Only having three units I don't feel I can justify spending hundreds on accounting software that is much more powerful than I need. 

You could spend plenty of $ to get your house up to code and not get 100% back at the end of the sale.

We'd love someone to spend some time with us during these days to help us find properties and show us around the area.Here is what we are looking for (we have options!)

Then we spend the rest of the week calling and emailing her trying to get our questions answered.

I don't want to spend the money to individually meter the units, it doesn't make sense financially. 

(And you'll end up spending the least on these leads, since people who like you are going to recommend you to others). 

Even if they have no right (as per the contract) to do the walk through........ you'd likely spend more effort dealing w/ it vs just letting them do it.

I'm also a first-time investor.After spending a few years saving and studying, I determined that investment properties were my best option for financial freedom.

I’m not sure how you look at things but many times what you spend is what you’ll get. 

Buy lists of owners of properties of the type you might be looking for - multi-family 2 to 4 units, or who would be motivated single family owners:  send direct mail - lots of it.I do a lot of #1 and #3. . . if you have a brand new marketing machine, you need to spend more money on #2, if your machine is 15 years old like mine and your website already ranks, and you want to target your leads to specific properties and areas rather than a blanket ad across the metro, then I spend more money on direct mail and retargeting.