I closed a similar deal this March, a geodesic dome house on 6 acres.

@Florencio Moreno Just north of the Alamo Dome in Dignowity and Government Hill are seeing lots of action due to proximity to the Pearl Brewery, the new Alamo Brewery and general east side development projects.http://www.therivardreport.com/dignowity-hill-update/

That's what my brother wants to do. Me

Thanks for the response I have given you all I got all our ducks where in a row,even my broker is stunned. 

On a related note, would it do me any good to negotiate directly with the seller, and/or the bank in this situation?

So take a hint from my story and speak the language spoken by those your talking to  and tell them in advance if I make a mistake in my language do me a favor and correct me, I would really appreciate it if you would do that for me.f 

As an example, I recently wrote an article for an agent in Mallorca and it was titles "Top 5 places to live around the world" one was Mallorca of course, and the other what Chang Mai (a stunning tropical city in Thailand, and the link was to an article on my site.

Tax returns will do me no good as they will only claim a portion of their income, I have the last 2 months of bank statements with cash deposits shown.

Watched football--still stunned that Greenbay snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.  

@Joshua Dorkin do me a favor and hold this "booyah"