I can't shake the feeling that there's something else I could do to maximize my deals, and I don't want to alienate any reliable suppliers or buyers by not being able to either acquire or close, for certain!

The back end profits you mentioned (most of which is called Yield Spread Premium or YSP) is certainly on the chopping block.

Your 10% yield captures the tax effect.

Thirty years ago, no one could have foreseen the huge expansion of the Vietnam War, wage and price controls, two oil shocks, the resignation of a president, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a one-day drop in the Dow of 508 points, or treasury bill yields fluctuating between 2.8% and 17.4%.

Would it be a combination of cash yield and purchase price relative to construction costs?

For example some local people with some money might think that a rent yield of 15% is a good deal.

My point was that you can get such international ETF's that have a current dividend yield around 5% which is nice.

If you have an R/E agent you've networked with locally, you should be able to get an 'expired listings' list that should yield a respectable amount of motivated leads per batch.

As Vikram pointed out, put forth the effort and work and it will yield results.

I am just giving you ideas to maximize your value from it.