Many people do this and as long as they keep paying the lender nothing happens, but just understand your risks as they may be able to call the loan for whatever reason.

You will certainly gets lots of different perspectives from the forums and most likely multiple people will have experienced a similar situation in their investing journey!

Quote from @Jared Leggett: Quote from @Corey Conklin: I know that moving away from home isn't what anyone really wants to do but in your situation it would absolutely change your life, financially (and for the better) if you left.Again, I don't know your situation but I can tell you that a sanitation worker in a small town in Kansas (town of about 12,000 people) makes more money than you do living in NYC.

I would do this first before engaging an agent unless you are extremely active.

The Metro Detroit MSA is about 4.3M people and the City of Detroit is only about 600K. 

The process is very involved as you'll have to navigate pre-construction activities that involve architectural plans and approval from the city and then the construction activities (Shovel to soil) take anywhere from 5-9 months depending on how much your building. 

I’ve actually had a number of people exercise their option and get a loan and buy the house.

Well, there are two colleges nearby, Delta State and Mississippi Valley but they are about the poorest 4-year public universities in the state and most of the people that go to them are from the Delta. 

Good lord. curious to the people behind this and what was their real estate experience

I know this may not seem possible, and probably not the answer you were looking for, but it would be worth partnering with another active investor, bringing in a passive investor(s), or even waiting until you have enough capital to deploy into the right deal.