My advice is always to start walking properties.

Talk the the agent with the broker present and show the broker the e-mails and tell the broker you trusted that the agent had read the form and was advising you to sign it and it was all ok, that is why you have an agent to walk you through the process. 

@Luke GrieshopMost sponsors will likely want your capital as an LP and may not walk you through the through the day to day activities.

I also am thinking about keeping a journal of sorts, with my progress, so that I could potentially help other people who have had to walk in a similar path.

Keep searching and walking properties until you find the right deal. 2021 has been crazy but don't get caught out in the rain if the market shifts for unknown reasons.

In addition to setting me up, I would like someone to walk me through timing, cost, maintenance, and any next steps.

We did most of our negotiations over coffee and both walked away feeling we had benefitted from the deal.

You don't need those done in the winter and this way they get paid if they do it and if they don't then you can get it done.Yes, but depending on where you are in the country, you do need the leaves raked in the autumn, and the steps and walks shoveled, salt to be spread in the winter.

-If they go, how does a final walk through work?

Some years back, a co-worker of mine found someone checking her mailbox out by the curb, then walking to her back yard on the way home from work.