There is no FHA 3.5% down on an apartment building or a shopping enter, there's lots of gov't incentives for "everyone to own a home" and since 1-4 units residential are all considered "single family" homes that means young investors get to ride that gravy chain for up to 4 units, but nothing like that exists for CRE (the gov't backed CRE mortgage options require MORE experience than traditional/vanilla commercial mortgages).Let me know if I can help.

It's got a village like feel with locally owned shops and eateries.

My insurance agent often does an adequate job.That sentance alone tells me I should shop around agents/providers, but what is the easiest/most effective way to do that?

So it looks like if your shopping at a multiplier of median home prices, yup, that inventory is finally not below the threshold for shortage.... by 0.2mnths supply....

The policy is coming up for renewal and I tried shopping around and have been told that either it is not insurable due to an old type of wiring or it will cost 100% more for the policy than I have now.I tried to do a cash out refi and was told there isn’t any equity to take out.

As well as coffee shops like Bottoms Up Coffee are moving in and small microbreweries like brew dog and land grant.

REITS that own shopping malls or sky-scraper office buildings are effectively the walking dead and many will not survive. 

Pretend to be a renter and secretly shop the competition. 

Why are you shopping for property in Akron, Ohio?

Open a clothes shop, open a coffee shop, make money on ebay, become a used car salesperson- there are many things that allow you to make money besides this.