@Bonifacio Capuyan If this contractor remains unresponsive and doesn't settle soon, I am a big believer in making his fraud public - naming and shaming. 

If anyone can tell me some areas I should look into or non traditional alternatives to the average real estate agent I'd appreciate it.

I’ve read Brandon Turner’s Rental Properties book and Low (no) Money Down investing book, along with some other non-BP related books.

@Matthew Paul - you are in the minority as I believe many homeowners would definitely prefer to have public utilities (as many of us don’t have backhoes) 

:)    I should have also explained the context i'm in (Shanghai, China) where projects of your size are not difficult to get due to effort or mindeset, government regulation simply wouldnt allow me to buy. 

The reason why prices are not “volatile” is because real estate is not marked-to-market every second of every day like public market securities.

My fear is their governments don't have the vision.

As long as you are permitted to divide the land into the parcels sized as you imagine you won't have any problems.As a clever strategy if you are permitted by your local government to divide the land, locate a builder and ask him to partner in new construction. 

Build your line of non-recourse funding to the point where you can use it to buy something substantial like an apartment complex or strip center without the need to get an approval from the bank.

I would essentially be renting it at cost, with an extremely small to non existent profit margin especially since whatever money I would make after mortgage and HOA was paid, would have to be rolled into an emergency fund for the condo in case and when something will inevitably need to be fixed.