Our Ideal house would be a single-family residence, under 250k, 2-4 bedrooms, within 1-hour commute of my current place here in Seattle.  

The truth of the matter is real estate investing is risky whether it's local or from a distance. 

I highly recommend checking out David Greene's book on Long Distance Real Estate Investing.

As a long-distance new investor should I avoid this kind of houses or it doesn't matter as long as it can be fixed?

I spent 5 years learning management from a distance, repairs/maintenance/rehabbing skills, and small town investing.

With that said, none of my tenants ever actually commuted to Toronto lol.

He chose to distance himself while the work was going on.FYI - it's a wall hung toilet- costed almost $800 to purchase a new one and get it installed initially- manufacturer's warranty doesn't cover the issue.

@Alan DanielsWhat you did was protect yourself personally from the liability of the mobile home park, and if set up correctly, protected the mobile home park from your own personal liability.You have NOT taken any steps to "distance yourself from the tenants". 

So, if you guys have any good suggestions for any books or articles to read to help me build passive income while working 45+ hours/week (plus about ~8-10 hours of commute per week - got any audio books/podcasts?)

This would be a long distance investment as we both live in California.