Phasing things out will extend the project and likely lower your IRR, but it also makes it easier to do in chunks potentially with fewer equity investors such that your stake could possibly be higher.  

Should Escrow fail to close in a timely manner through no fault ofBUYER, SELLER shall promptly remit to Escrow all funds received by SELLER and shall order all Depositsremitted by BUYER to SELLER or Escrow, to be refunded to BUYER within fifteen (15) days after the estimatedclosing date specified in this Purchase Agreement, or any mutually agreed upon extended closing date."

The four primary levers (or beneficial aspects) of real estate investing are:CashflowTax benefitsAppreciation EquityYou could start 2 decades from now and still benefit greatly from REI (primarily through Cashflow and Tax Benefits), but your potentially extended horizon means you will participate in each of these areas. 

I had suffered from some of the stress/health problems you spoke of and leaving the stressful environment has dramatically helped me. 

The across the grid uniform adjustment (averaging 24% of the sales prices) significantly reduces the reliability of the analysis.”Lender was going to send another appraiser to the property but seller did not want to extend the contract again (we had a few other delays already) so I lost the property.

I am currently suffering the worst FOMO of my life because I'm too leveraged to buy something new but I feel like SE Austin is about to explode and I'm worried I'll be late to the party. 

Should I just start living in the house by myself or try and extend outside of my natural market to find tenants?

I made a spreadsheet with all my questions about terms: qualifying rules, interest rates, %LTV, %LTC, loan term, can you extend term, draws, draw fees, closing fees, if appraisal needed, time-frame to fund, general contractor needed etc... 

I do intend to refinance the school loan (extending loan term and would receive a lower interest rate) before the deferment period ends.

I also like new appliances as they come with warranties through the manufacturer, and I have extended warranties through my CC.