Also in those towns it will definitely be harder to get real estate agents and contractors that speak English.That being said don't let it discourage you, you might be able to form a very good team there and there is a lot of opportunities where you can get very good returns in other areas, inclusively greater Lisbon, greater Porto and Algarve where it will be much easier to find English speaking professionals, plus interest rates are really low, to give you an idea I've recently done a mortgage for primary residence, 85% LTV, at 1.2% flat interest rate for 30 years.At the end it will depend on your profile as an investor and what you are looking for in terms of being turnkey or how much renovation/construction work you are willing to undertake and how management intensive you want it to be.Hope this answers your question, feel free to ask any other questions, as always, I will try to answer as best as I can!

Building a home on an existing lot and developing even a small 1 acre parcel of raw land are two totally different undertakings.

Did in the past but found that just the fan did just as well of a job and takes very little power.There is a heightened awareness of "mold" these days and a lot of people are paranoid about it so consider the long term effects of any basement projects you undertake.

I have clients who work in Assisted living and they wanted to pursue the same kind of property conversion and even with they experience they decided it was a little too much work and risk to undertake. 

🏗 Construction is building someone’s dream and why we fail to build one, the real strategic failures🤐Construction projects are complex 💢 undertakings that require careful planning and execution✅ to be successful 🏆 .Unfortunately, there are numerous potential pitfalls ⚠ , that are external and internal, that can hamper a project's progress, leading to strategic failure 🔥 .See the image for detailed external factors, mapping to internal factors 🔀 and how they result in below strategic failure.1️⃣ Failure to secure lower cost of capital 💰; the cost of capital during the gestation period adds up quickly 📈.2️⃣ Failure to obtain volume discounts 🏗 and rebates from materials suppliers and secure lower labor 👷‍♂️ rates from certain subcontractors; and3️⃣ Failure to build a sales and marketing 📢 strategy and aligning it with the Project timelines ⌛ .4️⃣ Failure to manage cashflows 💥 resulting in abandoning ✂the projects.

That is a massive undertaking and very different business. 

Obviously this is a huge undertaking, something I'm nowhere near able to tackle on my own, but I want to try to put together a deal. 

Not too thrilled about rehabbing and renovating this one  and prefer to "wholesale" the ratified purchase agreement with the seller to a builder or contractor who  would be more in tune with such a large renovation undertaking. 

Is there an appraiser near Asheville NC who would provide me with some assurances before I undertake the construction of a unique structure that I would later like to refinance? 

I absolutely agree with you that a big rehab would be quite an undertaking, and what you say about getting a track record makes sense.