I appreciate your enthusiasm, but your attitude here has shown you might not have the temperament run a STR.

Have a positive attitude & don't overthink it.

Go with a little attitude.

The owner actually gave me an attitude and said that if he could buy it at 169 then he could have made money.

Best of luck Christie, that's a great attitude to have! 

You may not be able to get the full feel of the area with one visit.The one(s) that seem like moneymakers for you, maybe visit with no appointments two or three more times (not in the snow season) and just be a fly on the wall.Visit the grocery store parking lots and fast foods of the areas you like--see who is shopping, are their carts filled to the brim or is it small amounts of food--like they must eat out a lot.Stay in a (m)otel on the fringe of the area, eat on the restaurants the locals eat in (if they are not too dangerous).Go on line and watch their nightly local news, and read their local newspaper online.Talk to local Realtors about A, B C and D areas.Get the Feel for the place, for instance doing business in Chicago (in my opinion) is like falling off a log vs doing business in some other mid-western areas (the locals seem to make it easy and have good attitudes).Other areas the local governments make everything a PITA, with this inspection and that inspection, and local rules and regs as well as eviction feet dragging.

I told him I didn’t like his impatient attitude when I was inspecting his work and the quality of his work was ultimately unacceptable as grounds for my letting him go.Whereupon he insists I still owe him $75 because he actually completed more than 50% of the work the first time around. 

Maybe check your attitude and people will actually come to you with properties before they hit the market.

I would recommend that you speak to planning and zoning in your area and get a feel for what the prevailing attitude is towards RV parks. 

@Steven Gray - Great attitude!