Meet with financial advisers/wealth managers and see what other options other than real estate there are and how to best allocate / diversify. ie have you maxed out your TFSA?

I am curious to learn how these operations are managed from abroad.From what I've seen, it's 100% possible to invest in real estate in the United States remotely.

To rent the home, I would lose about $2,500 per month (based on comparable rents in my area, property management fees, etc).Both options loose the same amount by roughly 2 years, and by this time, I still will not have built up much more equity in the home to make selling it a break even unless there is price appreciation by then.My dilemma is this: I speculate that my home will not appreciate much in the next 3-5 years due to the rapid pace of development in the surrounding area.In 5-10+ years, maybe, but by then I'll have bled $150,000 - $300,000.I have thought about this a lot and feel that I mar'-too close to the problem to see the best solution.

I’d love to hear about the crime rates or any other issues (which we cannot guess from the online stats), and how easy or hard it is to find reliable tenants and property management companies.

For example, could I use my SDIRA to operate a management company that charges my holding LLCs a management fee?

If you invest in RE, whether active or passive(management team, syndications, crowdfunding), I'd love the chance to quickly explain the structure and hear your thoughts on what might need to be improved.

Could it attract squatters, or is it the right move for responsible property management?

I am also a project manager and a architectural designer for a real estate developer in NYC. 

This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.

You are also going to need to decide how to manage the property.