Unrecorded deed of trust as collateral for private money loan

[Michael W. McCord]

Hi, I have a proposed deal with a builder that wants to use my private money loan to purchase 5 adjacent townhome lots in Sanger TX in order to secure a construction loan which will have the first lien. He says that we will go to title company and have them issue a deed of trust to me and not record it as it would impair the builder getting the construction loan. So if the deal goes south, I can just go to title company and record the deed. I understand I may need to consult an attorney for my specific case but before I go too far deep into this I wanted to find out from the BP community if this is a viable strategy or something that should generally be avoided.

Thanks!