Your team can stay local.  

Stay there one night and test it yourself.

Just personally, I would never do an absentee landlord kinda thing....Too many moving parts, too much to go wrong and cuts into your profit big-time....Sentimental value is one thing, but not if you end up hating the house down the road.....Stay local, plenty of opportunities in good ole AZ.....

It seems you and your husband have the ability to make a property more desirable and I would try to stay local for the same reasons you listed. 

Even if you aren't into creative finance, stay away from rough neighborhoods.

At the time of purchase, I knew I might not want to stay indefinitely and at some point to might convert the home to a rental property.

If you stay in Northern Minnesota you could look to locate closer to Duluth which has a large supply of duplexes at prices much below $500K.

I generally stay out of politics, but I’m interested in hearing investors' perspectives.

They sell you a package to enter and then find you people to stay and never paid you back!

On the other hand, I’ve also considered staying in South Jersey.