Buying a house in Japan.

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garystri
Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2018 3:59 am

Re: Buying a house in Japan.

Post by garystri »

Petronius wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:15 am
Hopefully that gives you one data point.
Interesting info, may I ask the vague details of your manshon (size, year built, monthly fees), what kind of renovations you are planning and an average household salary before taxes? Just for reference since I am looking at doing something similar later this year. I will probably wait for my PR to come back though (applied in Oct last year)
Petronius
Regular
Posts: 60
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:36 am

Re: Buying a house in Japan.

Post by Petronius »

garystri wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:10 am Interesting info, may I ask the vague details of your manshon (size, year built, monthly fees), what kind of renovations you are planning and an average household salary before taxes? Just for reference since I am looking at doing something similar later this year. I will probably wait for my PR to come back though (applied in Oct last year)
Sure
2LDK 56m2(inside walls)
build in 1982
4 floors RC building
Tokyo, Shibuya, <10mn from Yoyogikoen and Yoyogiuehara
Management ~Y10,000
Repair fund ~Y20,000
Taxes ~Y10,000
Bought it for 4580man + 325man fees
I am targeting 700man for renovation. The minimum is 350man (change kitchen, shower, toilets, flooring, electricity, water pipes) but I want to add insulation, better windows and possibly floor heating if within budget.
Household salary before taxes is 1550man.

According to my excel model I should breakeven vs renting between years 7 and 8.

Good luck with your search! I tried a few agents before finding one that really helped me.
vapid
Regular
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:32 am

Re: Buying a house in Japan.

Post by vapid »

My wife and I actually went through the same process, but also includes finding and buying land.

Short version, banks will loan without PR, and banks require a deposit of 10-20%.

We are both foreigners and wanted to build a house for us and our kids. We approached various builders and agents, with generally a builder being the more helpful option (ie talk with Panahome about all the details). They would collect the documents from my wife (who was applying for PR at the time), submit everything and negotiate with banks. We got quotes from SMBC, MUFG, Shinsei, Mizuho, and others. All the big banks required deposit, even my wife's company which has a financial and home lending service for the gaijin in the company.

I went off on my own and did what Ben did and talk with local or regional banks in the area we wanted the land and build. They were very excited about helping with the loan, three of the smaller banks even said 100% loan once PR was approved and they would hold all the documents pending. We even discovered that two of the local banks had relationships with our specific builder and that helped them make a decision as well.

My wife did all the heavy lifting, getting documents, tax and company items as I was freelance at the time (Sept 3018).

The only money we had to spend was a land deposit to hold the land while the PR was being processed, but we had contract that the money would be returning to us on either failed PR or successful 100% loan.
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