We have wanted to get involved in vacation rental properties for several years now, but never truly took it seriously because of our previous debt difficulties.  

You need to read David Green's book "Long Distance Real Estate Investing", it will help you to understand that is isn't that difficult. I

Considering the purchase price and the required down payment, you might have a little bit of difficulty finding a lender who will work with you.

I have strong business acumen and an analytical mind from my years working in corporate America, but I’m having difficulty taking the knowledge I’ve amassed over the last year (books, podcasts, and online research), and deploying it in the real world.

Now, I am stuck knowing that it would be almost impossible with current appraisal delays and difficulty to schedule to align with the tenant who needed 10 days notice and only confirmed last minute changing the time.

Of course then you'd have to track down the grantee and get a deed though I've done it several times and didn't have much difficulty. 

That can be anywhere in between 50-100% again depending on the difficulty. 

Communication with Reedy is difficult. I

I am having difficulty finding good and free data to learn about the demographics and crime rate in the area I'm looking to purchase.

I know it’s a broad area but just trying to see if anyone has had problems with crime, theft, difficulty to find good tenants and keep rented.