The city says there are significant lead levels in the home.

Compared to the recent pricing peak in May 2022, single-family home prices in Austin are down approximately 15%.For some broader context, here’s a chart of the median sales price of a single-family home in Austin over the past 10 years:As you can see, prices in Austin are still substantially above pre-pandemic levels.

Start a public records inquiry at the local/county level.

What level of management did you select?

My property manager uses AppFolio, which is fine for transaction level detail and a few dashboards.

My debt-to-income levels, by conventional banking standards, are good but not great.

What you are talking about is a tiny home which addes even more levels of difficulty in getting approved.

You do have a lot of leverage, and your comfort level is a personal decision for you based on your finances and ability to sleep at night. 

That's next-level.

However its really a balancing act and different for each owner depending on time and comfort level with your construction team and suppliers.