So either you pay for the repair out of the idle cash in your account, file an insurance claim and use those funds, or rollover/transfer funds from another retirement account to cover the cost. 

Fuel costs likely to rise over time, but work from home helps

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.

Can try to reposition to Class B, but neighborhood may impede these efforts.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, but 15-20% should be used to also cover tenant nonpayment, eviction costs & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores of 560-620 (approaching 22% probability of default), many blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 2 years.

To me at my current knowledge level, this deal only works if taking over the loan - to limit the out of pocket money to acquire the property since the outside reno and new septic would take up the bulk of rehab costs. 

Can you DIY projects and cost cuts? 

Some serious baked in costs for each. 

If purchasing new real estate as part of your reinvestment, a cost segregation study can maximize depreciation deductions, offsetting future taxable income.For effective planning, assess how the sale price is allocated between real estate, tangible assets, and goodwill, as this determines the tax treatment.

Namely, that if a tenant (in this case accompanied by a whole family) ends up stop paying rent and I would be on the hook for both covering the mortgage and dealing with open ended legal costs and time.

Considering opportunity cost of not affording more rentals vs paying much more in interest.