Plus, if anything turns south, you are both permanent owners with little recourse on the part of your Uncle.

Permanent life insurance will allow the company to cash in the policies and get most, if not all, of the money back when the insurance is no longer necessary.

Unfortunately, it's one of those repairs I'll probably have to make every 2-3 years until I decide to fix the issue permanently.

Or does the permanent financing essentially pay off both land and construction loan balance?

I normally tell people to budge another 2-3% for closing costs on the permanent loan, but depending on how good of a shopper you are, you might be able to reduce those.   

If it was my long term permanent home, I'd say yes. 

You can learn from books, attending local real estate investor meet up, attending webinars, etc, But your most permanent learning experiences will come from actually doing deals and dealing with them on an ongoing basis. 

Tiny homes are not real estate unless they are permanently on a foundation @Erin Nunley.

Basically you buy a large lot of land outside of city, set up permanent or portable pole barns/pavilions and rent spots by the day.Think of the flea market nearest to you and run the figures.

A builder has a permanent loan on 15 townhomes that are move-in ready.