I wanted to be absolutely sure I had complete agency and that I knew how to perform my own analysis over various situations.

In this situation, is it better to get a property through regular means, look what is on the market (through realestate agent), or maybe go through a sheriff sale?

Aside all that, as others mentioned, you didn't lend enough info to give any specific answer to your specific situation.

This is the fork where I'm not sure if I'd be good to get some CRE exp and invest in learning about how to review deals for the next 2-3 years, or focus on generating revenue for investment purposes and watch how things are done as a LP.My personality more aligns with networking, reaching out to people, connecting, navigating difficult situations and finding solutions that work.

Just keep in mind each persons situation is completely different and small things can make a big difference in rates, fee's points, terms, etc. 

It's dependent on your situation. 

Situations make deals, and there is usually a story to tell as to why a property has been sitting.

Depending on your exact situation, you could likely get something closer to 7% and make these numbers work a little better.  

For my personal situation it wasn't worth it.

If so, and this does happen during a guest stay, how would you handle the situation?