There are many routes to go when starting to find leads it all depends on your budget and experience.

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.

Now this depends on how much you want to raise, if its $1M yeah that can be done, if you go above $5M you are gonna need to spend money and I would assume someone starting out 10% of that amount to get there.

Your success depends on it.

You'll be on call 24/7.This is a controversial statement but the average property manager who has proven systems in place can most likely manage around 80-100 properties on their own, maybe more or less depending on how many hours they want to work.

Depending on what you are trying to do, you may just have to do trial & error.

Alternatively, I have spent the last decade doing technical work in cybersecurity, and can land a job between $140k-$190k (depending on where in the US). 

Depending on the seller, you may sweeten the deal, by letting them know that they don't immediately need to cash out, or can partly cash out.

Comparing real estate to the stock market really depends on your needs.

I ask this because Buildium, also a RealPage company, can actually be more affordable depending on the door count and whether you manage on behalf of others.Buildium, like Appfolio, has different tiers of membership.