Whatever you decide I would implement it and uphold it 100%, so there are no exceptions to your policy.

Could also look at a smart lock so that you can send your guest a code which would prevent the need of exchanging keys with your guest.

if it is something the tenant did or could have prevented-then they pay for it. 

So what strategy/ies are you considering or implementing at this time?

Rather than a STR approach you could always implement a 6 month lease for when you're in Maine.

Cameras would be a good option if you can prevent the theft from happening.

The main problem with this method for us is that its taking a lot of our capital out of our pockets, preventing us from using that to buy a house to actually live in.

@Kevin ManzWhen you say your lease was iron clad - how did that prevent them from suing ?

A mortgage broker may be able to shed some more light on this better than I can, but I’m assuming you have a fixed rate mortgage on the rental property since the fee is so high.In order to guarantee the fixed rate and prevent people from breaking and reapplying when rates go lower, fixed mortgages have a much more substantial penalty for breaking them.  

@Zak Marinko the BRRRR method can be implemented with nearly any capital source.