RetireJapan

I'm a long-time resident of Japan. I was looking at a cheap old house in an isolated rural area of Japan, and when I tried to contact a real estate agent, they didn't get back to me. I went to the office in person last weekend, and the agent told me he'd call me on Monday or Tuesday, but didn't call. Today, Thursday, I called the agency, but the agent was busy, so I left my name and phone number. He didn't get back to me. I'd really like to buy this old house, so I'm wondering what my options are here. I don't want to be too pushy, but I also don't want to lose the opportunity. Maybe I will email the agent if he doesn't phone me tomorrow. I think maybe the house is too cheap and too far away, so it's not worth his time to help me buy it. Or, possibly the owner doesn't want to sell it to a foreign resident. I don't know. I also think maybe I should try to contact a real estate agency in the area of the house (It's too far away to visit in one day). However, it seems like there are no agencies in that area dealing with this house. I wonder if maybe I can send a link to the online listing and they could help me anyway. Anyway, any advice? Thanks in advance.

Especially with rural agents, the problem may very well be that you're gaijin. This may or may not be xenophobia, or it could simply be laziness and not wanting to deal with perceived mendokusainess. So if you have someone you can ask, I'd recommend getting a Japanese person to phone and inquire about setting up a time to view the house, without letting on until the final moment that it's a gaijin that is interested, to see if there is a difference in response.

An alternative approach is what I think you are suggesting, employing a friendly agent to look into the house for you. Unless the owner has signed an exclusive contract with one agent, it's usually open and listed in REINS, the national database, and agents will work for their commission. An agent will also be able to better suss out any hidden issues that might be going on with the listing.

Thanks for the input.

When I went in person, the (local for me) real estate agent told me right off the bat that he couldn't show me the house, and of course that's reasonable as it's on an isolated island, would take a full day of his time and 30,000 yen just to get there and back. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone on the island, so nobody would check out the place with me. Anyway, my Japanese is good enough to have basic conversations, and I've rented my last few places on my own using Japanese with real estate agents, so the language issue is there as I'm not totally fluent, but it's not such a big deal.

I think I'll send the real estate agent I talked to an email, and hope for a response. At least he gave me the time of day last weekend and said he'd get back to me, although he hasn't yet. I'm hoping it's just that he's busy. If I don't get any response from that, I think I'll contact a real estate agency on the island, give them a link to the listing I saw, and maybe they will be able to help me out better. I just need a few questions answered and a few more photos, and of course I'd spend the money to go to the island in person to check it out before buying, if that option is even available to me.