We are vacation rental managers with many homes owned by Canadians.

I am looking at purchasing a vacation rental in Costa Rica and I have a couple of questions in regards to that.  

How many people every year pour out there life savings to come for a vacation, just from TX, not even mentioning the US or rest of world. 

My goal is to live in the home during the winters, maybe 3-4 additional weeks for vacation, then rent it out to help cover the mortgage the rest of the year.  

Tell the tenant (with a firmly written notice) to fix or vacate.

You may want to first explore cities that you are already familiar with.Think of cities where you grew up, went to school, like to vacation to or see family.You will have a better idea of what the good / bad parts of town than a brand new city that you are unfamiliar with.Best of luck.

Forget the course and put that money on a quality vacation short-term rental.  

For most vacation rental areas, irresponsible people are not renting homes.

Quote from @Chris Barrett: Based on the translation that would be short term rental (vacation rentals) and mid-term rentals (month at a time)?

For many, if not most, this is likely to be after a workout, coffee, and around 10:00 AM in the morning on a weekend day or on a vacation day.