Because I don't have a huge stash of cash, I would be doing 3.5% down with an FHA loan and a plan to refinance to ditch the mortgage insurance a few years down the road.

So my tenant says that there was a maintenance being done at the ditch (adjascent) behind the house a day before the two toilets & bathtub got sewage backup.

Once I had the deal and pitched the deal to him, it failed miserably because I wasn't prepared.After reading Matt Faircloth's book, though, it opened my eyes to a second approach, without ditching the one you mentioned.

Right if you ditch your job then have your joint DTI or debt to income looked at prior to see if you still qualify with just your wife's income and if not then just know what you're doing by ditching your W2 (giving up your ability to obtain conventional debt capital).Will you have other options ?

If you  sign contracts based on specific buyer's criteria,  you are screwed when they ditch out, as you are noticing now.You absolutely do not find buyers first.

Can you drive into property or do you need a pipe (culvert) or something to cross roadside ditch?

I spent about $100K on clearing and ditches. 

A last ditch effort could be to ask the contractor for some references haha?

Congrats on ditching the excuses and putting yourself out there!

You can also ditch your hot water tank and put an on demand hot water heater in its place.