Buy or wait?

[jcc]

Ideally, I'm hoping to keep total monthly costs (excluding bills like electric) to around how much I'd pay to actually rent a similar place, but I'm still crunching the numbers.

Your monthly costs should be less because you still have to pay property taxes. The monthly maintenance fee(修繕積立金）also goes up over time.

You should consider your total costs over say 10 years(that includes initial payments) and then compare that to renting(don't forget to add on 更新料).

Also remember, even if you move out and decide to rent the place, there is no guarantee on occupancy, and you will be losing a chunk of that rent to the management company unless you decide to manage it yourself(which can be problematic). Your monthly mortgage will remain the same, but as the place gets older, the rent you can gather from it is likely to go down. Real estate agents and management companies love the "just buy it and if you want to move out rent it" because it can get them the sale, and then later down the line they get to manage more properties while not handling the risks.

Yeah... I'm still crunching all the numbers to see if it's even worthwhile for me, but since I'm so new to this, there's a lot I'm not sure about. I'm not sure, for example, around how much of my gross income should the mortgage payments be. There's a lot of conflicting advice on this online. In general, there's a lot of conflicting advice.

As others said, no more than 1/3 of income, but preferably less.

[Riayain]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their sound advice.

After doing some more research and calculations, I contacted a couple of real estate agencies staffed with people who could speak English to see what they had to say. All of them not only pushed me to borrow way more than I was comfortable with, citing monthly mortgage payments that I honestly couldn't see myself paying, but also stopped responding to me after I either cited what I was comfortable paying or asked one too many questions. Customer service here sure is different than from my home country...

In any case, I have decided to hold back and wait. In the meantime, I'll continue building up my savings and start putting a bit of money into investments. Hopefully the wait will pay off in a couple of years' time!

[Kanto]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their sound advice.

After doing some more research and calculations, I contacted a couple of real estate agencies staffed with people who could speak English to see what they had to say. All of them not only pushed me to borrow way more than I was comfortable with, citing monthly mortgage payments that I honestly couldn't see myself paying, but also stopped responding to me after I either cited what I was comfortable paying or asked one too many questions. Customer service here sure is different than from my home country...

In any case, I have decided to hold back and wait. In the meantime, I'll continue building up my savings and start putting a bit of money into investments. Hopefully the wait will pay off in a couple of years' time!

Thank you for the update. I am glad you didn`t let them push you outside of your comfort zone.

My wife and I may be looking in 5-10 years so it really helps to hear experiences like this.

[DragonAsh]

And one option that isn't that well-known: You can save upwards of 10% or even more on costs if you buy from someone directly: No broker's fees and no consumption tax. Real estate agents will often have properties of their own. We've now purchased three houses near us by simply asking around and finding families that wanted to sell to move away (parents have passed away so kids moving near in-laws, kids moved out so house now too big for just two older parents etc etc), and one house from a real estate agent that owned the property . We got decent deals and saved a ton on the various closing costs.

Ask around and don't be afraid to wait until you find a good deal. You may end up living in a house you buy for 10+ years or more, there should be zero rush to move in. Also - and some of the forum posters will have heard this before - you shouldn't even be thinking of buying a house if you still have other debt. You should have zero debt before buying- no student loans, no outstanding balance on a credit card debt, no car loan etc.

[Riayain]

And one option that isn't that well-known: You can save upwards of 10% or even more on costs if you buy from someone directly: No broker's fees and no consumption tax. Real estate agents will often have properties of their own. We've now purchased three houses near us by simply asking around and finding families that wanted to sell to move away (parents have passed away so kids moving near in-laws, kids moved out so house now too big for just tow older parents etc etc), and one house from a real estate agent that owned the property . We got decent deals and saved a ton on the various closing costs.

Ask around and don't be afraid to wait until you find a good deal. You may end up living in a house you buy for 10+ years or more, there should be zero rush to move in. Also - and some of the forum posters will have heard this before - you shouldn't even be thinking of buying a house if you still have other debt. You should have zero debt before buying- no student loans, no outstanding balance on a credit card debt, no car loan etc.

Hm, that’s definitely an option I didn’t think of. I’ll definitely look around to see what’s out there. Are there any agencies you recommend? Japanese only is fine.

As for debt, I’m 100% debt free. No loans, always pay my CC balance at the end of the month. All good there!

[DragonAsh]

As for debt, I’m 100% debt free. No loans, always pay my CC balance at the end of the month. All good there!

Great! Now cut up the credit card. You don't need it.

Don't think you're not paying more simply because you pay your balance off each month.
Research has shown that people spend 15% more when they pay with plastic vs when they pay with cash.
There's a reason everybody wants you to sign up for their credit card...

As for agencies - you're far better off talking to smaller agencies in the areas you live or would be interested in living in.