@Dustin Horner you should be contracting maintenance work and creating a preferred list of vendors as @Phillip Austin has recommended.The first person you hire to help you should be to handle what you LEAST like to do yourself or has the greatest time savings for you!

H there, I'm a certified international property specialist and while i don't personally specialize n Costa Rica,  have several colleagues who do.  

Can this person now be "a real estate" professional? 

Personally, I've been in this niche since 2007.

depending on where you are in NJ you might have the Lehigh Valley in PA a couple hours away, or Delaware, etc. you can go to meetups, see places in person, and start to build a network.

To give you something as a reference based on your budget (30-40% down with $1.8M), the general cap rates you will see in the Bay Area are roughly 3-5% https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1047-Rich-Ave-Mountain-View-...https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1180-Saranap-Ave-Walnut-Cree...You will find higher cap rates and more 20+ units buildings in SF, Oakland, and Richmond, but keep in mind of their stringent tenant laws. 

I personally don't like getting a lot of automated messages when I rent a STR, I'd rather have some more personal contact.....

The terms and costs will depend on the property, your personal situation, the location, etc.

I have personally invested in both turn-key and value-added properties. 

And you can't legally dictate how much they carry for personal belongings.