Transcript
Speaker: I remember a long time ago, Hide, you mentioned a five-year timeline for like the Akia. Now I feel yeah like, uh, it's gotta be, uh, maybe three years. Three years. Yeah. And this was last year. You mentioned that now you're revising to three. Optimistically, maybe five years. Well, what's the real dagger? Why you think that it's going to end? Is it going to just become financially too difficult or restrictions to like, what, like what will be the cause of the end?
Speaker: Both. Both. or Of course, restriction makes financing more difficult, of course. Right. the immigration policy makes some difference, make ah some kind of impact on this IKEA business, of course. This IKEA issue is a social issue for the Japanese society, so there must be a way to find, ah to solve this issue and connecting to the IKEA business.
Speaker: Welcome back to the buying house in Japan podcast. Today we are recording live from Tama base camp. We have a return guest. This guest is a, has been held up by at gunpoint in New York city.
Speaker: He has saved a failing coffee chain business and turned it around. And he is one of our Akimart direct exclusive agents. Hide welcome to the show again. We're really happy to be recording this today.
Speaker: Thank you for having me again. And it's really pleasure to meet you guys again yeah at your bass, Tama Bass Camp. This is a really amazing place. We're making a recording studio. You're our a second guest here. So thank you for coming coming by. Such an honor. Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker: Did I get that right? So you were held up at gunpoint in New York City? Was that New York City or San Francisco? I was like, which city was it? Okay. Gunpoint at New York City. Okay. I almost stopped by the knife at San Francisco. Okay. I wasn't sure which one was the knife, which one was the gun. This was in the 90s, right? Yeah. Late 80 to 90. Safe now, I Safe for now, I think. Okay. Uh, yeah, for, for people who don't know you, do you mind giving us a quick reintroduction of yourself?
Speaker: Okay. Um, I'm a licensed realtor, uh, but, uh, I got ah this license just two years ago and the last past 35 years. Yeah. I'll be in the renting real estate business and also I'll be in the investor for the many kinds of the business. Wanted to say congratulations to Ron Schroeder, who is HIDE's star agent. He has recently had a baby girl, right? Yes. So amazing. He has now long become the daddy. Okay. Daddy of beautiful baby
Speaker: We're sorry, Ron is not here today, but Ron offer still stands. If you name your kids, middle name, Akimar, we'll pay you $10,000. That's the current, the current, uh, offer on the table. But anyways, let's get into this. There's a ton of topics we can talk about here. Let's just, just go. What are you interested in talking about here? What's on your mind right now? Oh, there's so many things, but ah yeah we need to say has start with the IKEA business. Okay. IKEA business. What's been happening in this space? You've been helping customers for the past two years, a year and a half or so. We've sent you some awesome customers. They've all said great things. Yes. What's what's the climate like?
Speaker: Still, the Akiya business is very hot in Japan for many reasons. Because yeah still, the Japanese yen is so weak. 153. Yeah, 153, and it's going to be 160 maybe. Really? I'm not sure. yeah Let's talk about that one. But anyway, it's really good for the buyers to pick up the house ah right now. and also um the registration restriction for buying the Akira, especially for the non-Japanese getting a streak maybe in the future. So it's really a good time or maybe the very end of the time to buy a house so easy, I think. Political headwinds. Yes, right. Yeah.
Speaker: So you're saying you it might be difficult for people to buy Akiyos because they need to register with the city or something? Can you explain that? I'm not really sure, but ah there must be some kind of that made the cag guarantee about the...
Speaker: ah somebody have to support when and the buyer purchase the house and somebody new to ah be had not be there had somebody and to meet Japanese representative staying in Japan and they can contact yeah directly to the seller yeah but but buy it so no more kind of outright or or you know this is not Nothing's set in stone. It's just kind of being discussed online right now. But no more outright ownership of a property as a foreigner in Japan without some sort of Japanese national permanent resident guarantor.
Speaker: potentially yeah potentially but uh i know some issues about you know uh no point uh non-japanese buying the house is uh one is uh many of them doesn't have the uh tax representative because uh under the uh role uh when non-japanese buy the house uh they don't need to prepare the tax representative at that time, yeah at that point. So ah I often ah you know i call call from the hero, our judicial scrivener, saying, could you appoint the tax representative for this client? That kind of thing. I didn't know it. I didn't know it i thought it was at like settlement time. You had to specify that. Oh, it's like the- Actually not.
Speaker: Okay. Quick, quick plug. We have a new program called Aki Amard Care, where we do support tax representation and utility. So, you know, hopefully we we have at least a solution for the meantime. well Let's jump right into a HIDE. So, um, there, so a few other restrictions, I think for foreigners purchasing. property in Japan might get discussed, might happen. I think a lot of this, from what I've read online, comes from people pointing at increasing condo prices in Tokyo. They're saying prices in Tokyo are going up.
Speaker: Japanese people living in Tokyo can't afford it. And so now they're trying to, you know, and they're pointing the finger at, um you know, one of the one one of the main ones they point the finger at is Chinese nationals buying luxury condos in Tokyo, driving up the prices. um I find it a little bit disappointing that i think Tokyo,
Speaker: Likely prices are rising. That's probably very true. But in the rest of the country, outside of the mate the top five main cities, that's not the case. And to clamp down on property ownership or purchasing in the rest of the country that isn't affected by you know rising condo prices, I find that a little bit disappointing. Do you think that this is just a Tokyo problem or do you think the problem is...
Speaker: bigger I think yeah your analysis is pretty correct. Cool. Yes. yes yeah And only in Tokyo, the price of the property and especially the have luxury property price is getting skyrocketed because of the mainly Chinese investor yeah who are expecting the appreciation of the property in the future.
Speaker: But the rest of the world in Japan, ah we cannot expect such a high rise of the property price in the near future, I think.
Speaker: But as as some cities like it in Kyushu, maybe especially in Fukuoka area, the price of the property is high, okay actually.
Speaker: Fukuoka? Yeah. forcoca yeah I like Fukuoka a lot. Do you expect that you, you know, likely much more about Japanese politics than I do. Do you expect that the government will understand that and act appropriately and and solve a Tokyo problem only in Tokyo? Or do you think Japanese government is very likely to have blanket ah solutions to problems?
Speaker: ah Okay. They are politicians. They need ah to be erected yeah ah by... this time, but in the future,
Speaker: I don't think they really, you know, think about a certain direction for their policy about how the real estate market should be. They're reactionary. Whatever's happening right now, I need to make sure I get the votes for the next election cycle. Exactly. That's tough.
Speaker: That's all. that okay Yeah. I also think that ah foreign immigrants are an easy punching bag politically. Like, all right, there's a problem in the housing market. Let's point the finger at foreigners, do something about that and like get the votes.
Speaker: Yes, ah some people really believe in that way gonna work, especially, you know, bashing the ah not good behavior foreigners. But ah I think um most people, especially the business people, doesn't think in that But but ah I think if the people, the Japanese national and nationals who doesn't have any relationship, non-Japanese people ah will think something goes wrong in our society might be caused by the non-Japanese sometimes. yeah There are so many bad news about the cause of the act that brings by the foreigners.
Speaker: it's ah It's an interesting time. I mean, tough time to be a foreigner, right? With the business manager visa reforms. I just saw some new stuff. it bit they make it almost they They make it so difficult now for people to want, good people actually that want to come here and make a business. It's almost like it's impossible. Not impossible, but very, very difficult.
Speaker: It's interesting that the business manager visa stuff, for people that are not aware, they changed a bunch of rules on this one. Immigration visa in Japan made it much more difficult, much more expensive. It's interesting that that's tied in with Minpaku. And again, Chinese investors, kind of like the the two sort of like the real estate world, the Japanese immigration world, like, you know, and and kind of clamping down on the strictness. It's connected. It feels like they're all... ah different manifestations of the underlying, i don't want to say foreigner problem, but like when people are pointing to oh an easy. Immigration. Scapegoat. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true. That's true. see And, uh, immigration, uh, problem, uh, is, uh, yeah. How do you relate to the IRS, the market? I think. And also the business manager's visa, ah had the status for the business manager's visa is yeah getting stricker and stricker. But ah just doing the business in Japan, not thinking about visa status, it's not going to be so hard, I think. yeah Because you know if you just want to start a business and you don't need to stay in Japan, you just buy the business.
Speaker: i Let's somebody manage the business. Yeah, I think that's actually something I didn't think about. I will encourage more people to buy business and hire someone in Japan to run it. But ah your goal is to get a long-term visa in Japan. It's getting a yeahrika sika it's it's getting harder,
Speaker: Yeah, to to ah unpack those two from each other, buying and you know running a business in Japan, that hasn't really changed. As you mentioned, you can still buy a business and hire someone else to manage it. But if you wanted to tie that to some sort of immigration visa, that has become more difficult now. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Speaker: What do you think you mentioned it? ah one of the first things you said, ah earlier today was that the window might be closing on this, this, uh, Akia kind of phase. Urgent, urgent.
Speaker: Could you elaborate on that on your, of course you should worry about it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah but Not right now, especially you know in the rural area. I don't think yeah there are going to be ah some kind of you infrastructure rest restrictions yeah over the purchasing the property by the non-Japanese. But still,
Speaker: ah the politicians think about oh there you know we should have some kind of restriction over by the uh purchase of the abandoned house or the akira by the foreigners but uh it depends on the situation okay If the rural area really have our issues, population is decreasing, and young generation never interested in staying there, of course, the society needs some kind of solution. so i think
Speaker: If non-Japanese are ah you know going to be a key factor for that society, and that brings benefits to their society, I think yeah there should be no restrictions, of course. So I think it depends on the situation. okay If you want to buy the property in maybe a very rural area, and you open some kind of cafe, and... ah There used to be no cafe in the area and the society welcomed your cafe. Of course, yeah they will welcome you be there.
Speaker: Yeah. give that Provide value and ah people will appreciate it. Uh-huh. It's a tough problem, right? And I think it's a recurring theme. You know, yesterday we went out and then into the bars and talked to my friends and everyone's like, yeah, declining population, people are getting older. And like, we're always like, is there a solution? You know, I feel like the problem is just going to, has just gotten worse over the past two years of where A lot of these towns, we're going to Shikoku, we're going to see a lot of it just like, what's what's goingnna what's the city going to look like 10 years from now? And there's no, I don't know. if if They tighten on immigration. It's harder for you know foreigners to come in
Speaker: Japanese population is not increasing. I don't know. which is Is there a solution? um It's really tough yeah question. And if it's easy to and know to find that kind of solution, I got to be elected for the prime minister.
Speaker: um But ah one solution is for the local government to to to promote the business, actually. So... If they, you know, as they said as some kind of the special districts, like a local government can give you some kind of subsidize to you know promote the business by Japanese, it's going to be a really popular place for some time. It's interesting. Osaka just pulled back the special Minpaku, right? Yes, right. Okay. and and Hida, you just went to a conference, Minpaku or Airbnb short-term rental conference in Nagoya. What did you tell us about it? What did you learn?
Speaker: Oh, actually, you know, I've never managed that Minpak by myself. So actually, the Minpak Fest is provided by the AirBnB. that was an AirBnB event. Yeah, right. And 400 people attended that Minpak Fest. And so many Minpak owners and
Speaker: Some people who want to start a mean park business ah come to that space from all across Japan. But ah yeah, kind of surprised that I see no Japanese.
Speaker: you You didn't see any? I didn't see all Japanese. All Japanese and all the explanation is in Japanese. So if we went, and we would just be like, uh...
Speaker: But they are so excited about this business. and they But ah after the conference, I talked to the so many Min Park owners from Tokyo at the party after the conference. then and they all all talk about how her hard the MinPak business in Tokyo.
Speaker: And because there are not so many, and you know, very good property for MinPak is available right now. And then usually is this seems like as they hey they rent a property for MinPak, not purchase a property. so they look for the property available for the minpack business but uh the rent getting higher and higher and people are you know actually and kind of beating over the rent so ah for example first the the owner of the property ask okay let's start at 100 000 yen
Speaker: then uh it's getting a yeah bidding and bidding they're going to bidding yeah okay and they say rent the price price was and asked uh three point five times yeah but and also the the owner asked her one month's key money and it got to nine months. fine We just heard that. we we had We had a coffee with someone yesterday who runs Meepunk. She said it's nine months' key money. It's amazing. But it still, do people can make a profit. That's why it's increased at that price. Key money is a gift to the landlord, essentially. Yeah, so nine months' worth of rent, gift to the landlord. not You don't get that money back. And this kind of tendency is ah you know happening in Osaka too, they say.
Speaker: So and now there they are as seeking for other places like ah maybe Yokohama or the Nagoya or maybe Kuoka to get more high margin or over the hand-in-back business.
Speaker: Nagoya, I think that's where we look at next, Joey. We heard the maglev train. It's Tokyo to Nagoya, 40 minutes? Yes. That's crazy. dude is that but Is that true? you think Yes, it's true it's true. And maybe that new train is going to come to Nagoya maybe around 2035. 10 years from Almost years. But some main park owner from Tokyo says as they just moved to Nagoya ah for starting the business. Sapporo too. Shinkansen going Sapporo. But not 40 minutes. 40 minutes is crazy.
Speaker: Yeah. You know, our house from Shinjuku to Seiseki is 40 minutes. That's insane. hey You can commute to Tokyo from Nagoya. Every day. Yeah. i think where Where is that going to go? I heard there might be a Tama Shinkansen, hopefully. But where's the maglev train going from? Tokyo Station, you think, to Nagoya Station? Yeah, Tokyo Station to Nagoya Station.
Speaker: Wow. Nobody's going to fly anymore. i wonder if there's a stop in between. Where's the stop in between? Yeah. And the amazing thing is the new Shinkansen fair is going to be ah almost the same to the regular Shinkansen.
Speaker: Wow. So it's very you know convenient. Let's go Nagoya. Yeah. What about Minpaku business, like outside of Tokyo thinking Minpaku, how to make ROI returns outside of Tokyo. There's obviously there's ski towns, but those prices are going up as well. What about stuff like the Kumano Kodo or like other tourist attractions in Japan, but smaller towns? do you have any thoughts on outside of ski, outside of Tokyo, where would be a good spot for Minpaku business? Actually, if I start my Minpak business, I will not you know look at the urban area. I rather love Kumano Kodo or the rural areas, ski resort area, because there is no competition right now.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah And also, yeah i think if I start Minpak around Kumano Kodo, Maybe will buy the house, not rental.
Speaker: I will buy a house. Maybe a very spacious house over 200 square meter, that kind of their house. And i will promote them more a group to add tourists ah for that kind of place. I think it's a great idea. Like, yeah, as as you mentioned, like, there's less, there's much less competition. Like, I think Tokyo, it's like priced in right now, there's bidding wars, like, you got to look for what what the next thing is before ah all the other investors see that as well.
Speaker: I think activity-based is a a good way of thinking about it. What's that one biking trail? Shimanami Kaido or something like that? right. I heard that's really, Onomichi is really popular, all those kind of, that chain of islands, because people need to us stay. So getting a mean puck around there would be my vote.
Speaker: Yeah, and buying as well. Don't have to worry about renting, having a landlord. Right. And the good thing about ah buying the house in rural area is also the tax property is very low. Maybe yeah even when you buy the house in rural area, maybe your property tax is around 1,000 10,000 yen.
Speaker: our Our property tax here is already pretty low too, right? Yeah, yeah, quite quite low. I mean, we're not downtown. We're not in the urban area. All right, Hidey, what have you been seeing the past year? You've helped, i think, lot of people, lot of foreigners through the purchase process.
Speaker: Anything surprise you recently or anything that you've seen change or any advice you want to give to the listeners who are trying to buy in Japan? There are so many surprising things for me, especially as a realtor. Because yeah most property and our customer, non-Japanese customer purchase is not for Japanese. because it I mean, a Japanese will not interested in that kind of approach. Especially, okay, if Japanese buy the property, they always request where the boundary is, determine the boundaries. it means you need to get up a land surveyor and also you you need to get the agreement and imagine break from the neighbors where the exact boundary is but ah most property we sell to the non-japanese ah there's no border determined so it's kind of very you you know risky and for a customer How much does a land surveyor typically cost? if if a Usually, ah maybe it depends on the size of the land, but usually 400,000 600,000 Japanese yen.
Speaker: japanese zealand We're in this situation ourselves with more than one of our properties. The boundaries are vague. ah Yeah. And we're we're getting an appraisal done on one of our properties right now as well. And they brought that up. They they said that, hey, we don't know where the bound. We're going to appraise it, you know, based off some estimate they're making. But they did mention that, like, hey, the the boundaries are not clear on this property. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So usually if the boundary is not clear, Japanese customer will ask you, why don't you split the service expense with a seller and buyer?
Speaker: if Okay. the The customer asked that? Yeah. Okay. And so the Japanese buyer doesn't want to go for it because of... the unclearness, right? wouldn Wouldn't the seller want to just do pay for that and say, like, okay, I'll pay for it so it makes it more attractive to the buyer? Yes, of course, of course. If the seller conduct the survey, run survey, it's more easy to sell. yeah Yes.
Speaker: And also, same thing happened to the home inspection. Usually, a Japanese sellers will not conduct a home inspection yeah before they want to put their property on the market. But ah I think if the seller conduct a home inspection before they put their property on the market, and it's more easy to sell, yeah especially for the realtors like us. That's the strategy in California when I've done some sales. It's like you do the home inspection, you see what's wrong, you fix it.
Speaker: And you're like, okay, we fixed this properly. and makes it much easier easier to sell. But I guess in the case of these Akias, it's lower budget, you know lower price. They don't want to put money in to to show all the problems. so A lot of things wrong. Yeah.
Speaker: um in In the land survey, actually, do they do a soil composite test or is that a different person? because It's a kind of de default as's a different person. How much does that kind of person cost? It's hard to tell, the how but ah it's kind of expensive. Okay. we We had talked to one of our other agents and she said before 2000, they didn't typically do that kind of test. So you don't know, like, is your ground you're on going to be solid or not, right? Right. So that's something I've thought about recently. I think we should we should try to do one sometime.
Speaker: Speaking of that, actually, Hida, you have helped us organize looking at a surf house in Kaifu. Speaking of no domestic buyers wanting a house, this house is, I think it's really cool.
Speaker: It's really expensive for us, but I think it's a designer house and it is on a... Landslide red zone, i believe, right? Yellow zone. Reds. I think its it's red zone. So no bank will give us, I mean, can can you explain the situation to us a little bit I know you've sent it over WhatsApp and we're still going to go look at it, but.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a kind of the ah South House ah owned by the very famous, I don't know how to say, and say, shaper. Yeah, shaper. Okay. And he built that house for his dream, you know. Yeah. yeah it's It's a kind of very cool place, but ah it's in the ah hazardous red zone and yeah there is no infrastructure like ah water. Water. Okay. How does he already get water? He just brings it up or? Actually, hey and the print the owner has a house close to that property and she just you know ah brings the water from his house, which has ah ah water already, public water, and he brings it the water to his sub house. Okay. Yes. Keeps it in a big tank or something? I'm not really sure.
Speaker: is Is there going to be a Japanese buyer for this property, you think? Very difficult, right? It's really difficult. I don't think a year know ah most Japanese are interested in. Actually, I heard that yeah from the local realtor that there are only three viewers have for that ah property. and They are all non-Japanese. Okay.
Speaker: I mean, the design is great, but yeah, as Joey and have looked at it very closely, it's very much on the landslide zone. There was a landslide in the past. Supposedly they put... Partially destroyed the structure. A million dollars or something into the land the restructuring of the the walls, but that doesn't mean anything, right? Like if another earthquake happens, it's kind of...
Speaker: uh i'm not sure because uh local realtor says yeah after they uh the government the local government uh uh there's some kind of protection for the that land sliding zone the the realtor says now it became yeah yeah the other says now it became very safe And actually the realtor asked the local government to change the zone from red to yellow or something. But the local government doesn't allow in that way. They said, no way, buddy. So they did put a big retaining wall up, but I don't know, honestly, if that's going to stop a landslide. Landslide is a huge, massive. Yes, right. Yeah, it was. So no bank is going to give a loan on this property, right?
Speaker: Of course not. So it has to be a cash buyer. Cash buyer. So yeah, now we need to talk about... Strategy. Yeah, strategy. Yeah, the sales financing. Yep. So the house price is around $30 million, probably little bit more than $30 million, which is like $200,000 US. This is like very far out of budget for us. So we asked Hide. We're like, Hide.
Speaker: Hide. We don't think if there's going to be a buyer. This is such a cool house. Joey and I are more risk. We have a higher risk appetite, I think, than the average customer. We both love surfing. I think the surf house vibe just really matches what I think I would like and we would like maybe in the house. So we approached Hide. We said, Hide, is there a way we can do seller financing? Seller financing is not common in Japan. Not common at all. But okay, yeah.
Speaker: You need a strategy, how to attract yourself to the seller. Okay. If you are the surfer, you are a surfer lover, right? Yeah, I shaped a surfboard. I'm also a surfboard shaper. Shaped one for Joey. We're bringing it there to surf. Great, great. There's some connection, you know? Yeah. So you and seller have a common interest. Same soul. Yeah, same soul. Okay, same soul. Yeah. So...
Speaker: If yeah this old guy, and the owner, is really want to support you, and ah if you you can attract him to support you yourself, yes so they might be interesting.
Speaker: okay okay And also, yeah now I'm talking to some kind of financial institute who can maybe so provide some kind of financing to non-Japanese ah without residency here.
Speaker: whoa yes that's a big deal yes but of course you know yeah you need to uh show some kind of story the business you know business uh pro uh plan business strategy for the property yes okay okay just using it as surf house oh no say you i know we're We'll have a business plan ready. It can't be like a personal vacation property. It needs to, if this financial institution. Income generating. Income generating. Income generating. Okay. Could we even run a mean paku business there if it's in a hazard zone? I have a feeling it's a no, right? I don't know, but I. It's probably dangerous too, but okay. He did. Financing, seller financing. what's What's our strategy here? Let's say we, me and Joey go next week. We're like. Personal connection. Personal kind of we meet the guy. We're like, first off, we probably, it's hard to meet the seller first, right?
Speaker: The seller is now her living in Kyushu. Yeah, Miyazaki. And he's now ah building the same kind of south house in Miyazaki. Okay, okay. Smart guy. So he's not going to be there.
Speaker: So we're just talking to the real estate agent when we go. Yeah, maybe. Okay, that's going to be tough. But he might, the real estate agent might fill in the seller a little bit. oh two surfers came. really Yeah. At least you need to get of a phone number and the email address of the order. Okay. Yeah. How do, can we pull the token or something? how How can we figure out that information? Ask the realtor.
Speaker: Ask the realtor. Ask the realtor. They should know. Well, in the seller's perspective, this this property is not going to sell for a long time. I think it's a very, very challenging, no water, hazard zone.
Speaker: What do you think a good strategy, let's say me and Joey, like, yes, we want to go for it. What do you think is appropriate first offer or first try for a seller financing? Like what kind of terms do you think would be like not insulting to the to the seller?
Speaker: Maybe you should ask, uh, uh, rent, uh, rent to own yeah man lin to all first. Okay. Then, okay. Yeah. If you were saying yeah you need to show as ah sit at that order ah you are the you know seriously want to buy that property, but you need to be honest, yeah you don't have a budget right now. yeah So ah ask him, and okay, I want to pay the rent now, but yeah, I want to put that rent I have paid into the purchase. Yeah, purchasing. Okay. Yeah, later on. How much do you think that place would cost the rent?
Speaker: I don't think you don't yeah you don't need to pay a ah such an expensive fee for the rent. Because they you just need to show you show him that ah you are serious. And if he say thinks you are serious about ah buying the property, maybe they they will say, say okay, yeah you can rent this house at free for, say, six months or something.
Speaker: it's possible because now it's not generating any income for him totally are you asking that way that might be an interesting idea there's a lot more talk about yeah renting and then minpaku-ing that could be i think that property is is pretty good even in like yeah okay basically you know in japan some owner really worry about renting their house or the property to somebody else because if the property is used for the residential purpose uh it's really hard to kick the kick the yeah kick the tenant out kaha because it's a really you know uh the place they need so the uh the actually there are so many you know uh court disputes uh the owner tried to kick the tenant out and couldn't kick them out because they are the property was used for the uh residential purpose but ah For this time, as the South House is not for a residential purpose. So for the owner, it's going to be not so risky to let it out for a Japanese or any resident. Okay.
Speaker: Interesting. So no shower in this house. Is that is that the... i think we could figure it out it sounds like we need a water tank up there or like getting the water line that's possible right actually ah you can uh bring the public water to the south south house and the realtor says that maybe the estimate cost for uh bringing the public water to that property is around 1.5 million or something
Speaker: yeah But ah yeah you can yeah ask the sitter to share the price. Let's say we did buy this house. Do you think you can even insure this house? like It already got destroyed by it or partially destroyed by landslide once. Is any insurance company going to insure it? Good question. Yeah.
Speaker: It's really hard guess. But of course, the previous owner had insurance over the property. so And maybe you cannot yeah get a full coverage of the property price, but ah maybe something. Yeah. Something, some portion of the but property price, I think. Okay. I'm a little more optimistic. The rent to own, hey, peak owner doesn't lose anything, right? It's just sitting sitting there.
Speaker: Our risk is he could kick us out at some point, right? Just be like, nope. But make use of it while you can. Easy come, easy go. what What do you think would be an acceptable rent to to offer if we decide, hey, let's try to do rent to own?
Speaker: We'll send you videos when we go to. Maybe 200,000 yen. Really? Yeah. You think so? I think so. Okay. It's pretty fair because he's not making a you know any profit to over the way yeah that open the property right now. yeah Just paying the property tax. But even the property tax is should be very low. Okay. you say or Yeah, Japanese Okay, okay.
Speaker: not bad i think we could we could consider that one but we would have no protection like would this be like a contract we make on the side kind of thing and saying like hey you know this this money we pay per month is going to go towards the the the principal basically yes i think so yeah but i yeah i never make such kind of a contract before with this so yeah we need to make a kind of strategy okay to convince the owner This is why you work with HIDE. HIDE, I think you are our most creative agent that we work with. And I think it's important. and A lot of this lot of these deals don't happen unless there's a little bit of little bit of trying, failing. Yeah. Because basically, yeah I used to be an investor and I am the investor right now. nice so You know how to think about it like an investor, right? I always need to think about how to solve the issues. Yeah.
Speaker: I remember a long time ago, HIDE, you mentioned that a five year timeline for like, here it is the Akiya. Now I feel like, uh, it's gotta be ah maybe three years, three years. Yeah. And this was last year. You mentioned that. So four years based on that estimate. And now you're revising it to three. Optimistically, maybe five years. Well, what's the real dagger? Why you think that it's going to end? Is it going to just become financially too different difficult or restrictions to like what like what will be the cause of the end boast both both of course restriction uh makes financing more difficult of course right and uh that's uh that the immigration policy uh makes some different uh very different yeah make ah some kind of impact on this uh akia business of course but uh
Speaker: Still, uh, this Akira, uh, issue is a, uh, social issue for the job, uh, Japanese society. So there must be a, the way to find, uh, to solve this issue and connecting to the Akira business.
Speaker: Okay. Final question from me, Hide. Um, actually I'm interested to hear this from a perspective of of a Japanese national. If you had a magic wand and could change one thing about Japan, what would you change? too many things to to her yeah i always noticed other japanese national so many issues for this society but uh i i really need to open this society to uh to world and i don't need to uh you know get restrictions uh for uh the business especially
Speaker: and i want to promote more non-japanese to come and invest in in japan yeah so i wanna
Speaker: I was had decreased the barrier for the ah business ah purpose by the non-Japanese people. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Great answer. eday I think Joey's been waiting to ask you these questions. I think we we look up to you a lot and he's Joey's always like, he just said five years. I'm going to ask him about that. you know, it's a common, common thing we we talk about. I feel like I've said that to you once a month. i was like, he did five years. So, yeah. Three. Yeah.
Speaker: But, okay, now the business environment have for that non-Japanese is getting streaker, but always some kind of that business wave had to come. So now it might be across the bottom for the non-Japanese business environment, but it's going to be ah more easier for the future at some point. okay And we need to prepare for that. The boom. Yeah. this is ah where We can't get lower. It can't get harder at this point, right? Yeah, we're surprised.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, Joey, we say that you know friction is opportunity. um right I think there must be a way, and I think it if it gets harder, that might be a bigger opportunity for our businesses eager to help people. Hide, thank you for visiting us. We're always excited to have chat with you. And Hide, again, is one of our Akiyamart Direct exclusive agents. You have an opportunity of working with him if you decide you want to buy a property in Japan. So thanks, Hide. Thank you so much, and I really enjoyed working with you.
Speaker: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Buying a House in Japan. If you find the show helpful or at least entertaining, give us a five-star rating. Takes five seconds and really goes a long way. If you or someone you know is looking for a Japanese home, check out Akiyamart.com, our English-friendly site that lets you browse over half a million listings. That's A-K-I-Y-A-M-A-R-T.com to find your dream home in Japan.
Speaker: If you've got questions or feedback, drop us a line, email contact at akiamart.com. You can also find us on Instagram as well as TikTok, where we post properties, tips on the home buying process, and updates on our own purchases and renovations. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.
