You may want to first explore cities that you are already familiar with.Think of cities where you grew up, went to school, like to vacation to or see family.You will have a better idea of what the good / bad parts of town than a brand new city that you are unfamiliar with.Best of luck.

We are vacation rental managers with many homes owned by Canadians.

Short-term rentals (STRs) could work well in vacation-heavy areas, but they require active management—considering a co-host or property manager can help offset time constraints.

Also, try and reach out to the Sandbridge vacation rental companies and see if you can get on their list or radar. that would be a great way to get very steady demand in the summertime.

We are not close enough to the mountains to get much ski vacation travelers.

Our team is divide such that we're split to manage both long term and vacation rentals.

I network with many investors in the scranton area as well as Vacation Rental investors in the poconos!

As soon as one violation is discovered, send a Notice To Quit advising them to stop/cure within your state's time mandate (mine is 3 days) or vacate the property.  

As our team has grown, it's become easier to cover responsibilities if someone quits, goes on vacation, or if we terminate employment, compared to when we had one or two homes. 

This would likely take coordination with a tenant at some point - (ie - plenty of notice to them that they must vacate in order for you to sell the property)Since your current home is free and clear -  you could do a cash out refi or take out a new mortgage on the new house to be able to buy your paren't house and pay off the mortgage.