He explained it to me and it seemed more like dancing around a technicality than something completely different. Seems the bank buys the property at $X and then leases it back to you at ($X+$Y)/25years. Which technically is what a regular mortgage is.
See if this sounds any different than a regular mortgage.
https://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/islamic-mortgage/
Well property sizes around here are a jumble. I think the majority was plotted out over 100 years ago. Some people simply bought two or three plots and dropped a house in the middle. For the recently developed unplotted areas even people with an acre of land usually are restricted from touching more than half of it (ie no cutting down the trees). BTW This causes some interesting wildlife to make its way all the way to the city limits of Boston (bears, mountain lions, fisher cats, coyotes.
I'm sure the definition of old is much different in Texas. I grew up in a >7500sq ft 1880's house so you aren't going to hear me yearning for an old house. You could throw $200K in upgrades at it and not see a difference.