My guess is Bond for Deed?

I'm not clear on that relationship) performs the materials sourcing and labor sourcing (i.e. subcontracting) which usually fall under the care of a license/bonded/insured GC in order to circumvent the limits that are placed on unlicensed owner-builders. 

Requirements for becoming a lender will vary from state to state, but at minimum, whomever operates/manages the company will likely have to meet industry experience requirements and will need to meet capital/bonding/licensing requirements specific to Texas.

Mortgage bonds have multiple alternatives they weigh against.

My wife was raised to only put money in CDs or savings bonds. 

I told her I was concerned about their portion going up so significantly that it’s like pulling teeth just to get the $200 out of them.

Engelo Rumora, you can get up to 8% with Corporate Bonds and 12% with Covered Call ETF's. 

Something is better than nothing.A good collection agency will be successful 30-40% of the time, but that's better than a kick in the teeth.

Then getting legal requires Liability Insurance, Bond, Workers Comp , Etc.If you do all this, you will probably lose money the first few years while you learn the ropes....but after that you can expect to make about 20% for Overhead And Profit .

I would put that extra 100k in CD's, bonds and an s & p index fund and continue to add to it.