Property management is a pretty painful industry similar to general contracting... no one ever calls to tell you how grateful they are that the heat is working lolHere in Illinois, the answer is yes or you at least need to have a managing broker on your team as JW mentioned above. 

squatting is a stain on our industry..

Hey Elijah, I just got into the industry this year, would be happy to connect with you!

The private lending world can sometimes feel like the wild West, but as far as industry norms go I would say that your lender is operating outside of them. 

There is a lack of inventory, so retail buyers are picking up homes quickly.You could look at small MF.

I've wondered if for example it even makes sense on a NNN retail building.Maybe if your CPA can do it cheap as part of their tax return service fee for you.Hopefully just your normal straight line depreciation is the way to go, but check with your CPA and see if they think it is worthwhile for you.   

I didn't shop around too much but their business was solely transaction lending so I figure they use the "industry standard" rules.

This is typical of retail transactions with conventional financing, and that's why CASH IS KING when it comes to investment properties on the scale we are talking about. 

These are still supported by the industries you mentioned.