I am a new investor and i am looking for ways to generate leads. 

(Guys in pickups working for beer money)When they get caught "short dumping" the cops nail the "generator" of the waste (YOU) too. 

Just enter the info you need to capture, "Rental Receipt" and the amount and date - and then generate the receipt.  

I would focus on lead generation over closing deals.

Or is it to generate leads?

Do this immediately.Learn SEO and constantly work on ranking your website.While you do this, learn about DMM and PPC.This will help you drive traffic to your website (which Google will notice) and you are then focussing on making deals immediately.The goal is to have your website be your main lead generating beast as the leads it generates are1) "free"2) Super motivated to sell (compared to any other lead generating tool)The only issue with the website is that it takes time to rank.

I’m looking to generate the best info available on investing in real estate as I have a friend that has a major windfall and wants to invest in this field

It is great for generating financial documents, reports, tracking depreciation, travel exoenses, etc.

I'm actually getting ready to roll out a direct mail campaign in my area to see if I can generate some leads that way.

Meaning resources such as ListSource we can no longer generate a home owners equity list.