Since you haven't closed/went to settlement yet, one option is to have your title company draw up assumption paperwork. 

The two existing LTR units (on my family’s property) were built 5–8 years ago at a cost of about $80,000 per unit, so I’m estimating a 20% increase in costs for the new builds.My plan is to use the equity in the land as the down payment for the construction loan, which I expect will make closing costs the primary upfront expense.

You can close in an LLC and don't need to provide employment history, income or tax returns, and DTI isn't a factor.

If you want to change the design, then do upon closing.

I can have multiple one use code for contractors so I can control access without physically going there.You do not need to carry the key, just need to keep track all codesMain disadvantage is that the locking requires the door to close properly, otherwise the tenant may not know the door is not licked.

Id keep looking if it was not an approved short sale ( even an approved short sale takes a very very long time and theres no guarantee that you will even close on the house after months of waiting). q1)There are plenty of non traditional lenders that could offer you construction financing if the numbers make sense but it will cost you with points and a higher rate.

So if you go that route the $125k down payment will be directed to your mortgage company at closing - not you. 

But the risk to the seller on this deal is immense you have a guy tying up a property who has no ability to close it and then sell it to whoever will give him money and that person could be nefarious get into title rip rents could give 2 craps about the sellers credit etc etc..

To rent the home, I would lose about $2,500 per month (based on comparable rents in my area, property management fees, etc).Both options loose the same amount by roughly 2 years, and by this time, I still will not have built up much more equity in the home to make selling it a break even unless there is price appreciation by then.My dilemma is this: I speculate that my home will not appreciate much in the next 3-5 years due to the rapid pace of development in the surrounding area.In 5-10+ years, maybe, but by then I'll have bled $150,000 - $300,000.I have thought about this a lot and feel that I mar'-too close to the problem to see the best solution.

I manage hundreds of rentals and most of them are caulked every 5 - 10 years.DR Horton was the builder, and after we did two inspections and closed on the house, we found out that a good chunk of the roof was missing - they quickly finished the roofing.