Realtors, owners, buyers all have gotten burned.  

Awesome to see @Robert Burns!

Hey, so I just got a deed on a tax lien and somebody burned the property down before I was able to get insurance on it in Phenix City, AL…what can I do about that?

I can cover my mortgage but are there other ways of financing this project without burning my cash reserves?

@Matthew Samson, I'm all for burning the ships and going all in, but with this in mind, hopefully, you have some reserves saved up.

So, how do potential buyers come to understand builders who have more flexibility to negotiate prices downward without burning a lot of time?

I agree too, just use a HML or find yourself a money partner who is local as Jay mentioned.That company certainly has done a marketing job on newbies, that fee is to wash out bad deals and not burn up their time.

I'm getting my finances in order now so I can buy the house that I've been renting from my in laws and will have instant equity.

Instant water heaters take up less space and come in electric or gas versions.

To which my response was, "so 5 min to complete, 1 hour and 55 min to make sure the new battery doesn't explode in the remote and burn down the entire neighborhood?"