Where do you start buying your own home?

[captainspoke]

Lots of food for thought here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comm ... g_a_house/

[SZQ]

Thank you Beaglehound for the info and providing some numbers. Gives us hope! Certainly for us it doesn't have to be top of the range. Layout, space, security and comfort is what we want. We definitely need to investigate more options. We only have free time on weekends so it's going to take a while.

Thank you for link captainspoke. Some good tips there.

[Beaglehound]

Thank you Beaglehound for the info and providing some numbers. Gives us hope! Certainly for us it doesn't have to be top of the range. Layout, space, security and comfort is what we want. We definitely need to investigate more options. We only have free time on weekends so it's going to take a while.

Thank you for link captainspoke. Some good tips there.

Yeah, we were lucky that a friend introduced us to the carpenter/house builder who built it. We had been to a couple of the bigger companies and had been unimpressed by their overbearing salesmanship and lack of price transparency. With this guy, we told him what we wanted and the rough budget and he worked together with us on that. He steered us in the right direction, told us what wasn’t a good idea and why.

Definitely worth taking your time to seek out smaller companies/individuals. Asking around might help, or looking at local free magazines if there are any where you are. Most builders will have houses they have built nearby that they will take you to have a look at, which helps to clarify what you want/don’t want, what is possible and at what price.

[Ori]

with a combined income of roughly 10m. We live in Kanagawa, work in Tokyo.

Unfortunately, If you want to live within 1hr commute from central Tokyo and don't want to take 10x loan, you won't have much to chose from with that income and those requirements.
Realistically, prebuilt ~100m2 4LDK houses with a ~2m2 "lawn" are 4-6千万, and custom built ones with a lot of land around (as you seem to want) could be easily twice of that.

[Ori]

Yeah, we were lucky that a friend introduced us to the carpenter/house builder who built it.

That's the key, isn't it? I wouldn't risk asking a random guy to build a house. Without any recommendations, big companies are safer choice in this regard.

[Rezz]

Just as an update on this (for anyone who's interested!).

We ended up going for a pre-built home built by Pansonic Homes in a "newtown" type culdesac of brand new houses. It has mostly everything we wanted and included some convenient features we probably wouldn't have chosen if we built a custom home. The location isn't ideal, but finding land was proving to be much more difficult and time-consuming than we expected. Perhaps if we didn't already have a one-year old, it would have been easier to have waited for the ideal location to become available, but with him due to enter nursery soon, already having a place of our own means we don't have to move him around in the future. One other good thing about the area is that most owners are in their 30-40s with children around the same age.

I was approved for the variable-rate loan at 0.55% from the first bank we applied at. I think having my PR visa already helped a lot. The whole process was relatively painless, just with a lot of meetings and stamping documents. Panasonic were great the whole way through, and have so far also provided excellent afterservice and support. If anyone has any questions about them or the process we went through, feel free to drop me a message.

[Kanto]

Just as an update on this (for anyone who's interested!).

We ended up going for a pre-built home built by Pansonic Homes in a "newtown" type culdersack of brand new houses. It has mostly everything we wanted and included some convenient features we probably wouldn't have chosen if we built a custom home. The location isn't ideal, but finding land was proving to be much more difficult and time-consuming than we expected. Perhaps if we didn't already have a one-year old, it would have been easier to have waited for the ideal location to become available, but with him due to enter nursery soon, already having a place of our own means we don't have to move him around in the future. One other good thing about the area is that most owners are in their 30-40s with children around the same age.

I was approved for the variable-rate loan at 0.55% from the first bank we applied at. I think having my PR visa already helped a lot. The whole process was relatively painless, just with a lot of meetings and stamping documents. Panasonic were great the whole way through, and have so far also provided excellent afterservice and support. If anyone has any questions about them or the process we went through, feel free to drop me a message.

Congratulations! I hope you three are very happy in your new place.

Would you be willing to provide "rough" numbers in regards to fees, closing cost etc?

I know it would be a bit of work to tabulate it out on an excel sheet but it would be absolutely invaluable.

My wife and I will be looking to buy in 2-3 years before our son enters elementarily. We find the entire process a little opaque and are not sure if we want to buy or continue renting.

Our current plan is to (a) decide on an area in Tokyo (b) compare rental prices and purchase prices for the space we would like. (4LDK-6LDK) and decide accordingly.

[Rezz]

I'll send some more specific figures as a private message, but as a general figure I'd say take the land and building costs on paper and add 5-10% for all the additional costs (there are a lot!).

[RetireJapan]

That was my experience buying a manshon. We bought for 9m, the bank lent us 9.9m to cover fees and costs.

[Kanto]

I'll send some more specific figures as a private message, but as a general figure I'd say take the land and building costs on paper and add 5-10% for all the additional costs (there are a lot!).

Thank you! Those details are very helpful.

I remain very uncertain about buying new in Tokyo. However, it seems quite difficult to secure financing on a used place, so it might be inevitable.

We have very low rent at the moment due to rental subsidies from my wife's work (4man for a 3LDK, very old though). However, we will be looking to upgrade for kid #2 who may come eventually.

The rental market for anything bigger than a 3LDK makes buying seem like a better option.

Between now and then we need to 1. Save and 2. I need to get my butt in gear and move from Spousal->PR.

When you set a goal for a down payment ( say 5-10 million yen), that is a separate pot from your emergency fund? I am guessing that that would be the smartest move, but the idea of putting asside that much cash and not investing it makes me sweat.

Thanks again, I will post this in the thread minus any personal details. Feel free to respond in either place.