I would suggest trying someone local, may hosts have find their last resort at a local insurance company.

Are you sticking to traditional banks, exploring private lenders, partnerships, or maybe something creative like seller financing?

One of the most important skills you didn't mention is networking, which you are obviously doing well at too.I'd recommend connecting 1:1 (zoom, coffee. lunch, etc.) with a couple from the BP Chicago community or better yet check out some of the local meetups: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-real-estate-events-...Make friends with the meetup hosts...they will often know whos who and can help you make the right connections.Regarding your license, I think it's a great idea if you have the time and are going at it with the right intentions. 

See what the bank thinks it’s worth.

I just got off the phone with a law firm doing the foreclosure legal work for a bank.

Commercial bank or local business bank - where they will fund as much of the purchase price and rehab budget as possible, typically will have a lower interest rate than option 13.

Remember you are using debt to make this investment, not reserves  sitting in your bank account so I recommend a more conservative investment approach. 

First, when calling banks target the smallest most community based banks you can first.

However, this is a totally new space to me- Any advice for how to go about looking for a lawyer who works with individual investors and won't break the bank?

Banks are getting tighter and may have unperforming assets, so they are looking at their portfolios and becoming more picky, for lack of a better word.When the economy is ripping, banks loosen criteria.