Like some others have said, a good rescue will be able to tell you about the personality of the cat and whether they’re suited to your home. We adopted from Cats Protection and they spend time with the cats with various volunteers and activities to get an idea of what they’re likely suited to, if they can they’ll have history on the cats (but depends on how they come to the rescue).
With ours we adopted young adults (just over 1yo), they had come from a home with children, and were very relaxed and friendly with all volunteers including child/family volunteers. Quite playful too. So CP felt that our home, which has plenty of space for cats, outdoor space, with young children, was plenty suitable for them. They settled very quickly, bonus selling point for DH was to have hunters and they’re both hunters (one more so than the other), which isn’t super easy to know beforehand but the playfulness/play pouncing etc can be a rough indicator. So we feel protected against mice! Our main intruders are flies which they chase and catch 
As long as you look for a relaxed, family friendly cat they’re quite easy to have (IMO). They pretty much look after themselves in terms of not needing to be watched constantly. Good scratching posts and/or activity centre, places to snooze (some out of the way, eg we have raised cat bed which they love, plus a cat bed under the stairs which is very out of the way if they want quiet), litter trays, and put food and water down of course. They will come to you when they want attention, which is usually just lying on your lap being cute and purring.
Other stuff - pet insurance always good, plus flea treatment monthly (usually a liquid you squeeze onto the back of their neck), and worming tablets (ours are once every 3 months). We have an annual vet check with vaccination boosters - if you think you’ll ever use a cattery they usually only take cats that have up to date vaccinations.
Cost-wise, I’ve done a rough tally of everything (comprehensive lifetime cover insurance, vet visit/treatments, food, litter, toys etc) and my rough calculation is £60/month per cat (I’ve taken annual and quarterly costs and broken that down across as monthly).
I know other people who do it much cheaper, eg no insurance, don’t do regular flea treatments etc, but I think £60/month for an animal to keep them well, fed, litter, fully covered in case of illness or accident, and in beds and toys etc is really not too bad!
The adoption cost at the time was £75/cat at our local rescue, which included ensuring they were microchipped and registered to us, full vet check, flea treatment and worming, and a bit of food to get them started. We had the one off cost of buying cat carriers but they’re not too expensive (many places have them for about £15/20 per carrier).