The Japanese love tons of paperwork and to do things by the book down to the dot, so it's very troublesome for foreigners like us to get through the paper hurdle.

Quick question.I'm about to buy 240 absentee owner lists,should i print my letters on white papers?

@Jonathan Towell Good call , that makes a lot of sense and I will use that metric going forward in my searches.

Now towel racks on the walls for you.

although it goes against logic, the high commission is because of the high demand. the same situation exists in Boston, agents have to know their commission will be worth the amount of work they invest with a client. and like new york, with a majority of buyers being wealthy you can establish a high going-rate because you won't lose business. sorry if I didn't explain that all to well, hope that helps!

I have been a landlord since 1982 and I have also flipped a fair numbers of homes over the years.A couple of years ago I discovered the "paper" side of the real estate investment world.

I am currently converting paper assets into hard assets (SFR's) for the long term investment as well as building passive cash-flow to exit my current career.Currently we are buying houses off the MLS as well as distressed properties (estate sale/pre-foreclosures) that fit our investment criteria. 

Assuming that's the case, does he meet with an architect first to get ideas on paper?  

I'll reach out with a pm to give you a white paper on the process.

There are plenty of properties in D-class areas that sound good on paper based on price of property versus rents, but you may have a hard time keeping them rented because people generally don't want to live in a bad area if they don't have to.