If you have money for down payments and construction, funding will be fairly easy with a hard money lender (also need a credit score of 620-660 min).

I had discussions with two local prospective builders but nothing was making logical sense to me so I put it on hold.

Again, the two situations may not be apples to apples, I'm just going off of the info you provided. 

Two are rentals now.I wish you all the best.

Now we are questioning if there is a better method or if we should just rent an apartment for another year or two.

This was done to protect senior citizens on fixed incomes from being forced to sell their homes due to unaffordable property tax increases.Since the passing of this amendment, all properties in Michigan have two property tax values associated with them:State Equalized Value (SEV): supposedly equal to 50% of the market value of a property, not based on recent sales price.Taxable Value: the SEV annually capped as long as there is not a transfer of ownership.City Assessors are charged with determining how much property values have changed each year.

@Matt LeberYou're mixing together two completely unrelated taxes: IRS income taxes and local property taxes.

HOW TO SHARE UTILITIES 101You have a property with two or more units and the utility meters are shared.

I've house hacked two single family homes in Reno NV, and rented out 4 rooms in each. 

A little about me I am in my late 30’s happily married with two wonderful kids.