The home was new construction and the builder needed to offload it to recoup funds and pay workers, so I got it at a small discount.

Construction skills, loan skills, financing skills, legal understanding, real estate transaction skills, etc all greatly help.Personally I wouldn't deal with someone that has no money, lacks experience, or some kind of resources. 

I saw some red flags and some complaints about how they handled some construction with asbestos in the house.

Louis]A comparison between household formation and new home construction shows a significant housing shortage.

It lowers wages for us, construction wages have not gone up since 1960 likely due to illegal immigration.

I was the original and only owner of a new construction property built in 2005.

You also have two major holidays coming in the US (Thanksgiving and Christmas and construction will slow down as people take time off).

Our overall Construction costs have gone up 20%.

Most of the guests are on their way into town for a permanent move but need a place to stay for several months to facilitate a closing, complete construction, etc.That avatar and sellers who want to cash out and look are the sneaky win for MTR right now in my opinion.

Of course, you can hire a local inspector to confirm work is done before final payment, but that all requires some pretty decent process management.