Heck go to the casino and put it on roulette wheel of black or red. 

You'll spend a lot of time (sounds like you may have already) spinning your wheels in trying to find the right lender, whereas a solid broker can pair you up with the right fit right away and get your project moving. 

The ground is now about 4-5 inches below the foundation line and it's also causing issues with my neighbor's adjacent yard.

If so conventional will be better because FHA/Conv guidelines are the wheel house typically of mortgage broker and some times banker (synonymous names but they all do and sell the same product).Credit unions can sometimes do Fannie Freddie/conventional FHA too but generally aren’t that great at them.

The other day they rehung a cabinet upside down and with drywall that was one inch back from the rest of the wall.

The wheels started coming off when we started building in these safety net's against failure.

As you get reviewed you can inch up to market pricing.  

@Houston Pitts I wouldn't try and reinvent the wheel. 

Plan out the kitchen space to the INCH.

I gave her some runway to get her finances in order and although she can be a bit of a squeaky wheel, she pays on time for the past 2 months.As the person is still paying, I would just stay on them about the late payments, collect the late fees and inspect the property to be sure they're not damaging the inside.