This is an extremely unusual practice, never seen this in 15 years of my investing career.

The engineer can help with this estimate, but local contractors are the top source for getting this info. 

I’m not saying this is perfect… but if you can find a home like this one for $600k that could work long term, trust me, with a little effort and patience, you can find even a better one off market or make this one work.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

This area is an amazing place to live, and for that reason highly competitive in terms of real estate investing.

All of this being said, part of the plan is to purchase my neighbor's 4.5 acres to give me complete control of almost 14 acres off a major city/county road that connects to a major Texas highway in the DFW area.

People like this Scott Carson guy give "mentor" and "guru" a bad name which is just so frustrating because they are not all bad.

i know this is not exactly the answer you want to hear, but it's just a really tough time to get started. 

This is JUST TO BE EVEN, with doing nothing. 

Thanks to everyone here for providing so much knowledge and tips, learning a lot on BP!