I originally tried to house hack, but it's difficult to find a multi-unit with a vacant unit, and I keep getting outbid.

I am thinking about selling the property as it is becoming more difficult for me to manage from a distance.

Third, you will almost certainly need to hire a STR management company if you buy internationally which often makes the numbers difficult. 

When we tell them our opening bid is $1.5M they try and negotiate off the $500k because that was the original loan balance but due to other circumstances like modifications etc. the loan balance has increased significantly. 

An experienced operator is not that difficult to find.

That said, even with photos, comping homes in Detroit proper is extremely difficult.

Quote from @Zachary Deal: One thing to keep in mind if you are doing this is that you are likely to create "functional obsolescence" which could mean you are not able to get a new loan against your property and it can be difficult to resell as well. 

That being said, it's very difficult to get rents to even cover PITI payments at 80% loan-to-value in Utah these days. 

However, if I tried to sell this note, I might have a difficult time doing so because there is no open market for selling notes and adding the fact that the note is in default, I might have to discount the note if I wanted to get cash for it.

PadSplit's have been difficult to finance because they are considered modified collateral.