is up more than twice a night that is a problem. The usual provision in the contract is that the carer will not get up more than twice night. If the client needs more attention than that then you have to engage a second, waking night carer who is essentially working a night shift. This makes the care package extremely expensive.
If family cannot step in at short notice then I strongly recommend engaging a carer through an agency. It is cheaper to engage / employ a carer yourself but it does leave you exposed if something happens and you have to find another carer at short notice.
It is true that a live-in carer cannot deal with financial matters and problems with the property. However, she will be there to let the tradesman in once you have arranged the visit and agreed the price for the work. That can save you a lot of time if you are given a time slot for the visit. You can pay for the work by card over the phone or make a bank transfer. I would say that a visit to your mother once a fortnight should be enough to support a live-in care package.
A live-in carer should also be able to arrange and attend medical appointments with the client. Similarly, she would also be able to take the client to have her hair cut or to visit a dentist, chiropodist, optician etc (some hairdressers, opticians and chiropodists will do home visits).
Live-in care can be a good option but it has its limitations and it is likely to be more expensive than a care home but this will depend on local circumstances.