You my dude happen to live in Kansas City so you've got a leg up on the west coasters.You can simply invest in your own town with relative ease & low cost.

The onus falls to much on me to prove that I should have gotten the payment.I've never signed up for Cozy simply because what I have works and I don't see a value add in it for me. 

You can always lower it for the right tenant but it doesn't sound like the lack of showings is due to the price.

I am just simply looking for a more experienced investor to introduce me to the very basics of real estate.

In my local market, I see a number of out of state investors over pay for turnkey properties in which providers have simply "put lipstick on a pig."

This isn't the answer to everything you listed, but a lot of it will be solved by simply going to your local REI meetup, buying a few people beers, and asking "how many rental properties do you own, and who does your mortgages?" 

You always have control and nobody else, not even your attorney, can manage or sell your property except for you.If you need to prove ownership for financing or any other reason, you simply produce your company documents as well as your banking and accounting records.

It's awesome to meet another investor from the Buffalo area, by the way.My wife and I were thinking the same thing with respect to just simply positive cash flow/all house expenses being covered while we're house hacking, which should make the property that much more profitable once we move & rent out the unit we were living in.While we have a lot of family originally from the Buffalo area, we're relatively new to the area (approx 1 year now) and quickly finding out the areas that we should stay away from - we're certainly steering clear of the inner city areas. 

I would spend the time to gather rehab costs, and simply go back and make your offer.

The selling agent is unlikely to give up any of the commission simply because you chose to act as your own agent.