The only time I know of recently in the US when house prices dropped was about 15 years ago when banks had been lending money to people that should never have been given loans.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Tuesday issued a temporary fix that allow homebuyers and investors using VA loans to pay for their real estate agent's commission - i.e., the buyer-broker fee. 

I would just check with your lender to verify that the property will be eligible for refinancing after the construction loan.

My three year goal is to provide greater help financially for my husband with our expenses.

I apologize if this is all just fairly standard financial modeling.

Mix buying a home, saving money, putting money in different spots, and possibly getting a better loan deal to stand in a good spot after 5 years.Good luck!

However, we're having doubts because: 1. we wouldn't be able to afford the PITI on our own for longer for >6 months without the help of rents, so we're depending on the house hack to be able to afford this house, but not sure if that's a bad thing or not and 2. not sure if this house is too much house for us financially and we're in over our heads about what we can afford.We've been super excited about this place until we realized the issue with the illegal basement and now we're overwhelmed with the thought of potentially not even moving forward with the house.

But if you want some immediate cash flow and are okay with a bit more maintenance, vinyl could work.At the end of the day, it’s about what fits best with your financial situation and goals.

After years of looking, we finally moved to a bigger house in the same older and desireable neighborhood but with a much bigger loan and interest rate.

For larger projects, in the many dozens of units/lots range, the builders use financial models to determine land value.