What should I know about vacation rentals?

[Joshua McGinnis]

My wife and I are considering purchasing some land to develop a rental up near the Yosemite area (Oakhurst, CA, Bass Lake, etc) and we often encounter other friends / clients who are interested in doing the same. 

What we'd like to do is either buy a vacation rental that is ready to go and use it a few times a year OR we'd like to buy some land and then in a few years, develop it and rent it out as a vacation rental. The idea being that the rental income pays for the property during the time we're not using it. And then perhaps we would retire to the home in 20 years. 

Aside from the wealth of info here on BP, what other resources are available to help us get educated on this topic? 

Here are a few questions I have just off the top of my head:

• How do you find and vet a vacation rental property manager?
• How do I estimate demand, occupancy rates, and rental rates for a property/area?
• How does seasonality impact our strategy?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!