Can someone give me a better idea? 

@Joy Lee that sounds like a great idea!

This all seems like a bad idea for most private lenders let alone novice ones.

Also am open to criticism and new ideas as I search for a Real Estate mentor as well. 

It might be a good idea to tie the site up as long as you can to get some soil testing and at least some preliminary drawings done by the civil engineer to see exactly what the site work costs will be. 

Learn about markets, wealth-building ideas, and various investing tactics in order to expand your portfolio.

I created a trial account on Reonomy and now have a basic idea of what and fir how much was sold in my area.

Good idea.  

I know a lot of people use Avail but consulting with a local real estate attorney is never a bad idea.

That is a lovely idea and intuitvely makes sense.