So, yes, you can absolutely have a great rental business as an out of state ( and even international ) investor, as long as you have a solid team that are your boots on the ground. 

These guys are having fun because there are a lot of scammers and gurus out there selling LLC creation services and Wyoming Trusts and Cook Islands Trusts and if you believe all that b.s. you will end up needing to cash out refinance soon in order to access that equity in order to pay for all their services plus an accountant to keep track of the mess.

They had exhibited the desire to pay down debt and had cashed out the parks before us that had agreed to owner finance.

Now, you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them.

Any positive cash flow should go towards paying off debt.

What if a tenant fails to pay rent, leaves $2,000 in cleaning and repairs, and it takes another month to rent?

In fact I can have half of the rooms occupied and still pay the mortgage. 

If you were able to build equity over time, it could be smart to sell, pay off your loan, and use the money for another venture (flip, investments, etc) if it is truly bleeding you out.

The last one told me I'd likely pay a small fortune for this policy. 

I would keep the deposit unless I am able to rebook the dates and then I would only make her pay the difference for any unbooked nights.