RetireJapan

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 8:54 am I get the impression our building is being managed competently, which is very much not the case across the board.

Were you able to ascertain the competency of management prior to your purchase (something I see as quite a key point...), or is it just something that comes with experience of being an owner?

Thanks for all your help to date.

Seasider4374 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 1:14 pm
Were you able to ascertain the competency of management prior to your purchase (something I see as quite a key point...), or is it just something that comes with experience of being an owner?

Thanks for all your help to date.

We have a long history with the building. My wife lived in it before, and we rented our unit for five years before buying it from the landlord.

Coming in cold you would want to have your real estate agent go over the accounts etc I believe.

I had composed a much longer answer, when I realized that you already live in the apartment ….. So this is what is left:

How old is the building? Is it older than from 1990 or even older and not built according to the present standards regarding earthquakes (the big change was in June 1981, but possibly apartment from up to 1983 or 84 may not always have these standards implemented). Could you find out?

Is it possible to check the occupancy rate and age structure of the people living in that building? You don’t want to live in a deserted building eventually (one reason why I would avoid danchi or shataku, although they can be very cheap).

Do you want to live there for the rest of your life? Is the infrastructure around you geared towards the elderly, can you manage without a car, what about the geographical location as well, is it on a hill? (we are on a hill! and you are too, I just saw ).

When buying, there is usually room for a discount, it is even expected to ask for a reduction.

Make sure you buy freehold (Most are freehold, but a small proportion may not).

Check the monthly amount of maintenance and repair costs, how much is in the repair fund. The repair costs should not be too low. (We pay around 26,000 for both together, which seems to be average for our area in the Greater Tokyo area, (there is no elevator, but part of the parking space consists of those two story metal constructions, both require regular maintenance). A responsible property management company should have a plan over several years regarding smaller and bigger repairs to be performed and raise the costs if the fund is too small, rather than to ask for individual extra contributions.

So far I found that the money for both repairs and maintenance is/was well spent, the building is in good shape, and I also do not mind, that we pay to maintain the greenery around it (hedges that need to be cut, trees to be pruned), I like it, others may not.

Regarding renovations/repairs inside the flat. We had some renovation after the move and the guy in charge informed the property management beforehand, then put out a note informing the other owners of the date, apologized for the noise that might occur and gave a contact number, of course he also rolled out the blue sheet, so as long as you adhere to these rules, indor renovations are no problem.

The common property is excluded from such changes, repairs e. g., you cannot change the balcony railing or the windows by yourself, such things are decided by all owners and organized via the property management.

Regarding rebuilding - acc.to a quick search - it requires 80% of the owners to agree and can take many years from start to finish. The older the owners, the less likely it will be to get such an agreement I guess.

Sorry got it wrong again, , so you are considering buying the flat which is presently occupied and maybe move in in the future; in that case make yourself familiar about the tenant‘s rights, Japan has (luckily) very strong laws to protect tenants. Maybe not an issue in your case, if rented out to members of the military who come and go.

Regarding the definitions you asked, in Japan
アパートrefers to a wooden and thereby mostly smaller and cheaper structure.

マンション is a ferro-concrete structure and can be anything from cheaply built Danshi to super-expensive tower mansions or anything in between

フラットI have only heard as part of a building name here, possibly referring to those that are of the アパートtype.

Isodora wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 3:51 pm I had composed a much longer answer, when I realized that you already live in the apartment ….. So this is what is left:

I don't live in the property and apologies for perhaps presenting the impression that I do. I've lived in the area for 10 years, and just found it online during a random search one evening. And so would love to read your longer answer

How old is the building?

3 years old.

Is it possible to check the occupancy rate and age structure of the people living in that building?

I will check, but as such a new building I can't imagine occupancy being anywhere close to other than 100%, and can see this remaining for a long time (new build, large size, great views...)

Do you want to live there for the rest of your life? Is the infrastructure around you geared towards the elderly, can you manage without a car, what about the geographical location as well, is it on a hill? (we are on a hill! and you are too, I just saw ).

Yes, I'd like to have this as a forever home. But I'd say it's more on a ridge - the land drops down from the balconies, but the road access is flat.

When buying, there is usually room for a discount, it is even expected to ask for a reduction.

Is there a guideline % figure that sellers try to upsell their properties at?


Thanks for all your other comments so far - very helpful and much appreciated.

So here is the longer answer and I just added some more things, just in case.

Of course, this is just my personal view and some firsthand experience. Others may have different experiences and views on this, also some if it applies more to the Greater Tokyo area, if you are in Okinawa, the public transport aspect is almost irrelevant .....

Do a lot of research online beforehand, to get a good idea of what is out there. When interested, first check from the outside by yourself, also check if the area might suit you. Once you are seriously interested, involve a real estate agent. Of course you can involve one or more agents from the start, as they might know about not yet public properties.

Avoid buying a new apartment, if you buy one that is about 10 to 20 years old, you can save 30 to 50% percent (maybe that changed recently, depending on the area), at the same time, I would not buy anyhing built before around 1985, maybe even before 1990. I would also - just my opinion - not buy an apartment in a Tower Mansion, too many risks involved.

Decide where you are most willing to compromise. In the cities, most important for many people is close vicinity to a (good) train station, no matter how ugly, smelly, loud the area is, it is really amazing), that drives prices up 20 to 40% already. If you can live a little further out, that will save you money. The same is true for “not so good areas”; as there are almost no really bad areas in Japan, I would avoid the good = expensive areas which are not necessarily nicer, sometimes the “good" and "not so good" areas are very close together even.

Decide if you want a non-renovated, semi-renovated or fully renovated flat and how much work you are willing to do/have done before moving in. Fully renovated flats are often very cheaply done and can be depressingly dark and ugly. In the case of non-renovated flats you will be able to change the whole floorpan, a friend did this a while ago, with impressive results. (there are companies specialized in this).

Of course avoid areas that can be flooded, hit by tsunami, can suffer from liquefaction, sit on unsecured hills, can be hit by landslides - can be a bit of a challenge ….

Check if there is a chance that your view can be blocked - which is often the case if a nice old building with garden near-by is suddenly demolished to be replaced by a multi-story building.

Check the out- and the inside during different times of the day, how loud is it at nighttime, how dark during daytime etc.?

I looked also for something where I can avoid use of the aircon as much as possible by being able to use natural draft.

If you want to use a gas heater, is there a gas connection in the living room?

Do the windows have the old cheap alumunium frames? Then your room will be flooded during major rainfalls and it will be very drafty…..

How many built-in closets are there? (it seems newer apartment tend to have less).

How much storage room and work space does the kitchen have? (recently there is a trend to open kitchens, connected to the living/dining area that have very little storage space (no more overhead kitchen cabinets) and no barrier so that all the dirty dishes/ disarray can be seen from the living area, definitely only looks good when unused.

Is the access to the premises secured, (very convenient if you tend to be absent for longer periods).

Are there any shared facilities (only in expensive and newer places), e. g. a gym, a pool, rooms/a kitchen that can be rented for events, rooms that can be rented for overnight guests, a playroom, etc., is there a concierge? all this will drive up the maintenance fee quite a bit.

Regarding the discount you asked, that depends of course on the demand, ours was on the market for some time, still the discount was only a bit more than 2% (the first offer had been rejected, which seems to be normal practice) I am not good at such things and followed the agent’s suggestion, you might be able to get a much higher discount, or it might fire backwards, hard to tell, without knowing who else is interested to buy.

Hope that helps a bit.