Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I recommend that you look at Notice of Defaults, Vacants, Tax Liens or Probate. 

I don't recommend jumping into this world if you have no experience in the industry.4.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

Are there any resources available and recommended that would be better suited for creating a pro forma for new (spec) construction?

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Based on the information that you shared, if you haven’t already done so, I recommend connecting with a local expert.

In most cases, I don't recommend renting out your primary residence especially if you have no rental experience and that is because usually your primary residence was bought without the idea of renting it out.  

If you can find practice tests, that is my recommendation - that is what I did after taking the required time component and did not have any issues passing the test. 

Those agents are recommended because they paid to be first on the list.