DTI had become my hurdle, making regular plain vanilla mortgages difficult.

One reason they should be able to do that is literally because they manage a lot of properties and can toss contractors business on a regular basis.

Kudos to your regular buyer agent for "stepping aside" and staying out of a transaction where he/she might not be needed. 

The builder will need to supply a Cost analysis, Blue print and a few other things prior to the Draw being negotiated and set up.The land that you own will act as "Equity" to offset the LTV/LTC so you are off to a good start. 

In the great Alaskagold rush, people made more money selling tools and supplies to the miners than the miners made for their efforts.

If it is a regular rental, draw up paperwork that clearly outlines how much money they lent you, when it will be paid back and how much (eg if you buy a house for $400K and 10 years later they move out and it sells for $500K-do they get a percentage of the profit (after taxes and costs)?

There is very limited supply of active listings and nothing comparable.

pid=2114Houston Real Estate Highlights in August, 2024:• Single-family home sales declined 8.3 percent year-over-year• Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes went from 43 to 47 days• Total property sales were down 11.2 percent with 8,730 units sold• Total dollar volume declined 8.8 percent to $3.5 billion• The single-family median price was down 0.3 percent to $336,940• The single-family average price rose 0.9 percent to $421,912• Single-family home months of inventory registered a 4.5-months supply, up from 3.2 months last August• Townhome/condominium sales continued to decline, falling 16.7 percent, with the median price statistically flat at $226,000 and the average price declined 1.2 percent to $258,952.

1.67% seems high (NV is 0.87%, CA is about 1%)  Are there area indications that rents will continue to climb because of shortage of supply?

So much better than others that the US was exporting ventilators, masks, medical supplies to rest of world.