Before we sold it we hired a management company to reduce the burden, but even then we decided to sell and walk away. 

They sell chemicals at the local Home Depot that gets that stuff off.

I agree with the others who said you should sell the house. 

Whether it’s for startup costs, equipment, or marketing, leveraging your home’s value can help bring your entrepreneurial goals to life.Bottom LineWhether you’re thinking about selling, upgrading, or simply want to understand your options, your home equity is a powerful resource.

Beyond carefully vetting the tenants, how can an investor protect themselves from squatters if we want to sell years down the road?

I'm going to reiterate what's already been mentioned above, but I'm going to actually give you examples of why it's relevant to you to find a U.S. tax professional.1 - You're going to need to file U.S. taxes once you have property down here, there's federal filings, state filings, and sometimes local filings too2 - Tons of tax treaties between the U.S. and Canada that are easy to miss and can cost you a lot of money (important one with rentals - effectively connected income - if the professional you talk to doesn't know what this is, run away)3 - The amount of days you spend in the U.S. needs to be tracked and if you go over a threshold, all of your worldwide income could be taxable by the U.S.4 - Selling real property means up to 15% of your sales proceeds might not be available to you for years (FIRPTA)5 - Lots of nuance at the state and local levels, which both want to take as much money from you as possibleMain takeaway here is that you should find a U.S. based tax person.

Quote from @Adam Macias: Wholesaling as it is today will be a thing of the past.It’ll truly be strange to even hear people and gurus trying to make big money off it.The more people try wholesaling but then end up not having an end buyer or cancelling contracts or trying weird things like novations, the more all of real estate will be regulated and cause requirements like licensing to be able to transact more than just your personal resident purchase.Which I don't know why hasn't happened sooner.Here's all the states (in red or yellow) requiring a license to wholesale or at least have started the process:Credit: REITipsterI think licensing and regulation is a beautiful thing that should happen if you plan to be an wholesaler and do more than one deal... which is going to be the case for anyone taking this business seriously.Or even it being regulated to need a real estate agent to do more than one deal outside of buying a personal residence.I've had plenty of failed attempts with agents in pursuit of wholesale deals and I know exactly why, it's not because the agent couldn't find me deals, it's just not practical to think there's opportunity for the numbers a wholesaler needs to make a profit on top of everyone else needing to these days.Because the only sellers who truly can sell at a deep enough discount are usually those who ran out of time and just didn't do something sooner with their situation.I know many coaches and gurus will disagree with me but there’s no regulations on youtube gurus and what they teach either.If we look at the current state of the market in hot cities, the availability of online resources to the average homeowner, how many deals can you possibly believe are available at 70% of ARV?

I've heard too many stories of investors purchasing homes for STR use, only to find that they lose their permit or the ability to transfer it when they sell.

I just completed a small subdivision myself - just a word of advice that if you do sell any of these you'll need a release of mortgage from your current lender to do so.

Subdivisions of build to sell are favorable to local SFR landlords because more rooftops means more retail and dining, which makes a more desirable rental area.