Soon after purchasing the home, I found the ceilings were made of horse hair plaster.

In the “old” days, people would have the seller pay the lender so as to not “alert” the lender that a property sale had taken place, so that the lender def wouldn’t trigger the so called “due on sale” that’s a part of almost every mortgage or deed of trust document.  

In areas like Dallas or Fort Worth, I’ve seen professional cleaning range from $300–$600, especially when dealing with pet-related cleaning like removing cat hair from carpets.

Your property is fairly destruction proof, costs near nothing to maintain, yet you can charge above market rents.If your property is nicer (class B) where the carpet alone might be $6k or more to replace when the tenant spills hair dye everywhere, you won't be as happy as in the situation above.  

Starting all over from scratch... my gray hair is turning back black....LOL.   

Selling your share at fair market value could avoid gift tax but may trigger capital gains tax for you based on the sale price and your cost basis.In California, the transfer may also trigger a property tax reassessment under Proposition 13 unless a specific exemption applies.

That being said, I still want to pull my hair out sometimes because of the difficulties investing and working here.

Quote from @Isaac Terry: I was looking at homes in Akron & Clevand, they are affordable but since I'm out of state I'm not sure about pulling the trigger on investing. 

Joe its all about NPV  and rate of return for investors.. either way your going to take a pretty big hair cut out of your equity to do what your wondering about. 

You can put a mortgage into a "trust: without triggering a due on sale but again contacting your bank/lender is the best route to avoid any issues.Some banks/lenders or servicing companies change guidelines and even a trust may require other paperwork but the attorney usually facilitates that to be safe.