It’s funny you mentioned this and I have not thought about it.. my wife and I was talking how we could buy land and put a cheap double wide on it (something cheap we can pay in full, $10,000ish) and in our back yard we could slowly start building the dream house we wanted. 

It was a new build and I thought it would be out of my price range.

Second option, if it's even valid, I could build a new house in one of these new communities and then have the house for another few months and sell it (assuming that it would have increased in value) Any input to any of these two strategies would be highly appreciated!

Hi BP, I am a newbie investor in Houston, TX and I want to build a rental portfolio.

The labor market is still strong and consumer confidence is on fire so I don’t see much of a recession coming up.

I settled on a new build under $200K.

We are looking to build a guest/STR house on our property.

In a scenario where the landlord resides in the same building, It may be wise to hold off on making substantial investments in the apartment where the landlord plans to reside for the first 3-4 months,This approach can help prevent any perception of discrepancies in the living standards between landlord and tenant.

However, with high confidence my old property will sell quickly in my current local market it is well worth getting into the next property quickly if the numbers make sense based off the new mortgage.

When I talk to new investors, the first question I always ask is "Are you just looking for the investment benefits of real estate (cash flow, appreciation, tax benefits) or are you looking to build a side hustle business around real estate investing?"