If you are getting paid based as a percentage of the sale / purchase price, that sounds an awful lot like a commission to me.However, I am not your attorney, so if you want a definitive answer to your question, I would recommend you hire an experience Texas real estate attorney OR get a real estate license (and then you don't have to worry about the issue).

Potentially becomes an extortion issue if you hire an agent to list and sell.

And it appears that the amount of work is not high enough to hire a full time person.Does anyone have some good best-practice or ideas to show how you manage the work load and staffing for similar scenarios?

Be careful out there....some of the new builds are not comparable to the old builds....many of the newer ones are all siding, no brick, no light fixtures or ceiling fans...just LED recessed lighting...no doorbell, no garage door opener, no attic stairs, one piece tubs, vs tiled baths, no landscaping, no trees, and on and on....they've taken out virtually every single cost.   

Some homeowners hire a property manager to manage the other 1-3 units for the owner.

But I feel when booking all sorts of things that unanswered bad reviews feel like confessions from the seller/owner/etc. that the review is correct.Some landlords and sellers hire companies to threaten to sue people who leave bad reviews if they can't back up their assertions.

Hi Fergus,If you can handle the workload thats going to come with building the two duplex's, I say go for it.If your going to be biting off more than you can chew, liquidate.It really depends on your risk tolerance at this point.The construction loan is a doable deal as long as you have solid credit, have experience /hire a builder.

Maybe over a virtual coffe?

As @Pat Aboukhaled said, hire a public adjuster.

So I hired a company to pressure wash my apartments (8 units) in New York State and the guy fell off the roof.