. - Once I determine how many to send out a week, can that be automated?

Also I would love to automate this as much as possible.  

Hey David, when I first started I handled all aspects of acquiring properties myself.If you're going to answer all the calls yourself, ask the pre-qualifying questions, do the due diligence, make follow-up calls, meet with qualified sellers, and then go to the closing, I would say 10 hours, (give or take), per deal from start to finish is a good rule-of-thumb.Of course there are many variances and the more automated you make your acquisitions process, the more time you'll save.

I don't have the sales history in automated searches, so I did 5 sales they did on 5-31-2019 by hand.

Yes... there is a point where your time will become more cost effective somewhere, but make sure you automate as far as possible!

I actually had my realtor that I work with for my personal home recently set me up an automated search for expired listings.  

It really doesn't take a huge amount of time---unless you send out 10,000 pieces at a time.The automated systems are such a turn off!!

All those guys have automated ways to produce yellow letters.Also, consider using postcards - they are much cheaper to print & mail.  

I have another business outside of real estate from which I learned early to automate as much as I possibly can so I can concentrate on the really important stuff. 

Get more automated, hit more prospects, and do it repeatedly.