I have many thousands of retail owners in my year database built up over a decade of time.

While these contractors are certainly out there, in my experience they also tend to be the ones that work with home owners directly and charge "retail" prices, not "investor" prices.I would shop around with lenders to understand how they work with their loans.  

Just double-check with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to make sure you have all the specifics covered.Managing Broker and Deal Visibility: Yes, typically if you hold your license under a managing broker, they’ll have visibility into your deals since they're ultimately responsible for the transactions you complete.

I'm a business owner with investments in retail, media, and addiction treatment facilities.

If you're going to a bank, you'll want to look for a smaller, community bank that has a history of lending on retail centers and multi-family...what they call "CRE" lending vs the owner-occupied "C&I" lending.

Personally all of my STR's could at least cover themselves as LTR's, although I acquired most of them pre-COVID and it is tough to make a retail investment at current rates and values that work as both. 

Years ago it was a thriving commercial retail area, but has since fallen into disrepair. 

Call the customer retention department at a credit card company you already have a credit card with.

Understanding my customer, I bought similar properties to what they were currently renting.This strategy is similar to how national retail chains operate: identify your target customers and provide what they want.

When Connecticut had open carry laws,the police department got used to asking a caller to describe the individual.