You reference taking out a HELOC and those are generally provided when the property is in your personal name, which I don't recommend for investment properties.Overall, it sounds as if you're tired of dealing with "long distance" ownership.

What has your CPA / Financial advisor recommended?

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations?

Whether you absolutely need to or not, I would recommend doing so regardless.

open to any advice, recommendations or past experiences.  

When investing in high cash-flow markets, I always recommend working with an investor friendly agent so you're able to gain the right insight on the different areas and the risks involved.

Didn't have a lot of free time, which my wife didn't like.Read copy & paste below to better understand Property Classes:------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

If you are a beginner I would recommend staying on platform.I get more scam attempts on VRBO, a lot of people offering to pay by company check. 

How would you recommend, or what resources would you refer for us to properly figure out how we spend our time and appropriately get compensated for it?

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?