You can oversee this aspect from the background but don't try to directly engage a GC from out of State without having someone tied to your success there to watch what's going on.

A proper vetting process - background, employment, credit, and reference checks - will weed out 99% of problem tenants. 

Some options I'm running in the background of my brain while still learning the basics would be, in no particular order.A- HELOC.B- Sell my current house and either rent short term to get some momentum or use part of my equity to put down on a new home and the rest into a rental. 

That being said, I will preface this with the fact that I have a legal background, specifically with estate planning and asset protection as it relates to real estate.

I used to use mysmartmove.com for credit/background checks before that.

After discussing their goals, we realized they would like to maximize the property's value while also including me in the process, given my background in general contracting.

Looked at your background and posts.  

I didn't have much money, and not much experience but I used my background in finance to put together a syndication and buy an old office building and drive thru on .59 acres with the purpose of developing housing.My passion was creating housing in a city with under 2% vacancy and skyrocketing housing costs.

pretty basic website with no indication of what they do.. but I like it that the principals are on there with a bio.. you should be able to do some background on them.its all about the team..

VRBO does not seem to do the same guest verification or background checks as Airbnb and you have to opt in to Damage Protection (insurance or deposit) which I've read can detract people from booking.