Do you have any trustworthy family members or good friends in the SD area? If so, they might be willing to handle any emergency situations if you’re not able to come down on short notice. I used to help manage my family’s properties in LA when they were living out of county. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind helping out for free or for much less than a PM company.
I also agree with your suggestion for using the house as a rental to help pay for your relative’s expenses. Of course, it also depends on how much deferred maintenance is involved, because it might skew the situation in favor of selling, especially if you think this is a RE top because of the low inventory/high interest rate environment.
