Anyone else here buy a house in Japan?

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I am Japanese, born and raised in Japan.
Please forgive my poor English with machine translation.

I am also working and renovating and renting out the same inexpensive vacant houses.

Frankly speaking, it is more trouble than you might imagine, even if you live nearby.

First of all, there is a reason for cheap vacant houses. Japan has an extremely low birthrate and aging population compared to other countries in the world, and young people are moving out of the countryside and into the cities in droves. As a result, there are many old houses in the countryside where the population is aging. In addition, buildings deep in the mountains or along the coast, where there is no public transportation, are not only inconvenient, but the foundations of most wooden houses are rotting due to salt damage caused by snow accumulation and sea winds.
(90% of all vacant houses in Japan are wooden houses. Their useful life is about 30 years)

The break-even point will vary greatly depending on whether you do the repairs yourself or hire a contractor to do them. In such cases, the borrower will simply renovate the building, leaving the pillars and other structural elements as they are.

Another troublesome thing is that there are many buildings with very vague land boundaries in the case of inexpensive houses. Can you put a car on the driveway between you and your neighbor's house? Who will clean the hedges, the persimmon trees, and the fruit dropped by the persimmon trees? If these cannot be discussed and clarified with the neighbors, it will lead to lawsuits later on.

Also, although it may be surprising to foreign residents, there is an organization called “Chonai-kai” (neighborhood association) in each neighborhood in Japan, and if you do not pay the membership fee and cooperate with the organized events, you may be refused the collection of household garbage, or you may not be allowed to use the venue for weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies. The more you go to a regional city, the more you are confronted with this kind of situation. In some areas the tenant just has to deal with the situation, while in other areas the owner has to deal with the situation.

There are still many points to keep in mind, but I try to respond to these local conditions on a case-by-case basis while remodeling the house (I visit the site and do self-remodeling as much as possible), looking for tenants, and responding to tenants' inquiries with a sense of urgency.

Buying an old private house and leaving it to a real estate agent... I underestimated how easy it would be at first, but being a landlord in Japan is a lot to deal with, even from a Japanese person's point of view.

I hope this will be of some help.
 
It's generally a good idea to move to Japan, but I'm 198 cm tall. :anyway::anyway:
 
blocksrey said:
There's the Business Manager Visa which lasts as long as your company doesn't have debts and is profitable from the 2nd year. Also the capital required is 5 million yen.
If you go that route, there's no better option than Fukuoka. Because you don't need a judicial scrivener nor a lawyer for the incorporation of the company and COE application, meaning it can all be done by yourself. It'll save you like 80 man yen.

Also there are 3 different routes to obtain a visa this way. Check out page 4 of the "Guidebook of Business Establishment in Fukuoka City" handbook and you'll see what I'm talking about: https://www.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/keizai/k-yuchi/business/kigyouritti_en.html

There's a really good resource called Startup Cafe in Fukuoka city which I highly recommend, they support multiple languages. So definitely check them out!
Click to expand...

Wow, it seems like subconsciously I am making a good decision aiming at Fukuoka.
Thanks for the new info, that brings my dream even closer to reality.
5 million yen is not bad at all!
I even can afford it now. lol
But of course, just like any other business, we need proper planning, especially finance.

The reason I choose Fukuoka rather than Tokyo or other famous tourist places in Japan is because I have good memories there.

I was doing some BHW ebay thing there, sourcing cheap off season branded stuff, and automobile parts directly and sell it on ebay.
Not bad, as it can make easily $30K a month that time. (2017)
But eBay kinda went south after more Chinese e-commerce pop up successfully in my home country, so I stopped.

Now I wanna come back there, thinking to open an entertainment company, think like music, film, games and animation.
Not Japanese Animation Video (JAV) - lol because that need a lot more paid up capital, so much more paid up capital but tend to be pirated and harder to market in the English speaking world, legally.
So I think it's not worth it to venture into JAV.
 
bobsapping said:
I am Japanese, born and raised in Japan.
Please forgive my poor English with machine translation.

I am also working and renovating and renting out the same inexpensive vacant houses.

Frankly speaking, it is more trouble than you might imagine, even if you live nearby.

First of all, there is a reason for cheap vacant houses. Japan has an extremely low birthrate and aging population compared to other countries in the world, and young people are moving out of the countryside and into the cities in droves. As a result, there are many old houses in the countryside where the population is aging. In addition, buildings deep in the mountains or along the coast, where there is no public transportation, are not only inconvenient, but the foundations of most wooden houses are rotting due to salt damage caused by snow accumulation and sea winds.
(90% of all vacant houses in Japan are wooden houses. Their useful life is about 30 years)

The break-even point will vary greatly depending on whether you do the repairs yourself or hire a contractor to do them. In such cases, the borrower will simply renovate the building, leaving the pillars and other structural elements as they are.

Another troublesome thing is that there are many buildings with very vague land boundaries in the case of inexpensive houses. Can you put a car on the driveway between you and your neighbor's house? Who will clean the hedges, the persimmon trees, and the fruit dropped by the persimmon trees? If these cannot be discussed and clarified with the neighbors, it will lead to lawsuits later on.

Also, although it may be surprising to foreign residents, there is an organization called “Chonai-kai” (neighborhood association) in each neighborhood in Japan, and if you do not pay the membership fee and cooperate with the organized events, you may be refused the collection of household garbage, or you may not be allowed to use the venue for weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies. The more you go to a regional city, the more you are confronted with this kind of situation. In some areas the tenant just has to deal with the situation, while in other areas the owner has to deal with the situation.

There are still many points to keep in mind, but I try to respond to these local conditions on a case-by-case basis while remodeling the house (I visit the site and do self-remodeling as much as possible), looking for tenants, and responding to tenants' inquiries with a sense of urgency.

Buying an old private house and leaving it to a real estate agent... I underestimated how easy it would be at first, but being a landlord in Japan is a lot to deal with, even from a Japanese person's point of view.

I hope this will be of some help.
Click to expand...

Hi, as my reply to the OP, I plan to be based in Fukuoka.
How much are we looking in term of expenditure based on your experience to own a house in Japan there, like for example how much 町内会 fees usually?

Land tax?
Renovation rates per square feet (or whatever the Japan term use?)

Maybe if you can share based on your own case it will be helpful for me to make a financial and mind preparation so I won't go overbudget planning my cost to as well setup an SME there.
 
yeah I being seeing that houses outside the cities are affordable, I was checking because a youtuber said that houses in Japan are cheap, not all of course as you mention, still is a good option and cheaper that other places.
 
wgn_white said:
Hi, as my reply to the OP, I plan to be based in Fukuoka.
How much are we looking in term of expenditure based on your experience to own a house in Japan there, like for example how much 町内会 fees usually?

Land tax?
Renovation rates per square feet (or whatever the Japan term use?)

Maybe if you can share based on your own case it will be helpful for me to make a financial and mind preparation so I won't go overbudget planning my cost to as well setup an SME there.
Click to expand...
Thank you for calling on us.
(I will speak to you through machine translation. Sorry)

You are buying a house in Fukuoka, is it Fukuoka City in Fukuoka Prefecture? Kitakyushu City? Or any other municipality in Fukuoka Prefecture? Even within Fukuoka City, land prices are completely different between Chuo Ward and other wards and municipalities. Therefore, the necessary purchase cost is also different by an order of magnitude.

As for the neighborhood association fee, basically, the neighborhood association is autonomously organized by the elementary school district in your area, and the amount is set by the association on a voluntary basis and differs for each association.
The monthly fee ranges from 500 yen to 3,000 yen. However, when there is a community event, a separate sponsorship fee must be paid.

Other activities include cleaning up parks, schools, and garbage dumps in the school district, guiding children on their way to and from school to ensure their safety, and other activities to protect the community on a rotating duty basis.
If you are not cooperative in these activities, you may be refused garbage collection (because you do not participate in the cleanup). It would not be an exaggeration to say that the cleanliness and public safety of Japanese towns are protected by neighborhood association activities.

Regarding taxes, the tax is levied under the name of “fixed asset tax” based on different calculation categories for newly built detached houses, newly built condominiums, used detached houses, and used condominiums, as well as the assessed value of the property and land value (which is published annually by the national government).
For newly constructed properties, the purchase price itself is the basis for the assessed value, but for used properties, the assessed value varies depending on the age of the property, its useful life, etc. This cannot be simulated or known at the time of purchase. If the property has been renovated in advance, the useful life will be added and the taxable value will also increase. Therefore, it is necessary to learn this information from the previous year's owner, for example, through an intermediary. This is a very cumbersome process when purchasing a used property, and if you fail to do so, you may misjudge the break-even point.

For more information on the calculation method, please refer to some Japanese websites, and we would be happy if you could translate them with your browser.

For detached houses
https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/money/money_00561/

For apartment buildings
https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/buy_mansion/buy_mansion_00766/

We hope this will be helpful.
 
bobsapping said:
Thank you for calling on us.
(I will speak to you through machine translation. Sorry)

You are buying a house in Fukuoka, is it Fukuoka City in Fukuoka Prefecture? Kitakyushu City? Or any other municipality in Fukuoka Prefecture? Even within Fukuoka City, land prices are completely different between Chuo Ward and other wards and municipalities. Therefore, the necessary purchase cost is also different by an order of magnitude.

As for the neighborhood association fee, basically, the neighborhood association is autonomously organized by the elementary school district in your area, and the amount is set by the association on a voluntary basis and differs for each association.
The monthly fee ranges from 500 yen to 3,000 yen. However, when there is a community event, a separate sponsorship fee must be paid.

Other activities include cleaning up parks, schools, and garbage dumps in the school district, guiding children on their way to and from school to ensure their safety, and other activities to protect the community on a rotating duty basis.
If you are not cooperative in these activities, you may be refused garbage collection (because you do not participate in the cleanup). It would not be an exaggeration to say that the cleanliness and public safety of Japanese towns are protected by neighborhood association activities.

Regarding taxes, the tax is levied under the name of “fixed asset tax” based on different calculation categories for newly built detached houses, newly built condominiums, used detached houses, and used condominiums, as well as the assessed value of the property and land value (which is published annually by the national government).
For newly constructed properties, the purchase price itself is the basis for the assessed value, but for used properties, the assessed value varies depending on the age of the property, its useful life, etc. This cannot be simulated or known at the time of purchase. If the property has been renovated in advance, the useful life will be added and the taxable value will also increase. Therefore, it is necessary to learn this information from the previous year's owner, for example, through an intermediary. This is a very cumbersome process when purchasing a used property, and if you fail to do so, you may misjudge the break-even point.

For more information on the calculation method, please refer to some Japanese websites, and we would be happy if you could translate them with your browser.

For detached houses
https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/money/money_00561/

For apartment buildings
https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/buy_mansion/buy_mansion_00766/

We hope this will be helpful.
Click to expand...
Wow, thanks for the reply.
The website helps too, I can read Japanese but for the sake of this forum, let's just talk in English.

I plan to be near Fukuoka city in Fukuoka prefecture.
But still surveying a good location for an office building that is suitable for the SME I tried to build up, something suitable for studios for filming and music.
From there on I will decide whether I want to have a car and drive back home or find somewhere nearby to stay.

Was staying in Hakata when I was there last time.
 
wgn_white said:
Wow, thanks for the reply.
The website helps too, I can read Japanese but for the sake of this forum, let's just talk in English.

I plan to be near Fukuoka city in Fukuoka prefecture.
But still surveying a good location for an office building that is suitable for the SME I tried to build up, something suitable for studios for filming and music.
From there on I will decide whether I want to have a car and drive back home or find somewhere nearby to stay.

Was staying in Hakata when I was there last time.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply as well. If you understand Japanese, it would be easier for me to gather information.

I have lived in Tokyo, Osaka, and now Nagoya.
I only go to Fukuoka a few times a year on business, so I think wgn_white is more familiar with the city.

As for commuting to work in Fukuoka City, it seems that those who commute by train often go to Hakata or Tenjin from nearby Kasuga City, Nakagawa City, Onojo City, Kurume City, or Shime Town. In particular, the area along the Nishitetsu Tenjin Omuta Line is a popular area for commuting to Tenjin, so you may want to consider this when looking for land to secure a workforce.

For cars, it seems to be quite congested during morning and evening commuting hours. Also, driving etiquette in Fukuoka Prefecture is one of the worst in Japan, so it may be dangerous if you are not used to it.

However, even with that being said, it is still a very livable city, so we wish you the best of luck in finding a good place to live.
 
bobsapping said:
Thanks for the reply as well. If you understand Japanese, it would be easier for me to gather information.

I have lived in Tokyo, Osaka, and now Nagoya.
I only go to Fukuoka a few times a year on business, so I think wgn_white is more familiar with the city.

As for commuting to work in Fukuoka City, it seems that those who commute by train often go to Hakata or Tenjin from nearby Kasuga City, Nakagawa City, Onojo City, Kurume City, or Shime Town. In particular, the area along the Nishitetsu Tenjin Omuta Line is a popular area for commuting to Tenjin, so you may want to consider this when looking for land to secure a workforce.

For cars, it seems to be quite congested during morning and evening commuting hours. Also, driving etiquette in Fukuoka Prefecture is one of the worst in Japan, so it may be dangerous if you are not used to it.

However, even with that being said, it is still a very livable city, so we wish you the best of luck in finding a good place to live.
Click to expand...

The reason I said car, is maybe I want to get the house at "outskirts" of Fukuoka city instead, where travelling by car is more convenient rather than be in train line area.

Because the nature of SME I try to build is usually, long hours works for few days during production time, but the break time is also several days without working after that.
 
It's hard for me to understand why anyone would move to a country where you don't speak the language and have no cultural ties to whatsoever, except maybe if it's for great economic opportunity, but even then I'm not sure if I could.

I would think I will always be an outsider to the people I live with there even if you assimilate really well, and I think that can get really lonely after a while.
 
TheMarquis said:
You should know it's very nice to have somenotbody to talk when you're alone in the house in the middle of the night =)
Click to expand...
Good point but I dont wanna wake up in the middle of the night to some poltergeist books floating all over the place and heads turning 360 degrees crazyness.
 
AlwaysAlan said:
Good point but I dont wanna wake up in the middle of the night to some poltergeist books floating all over the place and heads turning 360 degrees crazyness.
Click to expand...
You can fix its head's spin from the owl 360s to a naturally-human-movement and you'll win a really good companion. Bonus if it lived in the Jazz or Blues ages, cause you'll also get free music. All is good! :cool: :alien:
 
Oreilly said:
It's hard for me to understand why anyone would move to a country where you don't speak the language and have no cultural ties to whatsoever, except maybe if it's for great economic opportunity, but even then I'm not sure if I could.

I would think I will always be an outsider to the people I live with there even if you assimilate really well, and I think that can get really lonely after a while.
Click to expand...
It’s like a reset to your current live, where everything is new, no one knows you, new cultural knowledge to learn everyday.

Just don’t come as English teacher… Anywhere on the world cash is king. Come as rich man, and you will have a wonderful days ahead.
 
AlwaysAlan said:
Shit bro you couldnt pay me to live in a ghost house!
Click to expand...
Dan for me it would really Depends
How friendly is that ghost?
Can I poke it?
Will it do my bidding?
Does it phase thru everything or its solid?
 
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