They shouldn't need to drive anywhere.

Are drive by appraisals a thing, if so, when are they used?

And as you stated it has become more and more obvious to me that everything he proffers is to drive his own personal agenda of bias, greed and acquisition.  

This will continue to drive up the prices.Sales - Median $/SF by MonthThe $/SF also had a slight drop MoM.

The rare times when that happens our economy is in deep do-do.

You would do better in 30-day t-bills (right now ;-)The hopes an investor might have (if you purchased a property like this) are: 1) inflation to drive rents up, 2) inflation to drive property appreciation, and 3) mortgage rates to drop to refi at a lower rate in a few years.A lot depends on what someone thinks about the longer-term prospects of neighborhood they're investing in.

Go driving looking at whats out there. 

It may not be possible, but if you're going to go the appreciation route (versus cashflow), then you're best off targeting 5+ unit properties where you can force the appreciation by driving NOI.

Hope this drives home what should be prioritized when selecting your construction lender.

I saw some interesting single family houses (newly constructed) in the range of 200-300K, for examle in:McAllenEdinburgSan JuanMercedesHow can I deep go into research about those cities and neibarhoods in term of demand for rentals and for sales?