Sales is a time-intensive venture, and it takes years to develop a pipeline of clients.

If you don't have the funds yourself, you need to develop a solid relationship with those that do.

Where are getting that consumers pay three times as much in commissions as other developed countries?

Michael,   A good book to purchase is "Professional Real Estate Development: The ULI guide to Business.   

That gets worse as you get farther out of the cityTLDR: values depreciate, inflation has gone basically nowhere in Japan for a long time, the supply of housing is pretty good compared to demand (unlike the US) and that's because of flexibility with rezoning and development, taxes on rental income are high. 

Managing 17 shopping centers and selecting sites for new developments is no small feat—kudos to you!

A lot of my out of state real estate clients really like this market because the macroeconomics look so good for this market - population is growing, job growth is growing, and so many companies moving and developing here.

To develop the property, you would need to demolish the existing structure.  

It's worth taking the time to understand what you're doing so you can develop your own conviction and confidence.

@Andrea Lucarelli - We are converting our planned airbnb into a mid-term rental here in Chicago because it got denied by the city because supposedly its in a "planned development area".