i called my grandparents as they have a unit there and was just inquiring on the status and costs of the area. 

Given you already have started to build out a portfolio, you should also talk to your accountant about qualifying for real estate professional status to write off losses against ordinary income - https://financialresidency.com/real-estate-professional-irs/.

If you would prefer to coordinate the work through a contractor yourself, try to confirm that they do quality work and communicate well so that you are aware of the status since you are not local.

It is 2 bedroom, 1 bath that has a storage building in the backyard that has been converted into a guest house with a kitchen sink, toilet and shower set up.

In the jurisdictions we cover, we could obtain a certified copy of the deed and re-record it with the marital status corrected — “This Deed is being re-recorded to correct marital status.” 

If the agent was committing actual fraud, they probably would have closed and skipped town.There was an agent in south Florida named Roger Gamblin, well known and respected, who did so and then made a guest appearance on America's Most Wanted. 

The guest squatter knew this and exploited it!!

I currently have a STR in Chico, Ca and I have a guest who has reached out on VRBO regarding a long term stay (3 months).

You can set alerts, but if a guest drops the temp too low it doesn't stop them.

You can do a "temporarily off market (TOM)" status or just withdraw it.