Some kind of shift from personal banking to commercial banking -- is that a threshold most people cross at some point?

 I guess I just have a really big heart and hate to see people in hard situations when I can help... but I do believe the line drawn has been crossed.

So you almost crossed that period with your original loan.

Think about Lake Havasu (man made) and Lake Norman (man made) in Charlotte, NC - they are the 2 top rated large lakes in the country.

I use both as a RE investor between commercial and residential as both can be used on 1-4 unit properties (non owner/investment occupancy).The pro's of commercial/portfolio financing from local credit unions and community banks are that you can:- talk to a local banker/lender who is interested in building a relationship with you over time and is flexible to make a loan as long as its financially prudent and you show a track record- ability to build a track record with- less documentation scrutiny than a fannie/freddie conventional loan which is more ridged because it needs to be sold to the secondary market so all boxes must be checked to do so (otherwise the loan is unsellable or undeliverable)- is cashflow based via debt coverage ratio or DCR method of qualification (Net operating income / debt service) - can fund to LLC's, entities, and businesses with personal guarantee (PG) usually- can do unique loans like cross collateral or blanket notes across an entire portfolio, can do rehab/construction + permanent financing into one (one time close products), can do soft liens and releasable upon progress on your projects so you can leverage equity with temporarily encumbrances, unique disbursements on credit facilities,etc Hope that helped compare the cash out options.

This doesn't JUST mean that hourly employees will have fewer hours, it means all the small businesses that support the industry (venues, catering, staffing, rentals, florists, DJ's, bands/musicians, photographers ... the list goes on and on) will have a period of lost revenue, OR potentially, if the country decides to go completely bonkers and continue shutting everything down like Italy has, no revenue at all.

It was almost two acres, on the waterfront, had lots of big trees, and was in a neighborhood filled with doctors and lawyers and people who belonged to the local Country Club.When he died, my Mom had to immediately sell the dream house because it was too much for her to manage.

I completely agree with @Michael Cross.

You are in NJ too so it is denser then some other regions of the country, it might not be as big an issue. 

That said, I think you risked burning a bridge you may have to cross soon because the PM agent sounds shady in this case and may not be the right fit for you, though I'm hoping that I'm wrong there because I don't want any investor to have a negative experience with their Agent.