- 6 weeks ago
Japan’s cheapest houses can be real, but the hidden costs and legal limits matter far more than the headline price. Here, an abandoned rural farmhouse bought for about $22,000 becomes the starting point for a practical breakdown of how akiya purchases actually work, from finding properties and checking the land to understanding what foreigners can and cannot do in Japan.
The discussion covers buying property in Japan as a foreigner, why ownership does not automatically give you the right to live or work there, how the purchase process works, and what extra fees can add up fast. It also gets into the realities of older Japanese homes: rotten timber, leaks, termites, mold, outdated wiring, poor insulation, snow access, and the surprise issues that only appear once renovation begins.
For anyone researching Japan real estate, akiya, cheap houses in Japan, rural property, or the Japanese house-buying process, this is a grounded guide with real renovation experience behind it. It also touches on how the payment was handled from abroad, why exchange rates matter, and why a low asking price is only the beginning.
SEO: Ideal for viewers searching Japan akiya, abandoned houses in Japan, foreigners buying property in Japan, rural Japanese farmhouse renovation, cheap house in Japan, and how to buy property in Japan. Useful for travel dreamers, expats, renovation fans, and anyone comparing the real costs of Japanese real estate before making a move.
The discussion covers buying property in Japan as a foreigner, why ownership does not automatically give you the right to live or work there, how the purchase process works, and what extra fees can add up fast. It also gets into the realities of older Japanese homes: rotten timber, leaks, termites, mold, outdated wiring, poor insulation, snow access, and the surprise issues that only appear once renovation begins.
For anyone researching Japan real estate, akiya, cheap houses in Japan, rural property, or the Japanese house-buying process, this is a grounded guide with real renovation experience behind it. It also touches on how the payment was handled from abroad, why exchange rates matter, and why a low asking price is only the beginning.
SEO: Ideal for viewers searching Japan akiya, abandoned houses in Japan, foreigners buying property in Japan, rural Japanese farmhouse renovation, cheap house in Japan, and how to buy property in Japan. Useful for travel dreamers, expats, renovation fans, and anyone comparing the real costs of Japanese real estate before making a move.
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TravelTranscript
00:00You've probably seen these houses all over the internet.
00:03Abandoned homes in Japan selling for $20,000, $10,000 and sometimes even less.
00:10And a few months ago, we actually bought one.
00:13We paid around $22,000 for this abandoned farmhouse in rural Japan.
00:18And we're now in the process of renovating it and turning it into our family home.
00:23And since we bought it, we've had hundreds of questions.
00:26Can foreigners actually buy property in Japan?
00:29Do you need a visa or Japanese residency?
00:32How do you make money if you want to spend a lot of time here?
00:35Where do you actually find these houses?
00:38How do you pay for one?
00:39And perhaps most importantly, what's the catch?
00:43Because buying a cheap house in Japan is actually surprisingly easy.
00:47Buying the right cheap house and figuring out how you're actually going to use it
00:52is a completely different story.
00:54So in this video, we're going to take you through the entire process
00:57we went through to buy ours.
01:00How much it really cost us and everything we wish we'd known before we did it.
01:05Firstly, you need to really understand why these houses are even cheap in the first place.
01:10Japan has a huge number of vacant homes known as Akiya.
01:14And there isn't just one reason for it.
01:16Japan has an aging and declining population.
01:19Younger generations have increasingly moved from rural areas into bigger cities.
01:24And homes are often inherited by children or grandchildren who already have their own homes
01:29and simply don't want to live in them.
01:31So some houses can sit empty for years.
01:34And in some rural areas, the land itself isn't particularly valuable either.
01:39Which creates this strange situation where owning an old house can actually become a burden.
01:45You're paying property taxes.
01:46You're responsible for maintaining it.
01:49The garden becomes completely overgrown.
01:52The building slowly deteriorates.
01:54And eventually, some owners just want someone to take it off their hands.
01:58That's where some of these incredibly cheap houses come from.
02:02But before you get too excited about a cheap house price,
02:05there's something really important that you understand.
02:07Cheap doesn't always mean good value.
02:10And we'll get into that later.
02:12Now, this is probably the first thing you need to know if you're watching this from overseas.
02:17And that is, can you actually purchase one of these properties as a foreigner?
02:22And the answer is yes.
02:23And this was probably one of the most surprising things that we learned
02:27when we first started looking into this.
02:29You don't need to be a Japanese citizen to buy property here.
02:32You don't need permanent residency.
02:34And you don't even necessarily need to be a resident of Japan.
02:38So we were able to buy our property here in Nagano Prefecture as foreigners.
02:44And legally own the property outright.
02:47There are additional administrative considerations if you're a non-resident.
02:51And obviously, everyone's circumstances are different.
02:54But being a foreigner itself doesn't prevent you from owning Japanese real estate.
02:58And compared with countries that place significant restrictions
03:01or additional costs on property buyers,
03:04we were pretty surprised by how straightforward that part was.
03:08But there's a massive catch.
03:09And that is that buying property in Japan
03:12and having the right to legally live here are completely different things.
03:17They're not related at all.
03:18So buying a property doesn't automatically give you residency in Japan.
03:23And honestly, after talking to a lot of people about this,
03:25this seems to be one of the biggest misconceptions.
03:27A lot of people assume that if you invest and buy property here,
03:31you can just become a legal resident.
03:33And that's not the case.
03:34And buying a $10,000 Akea doesn't suddenly give you the right to move to Japan permanently.
03:40Which brings us to probably the two questions we've been asked
03:43more than anything else since buying this place.
03:45How can you actually stay in Japan?
03:47And how do you make money while you're there?
03:51Japan has a number of different visa and residence options
03:54depending on your individual circumstances.
03:57One that's particularly interesting for people who already work remotely
04:00is Japan's digital nomad visa.
04:03For eligible people, that can allow you to stay in Japan for up to six months
04:07while working remotely for overseas clients or businesses.
04:10There are requirements attached to it, including a minimum annual income of 10 million yen,
04:16insurance requirements, and other conditions.
04:18So it's definitely something you'd need to research properly for your own situation.
04:23But if your goal is to move to Japan permanently and find a job here,
04:27that's a completely different process.
04:29You'll need a resident status that actually allows you to work.
04:32And depending on your career and circumstances,
04:34that can be considerably more complicated than buying the house itself.
04:38And I think that's a really important thing to keep in mind.
04:41Like don't look at a cheap house in Japan and think,
04:44I'm just going to buy one and move to Japan.
04:47It's not quite that simple.
04:48You really need to figure out what your visa situation is.
04:53Can you actually spend time in Japan as much as you would like to?
04:56But if you're simply looking for a holiday home somewhere you can spend part of the year
05:00or you're otherwise eligible to spend time in Japan
05:02and have savings or an established source of income that doesn't depend on finding employment here,
05:08then an affordable house like this starts to make a lot more sense.
05:11Most passport holders can spend up to 90 days at a time in Japan
05:16for a total period of around 180 days per calendar year.
05:20Although this isn't a fixed amount of time.
05:23The biggest takeaway is don't buy the house first
05:26and assume you'll figure out how to live in Japan afterwards.
05:29Figure out how you're legally able to spend the amount of time that you want to in Japan
05:33and figure out how you're going to support yourself.
05:36Then start looking at houses.
05:38Because as strange as it sounds,
05:39buying the actual property in Japan is probably the easy part.
05:44After you buy the property,
05:45then you have to figure out how you're going to legally stay in Japan.
05:48Okay, so let's say you've figured all that out
05:50and you just want to know how exactly do I find a cheap house in Japan.
05:56This was one of the hardest things for us when we first started looking
05:59because there isn't just one giant government website
06:02with every abandoned house in Japan listed on it.
06:05You'll hear people talk about IKEA banks.
06:07These are essentially databases of vacant properties
06:10often run by individual towns and municipalities.
06:13And you can absolutely find some amazing deals on them.
06:17The problem is they're often entirely in Japanese.
06:20Every municipality has a different website.
06:23Some have barely any listings.
06:25And some of the properties can come with additional requirements or conditions.
06:29So if you're watching this from overseas
06:31and you just want to start seeing what's actually available
06:34and how much they cost,
06:35there's a much easier place that we would start.
06:38It's a website called MocoMoco.
06:40And honestly, if we were starting the search again today,
06:42this is probably where we'd start.
06:44It's essentially a massive database of affordable properties for sale across Japan
06:49that's actually designed to be usable by foreigners.
06:52You can open the map and start searching all over the country.
06:55You can choose the area you're interested in,
06:58set your budget,
06:59look at the size and layout,
07:00and start getting a realistic idea of what your money can actually buy.
07:04At the moment,
07:04they have over 170,000 properties listed for under $100,000 US dollars.
07:09So you can very quickly disappear down a rabbit hole
07:12looking at ridiculously cheap Japanese houses.
07:15And there are some really useful tools built into it as well.
07:18You can check things like tsunami and landslide risk,
07:21use satellite maps and save properties you're interested in.
07:25And if you actually find somewhere you want to buy,
07:27MocoMoco also has bilingual licensed agents
07:30who can help foreign buyers through the purchasing process.
07:33Now, you absolutely don't have to use MocoMoco to buy a house.
07:37You can go directly through Japanese real estate agents
07:40or you can search Japanese property websites.
07:43You can go through individual municipality IKEA banks
07:46and you may find properties through those methods
07:48that aren't showing up elsewhere.
07:50But if I was sitting overseas right now thinking,
07:53I would love to buy a cheap house in Japan,
07:55but I have absolutely no idea where to start,
07:58I would go to MocoMoco first,
08:00open the map and just start looking.
08:02But there is something I'd recommend doing
08:04before you just sort by price.
08:07I would really figure out
08:09what area you want to be looking in first.
08:11Don't simply open the website
08:13and search cheapest house in Japan,
08:15because trust me,
08:16you will find some unbelievably cheap houses.
08:20Instead, ask yourself,
08:21where would I actually want to spend time?
08:23Do I want mountains?
08:24Do I want beaches?
08:25Do I want snow?
08:27Do I want to be near a major city?
08:28How far am I willing to be from an airport?
08:31What does this area look like in winter?
08:33Then start looking at houses in those areas.
08:36That's essentially what we did.
08:38We knew we wanted to be somewhere in Nagano Prefecture,
08:41surrounded by mountains and close to the Japanese Alps.
08:44And eventually we found this place.
08:46We paid 22,000 US dollars for this entire house
08:50and the property that it sits on.
08:52But honestly, that's where the real adventure began.
08:54This is probably the most important advice
08:56in this entire video.
08:58So when you see a property listed for $5,000, $10,000, $20,000
09:03and you think, wow, how bad could it actually be?
09:07The answer is pretty bad.
09:09A house that's been sitting empty for years
09:11can have rotten structural timber,
09:14termite damage,
09:15a leaking roof,
09:17mold,
09:18old plumbing,
09:19outdated electrical systems,
09:21no insulation,
09:22old wastewater systems,
09:24and sometimes problems you won't discover
09:26until you actually start pulling the house apart.
09:29And we've experienced this ourselves.
09:31When we originally walked through this house,
09:33there were obviously things that we knew needed work.
09:35But once we started removing tatami,
09:38ripping up floors and opening up parts of the house,
09:41we started finding things
09:42we simply couldn't see when we bought it.
09:44And suddenly that $22,000 house
09:46can become a very expensive renovation.
09:49So my advice would be
09:50before you actually go ahead
09:52and purchase a house
09:53just because it's cheap,
09:55you need to really figure out
09:56how much is it actually going to cost me
09:58to be able to live in this house?
10:01If we were doing this again,
10:02these are some of the things
10:03we'd pay particularly close attention to.
10:06The roof.
10:07Water is your enemy.
10:09Look for staining, leaks, rotten timber,
10:11and any evidence
10:12that water's been getting inside.
10:14The structure.
10:15Especially with an older wooden Japanese house,
10:18look underneath the house if you can,
10:20look at the beams,
10:21look at the floors,
10:22and if you don't know what you're looking at,
10:24bring somebody who does.
10:25Termites and insects.
10:27Japan's hot and humid summers
10:29can be brutal on timber.
10:31Mold and moisture.
10:32A house that's been closed up for years
10:33can have serious moisture problems.
10:36Plumbing and wastewater.
10:37This can be a massive one.
10:39Some rural properties
10:40have very old toilet or wastewater systems
10:43and modernizing them can be extremely expensive.
10:46Electricity.
10:47How old is the wiring?
10:49And is the electrical capacity sufficient
10:51for the way you want to use the house?
10:54Water.
10:54Is it municipal water?
10:56A well?
10:56Or something else?
10:58Heating and insulation.
10:59Especially if you're buying somewhere
11:01in an area like Nagano
11:03where it gets extremely cold during winter.
11:06And many older Japanese houses
11:08were not built with anything
11:09close to the level of insulation
11:11you might expect from a modern home.
11:13And then there's one thing
11:14people often completely overlook.
11:16Access.
11:18What does this property look like in winter?
11:20Who clears the road?
11:22Can a normal vehicle get there?
11:23Is the road public or private?
11:25The beautiful isolated mountain house
11:27you fall in love with in July
11:29can be a very different proposition in January.
11:32Should you get a building inspection?
11:35Knowing what we know now,
11:36yes.
11:37Or at the absolute minimum,
11:39bring someone with you
11:40who really understands old Japanese houses.
11:42A beautiful tatami room
11:44can be hiding rotten timber underneath it.
11:46A tiny stain can indicate
11:47a much bigger roof problem.
11:49An old toilet or bathroom
11:50can potentially cost a fortune to modernize.
11:53And because these houses can be so cheap,
11:55I think there's a psychological trap
11:57where you start thinking,
11:58well, it's only $20,000.
12:00But that's exactly why
12:01you need to inspect it properly.
12:03Because you're not trying to determine
12:05whether the house is worth $20,000.
12:07You're trying to determine
12:08whether your $20,000 house
12:10is actually going to cost you $30,000
12:13or $60,000
12:14or even $150,000
12:16by the time it's finished.
12:18So once we decided
12:19that we definitely wanted this house,
12:22the actual transaction
12:23was much more conventional
12:25than what we would have thought.
12:27We worked through a real estate agent
12:29and there was a purchase contract.
12:31We reviewed and signed the required documents.
12:33The payment was made
12:35and a judicial scrivener
12:36handled the property registration
12:38and transfer of ownership.
12:40And this is where we get into the part
12:41that often gets left out
12:42of the I bought a house in Japan
12:44for $10,000 videos.
12:46Because the advertised price
12:47isn't the final amount
12:49you're going to spend.
12:50Our house itself
12:51cost roughly $22,000 US dollars.
12:53But then there were the costs
12:54associated with actually buying it.
12:57For us, this included roughly
12:58330,000 yen in brokerage fees,
13:02160,000 yen for the judicial scrivener,
13:04plus stamp duty
13:05and other smaller transaction costs.
13:08So there was roughly
13:08another half a million yen
13:10in closing costs
13:11before we'd bought
13:12a single renovation material.
13:14And then depending on the property
13:15and your circumstances,
13:17you also need to account
13:18for things like taxes
13:19and ongoing ownership costs.
13:21So when you see a house
13:22advertised for $10,000,
13:24don't assume you're going
13:25to hand someone $10,000
13:27and walk away with the keys.
13:29So how do you actually pay
13:31for a house in Japan?
13:32So this was another
13:33interesting part
13:34of the transaction for us
13:36because obviously as foreigners,
13:38we didn't just have
13:39millions of Japanese yen
13:41sitting in a Japanese bank account.
13:43And financing
13:44is virtually impossible
13:46as a foreigner.
13:47It's really hard
13:48to get a Japanese mortgage
13:49if you're a foreign buyer,
13:51obviously.
13:51Particularly if you're
13:52not a permanent resident,
13:53it can be much more complicated
13:55than simply buying the property.
13:57In our situation,
13:58the seller actually wanted us
14:00to produce Japanese yen
14:01in cash,
14:02which we were told
14:03is quite common
14:04for these older homes.
14:05A lot of these villages,
14:06they still do operate
14:07a lot in cash.
14:09That was obviously
14:10a little bit too difficult
14:11for us.
14:12It would have required us
14:13to fly to Japan
14:14and basically withdraw money
14:16from the ATM in cash,
14:17which would have taken
14:18a lot of time,
14:19but also we would have got
14:21stung with a lot of fees.
14:23Obviously,
14:23we bought the house outright.
14:24We didn't have any financing
14:26or anything with a Japanese bank,
14:27which meant we needed
14:29to transfer a fairly large
14:31amount of Japanese yen
14:32from overseas
14:33and ultimately pay
14:34for the property.
14:35So to make it a lot easier
14:37for us,
14:37we used WISE.
14:38And WISE are actually
14:39sponsoring this part
14:41of today's video,
14:41but this is probably
14:42one of the most natural
14:44integrations we've ever done
14:45because we genuinely used WISE
14:47to pay for this house.
14:49When it came time to settle,
14:50we needed to send millions
14:51of Japanese yen
14:52to complete the purchase
14:53while our money
14:54was held overseas.
14:55So what I actually did
14:57was set up a Japanese yen
14:58account in my WISE account
15:00and I converted the money
15:01from US dollars
15:02to Japanese yen
15:03a few days before
15:04settlement date.
15:05I uploaded the payment invoice,
15:07which included
15:08the seller's details
15:09and all I had to do
15:10was click a button
15:11and the money
15:12was transferred immediately.
15:13A bit nervous.
15:16It's a lot of money.
15:17So I've put in
15:18all the details here
15:19and it says it's going
15:20to arrive today
15:22within four minutes.
15:25Done.
15:27That's it.
15:28You got it.
15:30Woohoo.
15:31We bought the house,
15:33my mom.
15:33And when you're transferring
15:34that much money,
15:35the exchange rate
15:36suddenly becomes
15:36pretty important.
15:38We've been using WISE
15:38for years now
15:39while traveling
15:40and living overseas,
15:41but obviously buying a house
15:42was a much bigger transaction
15:44than what we'd normally
15:45use it for.
15:45One of the things
15:46we really like about WISE
15:48is that before you
15:48make the transfer,
15:49you can clearly see
15:50the exchange rate
15:51you're getting,
15:52the fee you're paying
15:53and how much the recipient
15:54is actually going to receive.
15:56WISE uses the mid-market
15:57exchange rate
15:58when converting currencies
15:59with the transfer fee
16:01shown separately.
16:02So it's really transparent
16:03compared with trying
16:04to work out
16:05how much a traditional bank
16:07might be building
16:07into the exchange rate.
16:09And that's particularly
16:10important when you're
16:11transferring a large amount
16:12because even what looks
16:13like a small difference
16:14in the exchange rate
16:15can add up pretty quickly.
16:17So we were able
16:18to convert our money
16:19into Japanese yen
16:19and send the funds needed
16:21for the property purchase
16:22through WISE.
16:23But it's not just something
16:24that we've used
16:24for buying the house.
16:25Because we spend
16:26so much time overseas,
16:27we also use our WISE account
16:29and WISE card
16:30for everyday expenses
16:31in different currencies.
16:32You can hold and convert
16:33multiple currencies
16:34in one account
16:35and when you're traveling,
16:36you can use the WISE card
16:37to spend in supported currencies
16:39without having to constantly
16:41think about exchanging cash
16:42before every trip.
16:43So whether you're purchasing
16:44a house in Japan
16:45or even if you're just
16:46somebody who travels regularly
16:48or spends in different currencies,
16:50we highly recommend using WISE.
16:52We've been using them
16:53for like three years now.
16:54And if you want to use them,
16:55check out our link
16:56in the description
16:57where you'll get
16:58your first transfer
16:59absolutely fee-free
17:01up to $1,000
17:01or a free WISE travel money card.
17:04If I was buying again,
17:06this is something
17:07that I would organize
17:07well before settlement
17:09because you need to know
17:10what exactly are you paying,
17:12what currency do they require,
17:14are there transfer limits,
17:16how long will the transfer take,
17:18what information will you need
17:19and what exchange rate
17:21are you actually getting
17:22because when you're transferring
17:23millions of yen,
17:24even a relatively small difference
17:26in the exchange rate
17:27can become a meaningful
17:28amount of money.
17:29This is something
17:30I would take very seriously.
17:32A lot of these old properties
17:33are actually sold as is.
17:35It was made very clear to us
17:37when we signed
17:38the purchase contract
17:39that if anything came up
17:41that was going to be
17:41completely on us,
17:42like we were taking on
17:44all of the risk.
17:45And with an abandoned house,
17:47those unknowns really matter.
17:48The owner might not know
17:50when something
17:50was actually installed
17:51or they might not know
17:53whether something works or not.
17:55Utilities such as water,
17:56gas, electricity
17:57could have been disconnected
17:59for years
17:59and they might not
18:00be operating anymore.
18:01There might also be
18:02belongings left inside.
18:03That's really common.
18:05Boundaries may not be
18:06as obvious as you'd expect,
18:07which means you might end up
18:10with a pretty large bill
18:11when you discover
18:12rotten timber
18:13two weeks after settlement.
18:14Also, you need to remember
18:16that your contracts
18:17and legal documents
18:18are probably going to be
18:19in Japanese.
18:20So this is not where
18:21I'd recommend throwing
18:22a 30-page contract
18:24into Google Translate
18:25and thinking,
18:26yeah, that looks about right.
18:27Make sure that you actually
18:28understand what you're signing
18:29and what responsibilities
18:30you're accepting.
18:32This is another thing
18:33that's important to understand
18:34about the really cheap houses
18:35that you see online.
18:36Sometimes you'll see headlines
18:37about houses being sold
18:39for almost nothing,
18:40even sometimes zero,
18:41or even being given away
18:43for free.
18:43But always make sure
18:45you read the conditions
18:46because some local IKEA programs
18:48can have eligibility requirements
18:50or conditions relating
18:52to things like moving
18:53into the village,
18:54renovating the property,
18:55maintaining it,
18:56or using it in a particular way.
18:58And every municipality
18:59can have different rules.
19:00So just because foreigners
19:02can generally buy
19:03Japanese property
19:03doesn't mean you're
19:04automatically eligible
19:05for every local government
19:07IKEA scheme,
19:08subsidy,
19:09or incentive.
19:10Those are two
19:11very separate things.
19:12This is where the idea
19:14of a $20,000 Japanese house
19:16starts becoming
19:17a little bit misleading
19:18because buying it
19:20is only the beginning.
19:21You potentially have
19:22agent fees,
19:23registration,
19:24taxes,
19:25insurance,
19:26utilities,
19:27plumbing,
19:28electrical work,
19:29wastewater upgrades,
19:31roof repairs,
19:31structural repairs,
19:33termite treatment,
19:35heating,
19:35insulation,
19:36windows,
19:37renovation materials,
19:39labour,
19:39furniture,
19:40garden maintenance,
19:42and if you're in a snow region,
19:43snow removal
19:44and equipment.
19:45Our house was cheap
19:46but making it a house
19:47that we actually
19:48want to be able to live in
19:49is not necessarily
19:50going to be that cheap.
19:51And that's completely
19:52fine with us.
19:54We knew that
19:54we were buying a project.
19:56The danger is
19:56buying one of these houses
19:58thinking you're getting
19:59a completely renovated
20:00modern Japanese home
20:01for the price
20:02of a secondhand car.
20:03Sometimes you might
20:04get incredibly lucky
20:05but you absolutely
20:06cannot assume that.
20:08I'd actually argue
20:09that this is one
20:10of the most important
20:10parts of buying
20:11in a Kia.
20:12There are houses
20:13in extremely remote
20:14parts of Japan
20:15that are almost
20:16unbelievably cheap
20:17but before you buy one
20:19ask yourself
20:20where's the nearest
20:20supermarket?
20:21Where's the nearest
20:22hospital,
20:23school,
20:23train station,
20:24airport?
20:25Can you get
20:25reliable internet?
20:27What happens in winter?
20:28What is the population
20:29of the area doing?
20:30And if your circumstances
20:31change can you actually
20:32sell this house again?
20:34A $5,000 house
20:35isn't cheap
20:36if nobody
20:37including you
20:38actually wants to live there.
20:40Our house isn't
20:40valuable to us
20:41because it costs
20:42$22,000.
20:43It's valuable to us
20:44because we genuinely
20:46wanted to be
20:46in this part of Japan.
20:47We wanted mountains,
20:49we wanted to be
20:49close to skiing
20:50but we also didn't
20:51want to be completely
20:52cut off from everything
20:53and for us
20:54this part of Nagano
20:55ticked those boxes.
20:56That's much more
20:57important than
20:58saving another $5,000
20:59on the purchase price.
21:01This is where you
21:02can potentially save
21:03a huge amount of money.
21:05Professional labour
21:06can quickly become
21:07one of the biggest
21:08expenses in
21:09renovating an old house.
21:10We're doing a lot
21:11of the demolition
21:11and renovation ourselves
21:13but you also need
21:14to know where
21:14the DIY stops.
21:16So electrical work,
21:18major plumbing,
21:19structural changes,
21:21gas,
21:21pretty much anything
21:22that requires permits
21:23or licensed professionals.
21:24And older houses
21:26can contain materials
21:27that you really
21:28don't want to start
21:28cutting,
21:29sanding or ripping apart
21:30without knowing
21:31what they are.
21:32We've already had moments
21:33where we've stopped work
21:34because we needed
21:35to figure out
21:36exactly what we were
21:37dealing with.
21:38Saving money
21:38isn't worth putting
21:39yourself or the house
21:41at risk.
21:41After actually buying
21:43one of these houses
21:43I think the biggest
21:44misconception is that
21:46the challenge is
21:46finding a cheap house.
21:48It isn't.
21:48There are plenty
21:49of cheap houses.
21:50The challenge is
21:51finding a cheap house
21:53in an area you actually
21:54want to spend time
21:55with problems
21:56you can realistically fix
21:57at a total cost
21:58you can actually afford.
22:00And having a realistic
22:01way of spending
22:02the amount of time
22:03in Japan
22:03that you want to spend here.
22:05If you've got those
22:05things figured out
22:06buying an IKEA
22:07can be an incredible
22:08opportunity.
22:09But if your entire
22:10decision is simply
22:11based on seeing
22:12a headline such as
22:13$10,000 house
22:14in Japan
22:14then you're approaching
22:16it backwards.
22:17Start with
22:17can I legally spend
22:18the amount of time
22:19in Japan that I want to?
22:20How am I going
22:21to support myself?
22:22Where do I actually
22:23want to be?
22:24What condition
22:25is the house in?
22:26What will the renovation
22:27really cost?
22:28And then you can look
22:29at the purchase price.
22:30If we were starting
22:31from zero today
22:32this is the order
22:33we'd do everything in.
22:35Step one
22:36figure out
22:37how much time
22:38you realistically want
22:39and are legally able
22:41to spend in Japan.
22:43Step two
22:44figure out
22:45how you're going
22:45to support yourself
22:46while you're here.
22:48Step three
22:48decide where in Japan
22:50you actually want
22:51to own property.
22:52Step four
22:53go on to MocoMoco
22:54open the map
22:55and start looking
22:56at what your budget
22:57gets you in those areas.
22:59Then I'd also check
23:00the local IKEA banks
23:02and local Japanese
23:03real estate agents
23:03to make sure
23:04you're seeing
23:05as much of the market
23:06as possible.
23:07Step five
23:08once you've found
23:08something you're serious
23:09about visit the house
23:11in person if possible.
23:13Although you can
23:13buy a house
23:14completely remotely
23:16personally after
23:17everything that we've
23:17learned I'd be
23:18extremely reluctant
23:19to buy an old Japanese
23:20house without seeing
23:21it myself or at least
23:22sending somebody
23:23around there to do
23:24an inspection.
23:25Step six
23:26get the condition
23:27properly assessed
23:28and create a realistic
23:29renovation budget.
23:31Step seven
23:32understand any conditions
23:34attached to the property
23:35land or local IKEA
23:36program.
23:37Step eight
23:38make your offer
23:39and make sure
23:40you properly understand
23:41the Japanese contracts
23:42that you're signing.
23:43Step nine
23:44organize your money
23:45and how you're going
23:46to transfer the purchase
23:47funds into Japan.
23:49Step ten
23:50complete settlement
23:51and have the ownership
23:52legally registered.
23:53And finally step eleven
23:54find out what you
23:56actually bought
23:56because that's basically
23:58what we've spent
23:58the last few weeks
23:59doing.
24:00So can foreigners
24:01really buy cheap
24:02abandoned houses
24:03in Japan?
24:04Absolutely
24:05we did it
24:06and while you genuinely
24:07can find houses
24:08in Japan for
24:09twenty thousand dollars
24:10or even ten thousand
24:11dollars
24:11the purchase price
24:12is only one small
24:14part of the equation.
24:15For us
24:15buying this place
24:16was actually the
24:17beginning of the story.
24:18Now we have to turn
24:19a decades old
24:20abandoned farmhouse
24:21into somewhere
24:22our family
24:23can actually live.
24:24We've already
24:24ripped up floors
24:25discovered rotten wood
24:27battled hornets
24:28opened walls
24:29we probably wish
24:30we hadn't opened
24:31and we're still
24:32only at the beginning.
24:33So if you're thinking
24:34about doing this
24:35yourself
24:35hopefully this video
24:36has given you
24:37a much more realistic
24:38idea of what's involved.
24:39And if you want
24:40to see what it
24:41actually costs us
24:42to turn this
24:42twenty two thousand
24:43dollar abandoned
24:44Japanese farmhouse
24:45into our family home
24:46that's exactly what
24:47we're documenting
24:48on this channel.
24:49And by the time
24:49we're finished
24:50hopefully we'll be
24:51able to answer
24:51the biggest question
24:52of all.
24:53Was buying a
24:54twenty two thousand
24:54dollar abandoned
24:55house in Japan
24:56actually a good idea?
25:00house in Japan
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