With those questions answered, forming a syndicate for a residential property (1-4 units), while possible, is impractical.

Hope the public is not hoarding For Sale signs.The only way we can make this fair and fight extreme rent controls or extremely lopsided anti investor is to join apratment associations and band together.

I would ideally like my first property to be a house hack (looking for a 2-4 unit building to stay in the residential space and not get into commercial just yet).

Both residential and commercial.As far as retreading goes if you have a sever situation occur you can certainly ask for a concession.

At least in NJ, I believe a PE can't sign for "residential stuff" (yeah thats the technical term for it). 

It's important to remember office leases are completely different than residential leases, and a 6% commission across the board is not as common as you'd think. 

I am uncertain as to how many of my residential tenants will or will not be able to pay rent in the near term. 

What if the next order is to shut down residential building supply stores like HD and Lowes as nonessential?

The idea is to change the gallery into a residential rental apartment, which can probably be a 2 bedroom and cost about 15k$ to reno to be rented.

The idea is to change the gallery into a residential rental apartment, which can probably be a 2 bedroom and cost about 15k$ to reno to be rented.