In our small town the fire chief will do it.Approach yours & suggest it as a training exercise for their guys.

Not a deal breaker in most cases, but be sure to be aware of this and discuss with your CPA tax implication that your IRA will owe if you decide to go this route.Self-directed 401k on the other hand is exempt from taxes on leveraged real estate, therefore if you are eligible you may want to explore this option. 

What types of business are opening in similar towns in the region?

Statements like:"Juice isn't worth the squeeze""Nightmare""Not worth it"From the best I can tell the building is in a C part of town. 

I'd encourage you to explore simply selling the house and letting your parents take the tax free exemption. 

And to clarify: is the old town district the area Randal Mill, Center, and North Streets?

Funny how these small town tenants think you will never see them again or something when they do things like this. 

There aren't many of these around per each town.

I know Poconos is a big area, but I'm just looking for a few suggestions of towns that work better than others for short term rentals. - Any other help/recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

I own a 5-plex in a small town in East Central Nebraska, and have actually had people who say they were appraisers from my bank (they weren't) go into the building and try to talk to tenants about the kind of info you were describing as well as looking to get my number.