We’ve been gathering information about the rental property market in Japan in terms of realistic expectations for yields, as well as a reasonable timeline for getting started and generating income to support our family. 

That is overly simplified and I've left out other things (inspections) as well as some things that are going to be the same whether you own or rent (utilities, moving).the numbers are very different depending on where you live-both in terms of costs of buying and selling, cost of a home and cost of rent.

They can do this more easily if they write in terms into the agreement that make that easier.  

Then one of my best friends took his life and ran into one of my old friends at the funeral (similar story but was years ahead of me in terms of change).

I was blown away at the cheaper prices at first - but quickly learned that it's definitely a "you get what you pay for" situation in terms of location! 

I shopped around and Mutual of Omaha blew everyone out of the water in terms of points and fees.

Well, history shows what happened both in terms of marginal tenants ultimately getting hurt (as did many landlords) and the Supreme Court ruling the Eviction Moratorium as unconstitutional.I see the whole idea of rent control, which is just another form of government invasion for political hopes, being bad for everyone. 

The rest will be leased.How do I determine and analyze a potential location for this development in terms of potential lease rates, vacancy rates, potential area growth, post construction value, etc?

Fannie/Freddie have more restrictions in terms of experience and net worth to qualify.

I suspect that markets with landlord and developer friendly policies will see more growth, in terms of populations, jobs, etc.