I am also in a somewhat similar situation ( I own a house and my PR application is still in progress. If everything goes as planned, I plan to move sometime next year). I did some research and here is what I found.
We can own house/business while not physically residing in the US. Whatever income your business/property makes will be counted towards your annual earnings and will be taxable as such.
The money generated will be a passive income and not wages which are tied to the H1B visa ( Assuming you are on H1b) and so, you will not be violating any laws associated with that
Renting the house as opposed to selling is a very attractive idea, that I have thought about for a while. I also wanted to do that initially and there are some pros and cons.
Pros :
Renting is fairly easy as you have rental management companies that do all the hard work for a price (10% or your rent I believe)
You will still own the house and under the right circumstances, it can be a smart investment provided the housing market doesn't crash.
Its a good way to make some extra money provided you are able to rent and have a mortgage less than the rent you can collect.
Cons :
Rental management though it helps, there can be things that you have to be present ( Major repairs like roof/heating or appliances or unforeseen damages fire/flood/tornado etc)
If you cannot rent the house, the mortgage might be a liability that will affect your life in canada
Taxes and keeping track of income and expenses is an added hassle.
Looking at all these things, I made a decision to sell the house before leaving as it will be much less hassle and not worth the perceived equity or profit that may or may not be realized. Especially with all the chaos now, the next recession or whatever can be triggered by a tweet
Your situation may be different, but I hope my two cents will help.
All the best my friend !!
