Once you form a plan and target the right market and property types you will be acquiring, you can start investigating the property management side of things as that will be determined by the former. 

Did you do a pro forma prior to purchase?  

@Monica C.I've invested in a little more than 10 separate syndications with about as many different leads.The one thing I appreciate the most is those asset manager who are willing to send out monthly charts of actual vs pro-forma income and expenses.That's not to say that they are always within budget, because they usually aren't, but they at least show a level of honesty and accountability as well as showing progress.I'm invested in some deals that publish very few KPIs if any at all.

Of course, with all things, the answers to all these matters will depend on the circumstances.California tends to have more laws on the books and requirements and restrictions that it can be a good idea to form a CA LLC for out of state property so that you as a CA resident are covered, and to try to have your contracts fall under the purview of CA courts.

I have a few questions that may seem silly1) If I purchase an apartment complex in cash and form a new LLC, can I still use the old LLCs tax returns to leverage the equity in the property?

The fact that paid information has a higher success rate than free information does not form a basis to say that paid information is better or more effective than free information.

When I pay someone to do it my profits go down.Trust - Talking about paying someone. is really hard to find someone hardworking and trustworthy and even the best are probably not as good as you(vested interests)Local government - yeah, they can be a pain in the ***...I don't see using real estate as a form a diversification as wrong, but I also understand why people like it and are willing to invest all of their time, effort and money investing in it.  

Please share reading material , getting started guides or books that might help.I am currently based out of the San Francisco Bay area and I am looking to invest within a 2-3 hour driving range.RegardsYour main goal is to understand the market (demographics, traffic volumes et cetra) and understand what makes a good deal (look at what has actually sold and at what price combined with building out a pro formas to understand it).  

We did not get an EIN since the plan was to form a joint LLC at the end of project completion.

You're going to weigh the pro-forma versus buying government debt, private debt or heck a BDC, not necessarily against buying land.