Opinion has no place here.Note:Luck is 50-50.What everyone is content with and labels as "normal" is 0.03-99.97.

A lot of other markets 20 years from now could be ghost towns with little demand.But on the flipside, that safety/security comes with lessor immediate returns, as is a normal balance with investments (more risk traditionally equals more short term gain potential). 

I'm starting to feel discouraged, and wondering if anyone has any recommendations (wait it out or sell), or if this is normal(doesn't seem like it)?

I agree with @Brandon Rizzo I think the supply will normalize as the migration to Texas has not slowed down and as builders make correction to a more balanced supply and demand (along with interest rate improvement) housing market will be better.

from an insurance standpoint it would probably dramatically raise your insurance costs as treehouses are normally looked at as a huge liability for injury.  

However, using a 1031 exchange allows you to defer both capital gains and Normal depreciation recapture in RE asset taxes by reinvesting in like-kind property.For the assets that were segregated as non-real estate, you cannot do a 1031 exchange on Non-RE assets.

You mention market appreciation is good for a $100k home - throw away the last four years and what was the appreciation from 2012-2019 - that is what you should be looking at.I saw this with people in shenandoah va raving about how appreciation is awsome etc (during covid) - of course it was everywhere was appreciating, but now that we are back to a more normal economy -- I would not look at the past few years appreciation and look back to prior to see if it truly is an appreciating area.

IF you have a recorded mortgage and it was a normal sale handled by a title company and the buyer wanted title insurance then you would have had to be paid off and signed a mortgage release or a reconveyance deed.One way or the other if you want some constructive help you need to clarify what you actually did..

. :-)With that being said what you were doing is definitely a gamble.

For jobs that I do for normal customers (not investors) I will have 20% cost plus on total price of construction from day 1 of clearing trees, prepping land, to CO.