I am amazed at what condition many properties are in that we take over, and wonder how the previous owner escaped without an injury claim.The second risk, albeit a distant second in terms of impact to your financial health, is that the cabin can't be managed properly for you to make any money. 

The market is good now for selling if you don’t like being a distant landlord.

If ever unfortunately engaged in legal proceedings a paltry savings on these upfront savings will be a distant memory.

Id appreciate any thoughts on those issues but would also like to hear any other tips pertaining to other aspects of long distant PMs.

Their distant relatives now occupy the property as the father said they could live there before he passed away.

I use Airbnb as my primary channel, HomeAway is second and TripAdvisor a distant third.  

I have some distant relatives in Sweden that my family keeps in touch with.

I am a long distant Landlord and have the worst Property Management experience.

My experience with doing distant project as you are doing is that unless you plan on being there full time, just hire it out.  

Let me explain,The previous owner (a distant landlord) was previously paying $2300 a year in taxes.