It's prefect if you can find an opportunity to see open houses nearby or even "pretend" to be a prospective tenant for another landlord just to see your competition.  

Pretend I have 50% down or I have 5% down, it doesn't change the question: should I use a buyer agent to represent me or not?

Listing Agent was very adamant that she would not disclose anything about why the listing fell through or anything about the property because it's an "as is" sell and they don't have to.Closer to the end, I contacted an agent that worked under the listing agent and pretended like it was interested in purchasing the property through him.

But, as soon as spring comes around, they will pretend you don't exist...

Call up companies pretending to be a potential tenant, and see how they respond.

Pretend like you run a property management company with 500 units, and run things like you would with all the others.  

I'm not going to pretend to know anything about vacation rentals, but there was a really good podcast on it a while back.http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/03/19/bp-podcast-114-how-to-invest-in-vacation-rentals-with-scott-sutherland/So where are you planning to buying a vacation rental? 

She even sent her friends pretending to be potential tenants to document if the issues have been fixed.

to California pretender-investors.

Please stop pretending that you know what you're talking about - it will be misleading to others who want to stay within a confines of the law.