He says he cannot loose his dogs.

We have not held anything as a long term rental in the last 2 years, one AirBNB being the exception, the yields just have not been good enough to sit on them when the market is so hot to turn them loose.  

They all have a "loose" HOA that each person pays $75.00 a year for road maintenance.

It isn’t for you to live in or worry about how a tenant lives, within the bounds of the law and local ordinances of course.  

Keep shaking the bushes--a deal will come loose!

But, it will be more challenging long distance than if I still lived full-time in that area.You are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest with having grown up here :) As long as you are up for the challenge, it's totally doable!

It’s a win win the tenant thinks they are getting super service and I’m not loosing any rent.

I looked at the numbers and finally decided that.1.if I had to manage them personally I would loose money buy it taking up more of my time from investing.2.

It seems like a lot of people play fast and loose with zoning and it ends up hurting the next guy down the line.I just checked and the property is gone. 

Sell home, rent new smaller home/move to retirement community (disadvantage: we can have cash up front; but loose equity in the home)2.