Buying old houses on countryside land
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:21 am
Hello all, first post, yoroshiku and all that.
I'm mid-40s, divorced, have PR, a child, and am seishain at one of the most prominent local companies. I live out in the countryside and will for at least another 12 years, which means that there's a real possibility of retirement here.
I'm looking to make my last move for a while, and since I like old houses and don't like apartments I am considering buying an older property. Out where I live there are two general patterns:
One is our town of residence. It's known for its quality of life, the population is actually increasing, and rice fields are being filled and mountaintops sliced for development. There are old houses available but one actually has to pay for them. *gasp* Two I'm looking at now are 4.5mil for a smallish place that's in good shape, and 8mil for a big old farmhouse that will need some work but would be a good place to live. The 8mil is basically just the value of the land it's on from what I understand.
The other pattern is the neighboring town of 70,000 or so. The city center is hollowing out, and there's a city office that manages properties in hopes of having people move in. There are a number of properties available for 1-2 mil yen, with perhaps the same amount required in renovation.
For example, 60,000 yen rent times 12 years is 8.6 million yen, which is about the price of the most expensive property I'm looking at. Naturally ownership will come with extra costs but with its benefits too. A big one would be that instead of a 2.5 room box I'd have an entire house!
Word has it that loans at the local bank are easy to come by for employees of my company. And I would try to get a rent-to-own deal for the first year or two to make sure there's no problems I overlooked.
And in 12 years I would own outright a decent old house whose paper value is zero, and that might even be a liability.
Very curious to hear people's thoughts on the situation, and about ownership of depreciating real estate assets.
I'm mid-40s, divorced, have PR, a child, and am seishain at one of the most prominent local companies. I live out in the countryside and will for at least another 12 years, which means that there's a real possibility of retirement here.
I'm looking to make my last move for a while, and since I like old houses and don't like apartments I am considering buying an older property. Out where I live there are two general patterns:
One is our town of residence. It's known for its quality of life, the population is actually increasing, and rice fields are being filled and mountaintops sliced for development. There are old houses available but one actually has to pay for them. *gasp* Two I'm looking at now are 4.5mil for a smallish place that's in good shape, and 8mil for a big old farmhouse that will need some work but would be a good place to live. The 8mil is basically just the value of the land it's on from what I understand.
The other pattern is the neighboring town of 70,000 or so. The city center is hollowing out, and there's a city office that manages properties in hopes of having people move in. There are a number of properties available for 1-2 mil yen, with perhaps the same amount required in renovation.
For example, 60,000 yen rent times 12 years is 8.6 million yen, which is about the price of the most expensive property I'm looking at. Naturally ownership will come with extra costs but with its benefits too. A big one would be that instead of a 2.5 room box I'd have an entire house!
Word has it that loans at the local bank are easy to come by for employees of my company. And I would try to get a rent-to-own deal for the first year or two to make sure there's no problems I overlooked.
And in 12 years I would own outright a decent old house whose paper value is zero, and that might even be a liability.
Very curious to hear people's thoughts on the situation, and about ownership of depreciating real estate assets.
