He has just been using Excel to catalog and has been keeping receipts, but we were hoping for a more sophisticated solution and approach when I take over. 

Saying 4.5% is a bad number is not what a sophisticated investor says. 

Payroll, bookkeeping, etc can mostly be done remotely.Here is a great list of questions to ask a potential accountant:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/70447-questions-to-ask-a-cpaAlso check out the www.NAEA.org page in your search.

Establish a relationship with them, but more importantly, do not ruin your reputation by not "Being in the know" ...Make sure you are sophisticated or accredited and get educated first. 

He or she will have a lot of good advice on how to structure it.I'm actually a lawyer myself, with 12 years of practice on 9-figure and 10-figure cases, so I consider myself pretty legally sophisticated.  

Right now I’m saving for a car so i can get on a payroll to help fund my future plans.

Not even the most sophisticated investors are able to time the market correctly.

That's reserved for sophisticated lenders like us (bwahaha).Just kidding.If you guys don't know what that is - it's generating cash from the note so you can do it again.

While I don't disagree entirely, curious to hear your thoughts:Generally whether a PPM is required or not depends on 1) which exemption is being used 2) type of issuer 3) number of investors 4) level of sophistication of investors 5) amount of money being raised & 6) complexity and terms of the offering.No PPM is "required" for offerings of <$5MI am not a lawyer so would be happy to have one chime in :)Regarding the Cost Seg, I have worked with and seen many studies on behalf of clients in addition to the cost benefit of such studies. 

Listen to multifamily podcasts as some of the producers are syndicators who provide a lot of very good educational content.If the offering is structured as a Reg D 506b syndication then up to 35 sophisticated (non-accredited) investors can invest.