I'm a full time employee with benefits and a 401K with good credit but I cannot get traditional financing, because I am also a stand up comic.

You've got someone on the outskirts of socially acceptable behavior, she might have merit for it (hiding from a harassing boyfriend), she might just be anti-social, she might be hiding a meth lab.Regardless, I would want to stand in front of her and talk to her and get a feeling for her situation.

Will it stand out and look odd?

The three commercial spaces face the Main st and the entrances to the residential are off the side street.I am not concerned with filling up the residential spaces. 

Basement is stand-up crawl space, dry, concrete floor with poured concrete foundation. 

A MHIC is not the same as having a General Contractor's license issued by the various counties or a state issued Home Builder's license (neither of which allows for home improvement work - the former is for commercial work and the latter is for the new home construction), so don't be fooled it they say they are properly licensed but don't have a MHIC number.If they have a MHIC license in good standing (you can check that here: http://www.dllr.state.md.us/cgi-bin/electroniclice...) and the property is also located in the State of Maryland, then you may have recourse through the MHIC Guaranty Fund.

Are there stand alone or central humidifiers running, lots of stove top cooking, long showers???

You can set a budget for each one of your expenses and view it live to see where you stand at any time of the month.

The people who pitched me were *very* focused on how I could make money by recruiting other agents - almost to the exclusion of selling real estate.They're probably just fine as a company, but that kind of pitch is really off-putting because the person making the pitch stands to gain personally by convincing me to sign on.  

For some people it brings out the best, but others completely fold and it will kill them.