The only approach I’ve found effective is offering a deposit alternative, which lowers upfront costs for tenants without devaluing your property.

As you are finding out, it is so local that the next door building effects your investment. 

More than doubling in one day did change that a bit, but I am glad I have it and hope it is never needed.I advocate those who have significant assets have the protection necessary to protect those assets.  

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.

So, to play “devils advocate” here’s a possible scenario.  

Not an advocate or an affiliate of Kavi but just to add to the previous posts here.

He offers really good service, great cost effectiveness, and currently finished one in just around 3 months. 

I realize that there are variables from market to market and property to property that could make VRBO more effective for a given property, but my understanding is that in general Airbnb bookings get out to such a dominant start in regard to percentage of the bookings, that VRBO and other lesser OTAs have trouble catching up.

These are people whose full time job is to effectively manage the assets on behalf of the investors. 

They can also guide you in choosing properties that appeal to dependable tenant demographics.Access to Reliable VendorsProperty managers have established networks of cost-effective contractors for renovations and repairs.