Buying a house. Any feedback on Toyota Home?

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StockBeard
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Buying a house. Any feedback on Toyota Home?

Post by StockBeard »

As some of you might remember, my wife and I are looking to buy a house (or manshon). We initially started working with house maker Ichijo (see here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=122 ) based on recommendations here and from around the web, in particular due to their good track record when it comes to insulation, and their general commitment to build "eco" homes.

The main problem we've found with Ichijo is that they are unable to find us a plot of land that we like. It's typically too small, or too far from a station, or just in a city we don't like.

We've realized, as many before us, that when you find a good land, it comes with constraints, in particular on the house maker you have to work with.

We recently found a place we like, but would have to buy the house from Toyota Home. I personally was willing to sign right away (I want to be done with the nightmare of endless wasted weekends), but my wife is now concerned about the quality of the house. It won't come with the good insulation, solar panels or the heated floor that we would get from Ichijo. Plus she found a few reviews (in Japanese) that say Toyota Home houses are really poorly insulated. Cherry on the cake, the Ichijo salesman (who obviously has a conflict of interest) has told my wife that Toyota Home buildings are so poorly insulated that his company don't even consider them a competitor.

Specifically, for the same price, in the same city we get either:
Ichijo: 165 sq. meters land, 120 sq. meters house, 22 minutes from Station. Cost includes Solar panels + reasonable insulation + heated floor
Toyota Home: 200 sq meters land, 120 sq. meter house, 8 minutes from Station. House comes with less bells and whistles, we question the insulation.

From a value perspective, I know how this country works: a house, no matter how well it is built, will have zero value in 20 years. If we're thinking of the resell value, the 200 sq. meters land, 8 minutes from the station, actually has a strong possibility of being resold. The other one, frankly, not so much. But my wife says having to live in a cold house for 20 to 35 years just because we think of the resell value is not necessarily the right choice.

Trying to get some external opinion here on Toyota Home in general. Anything goes, if you find links in Japanese that works too.

(Let me also use the time to say the feedback I have received on Ichijo here on the forum has been invaluable, thanks to everyone who replied.)
Thanks!
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