There is no "best' method, you gotta do them all in today's world. 

Read The Straight Path To Real Estate by Kris Krohn to better see the methods and strategies I use Personally.

I know that no matter what our first deal looks like, there will be some kind of rehab involved and I want to learn-by-doing as much as I can.I don't have an abundance of time, as I work full-time as a Product Manager in Technology for Disney...but I have some evenings to spare and most weekends with enough notice.

If heirs are involved they will need to put the estate through probate to transfer title properly. 

If I might ask how much do you have in the property and is hard money involved?

You might want to check with the seller to see if they would pay a buyers commission as you might get stuck eating it if you get your agent involved. 

The easiest and simplest methods I've seen again and again are either posting on CL or searching around CL to find the "We buy houses fast" kind of guys. 

On your rehab team question, that's a bit more involved.

Sounds like there also may be a bit of emotion involved. 

you have to be positive that the numbers will yield profit for all involved parties. if you aren't sure of the exit strategy or how you will secure funds then you still have a far way to go. do you have cash buyers with verifiable proof of funds lined up?