Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to the Buying a House in Japan podcast, the number one Akia podcast in the world. How are doing today? Let's go. I'm good.
Speaker: I'm currently at Take's place in California. And Take's in Japan. Rare. We've switched places, actually. Usually it's the other way around. I'm sitting at our sweet monkey pod wood table in Jisoji Lux, our Beppu house. it's ah It's good to be here.
Speaker: Yeah, glad to glad you're spending time there because there's lots of things about the house that I think need to get fixed and changed and it's helpful to have someone else um see it in person and and we can compare prioritization lists.
Speaker: Yeah. theres I mean, have we unfortunately only here for one night, I messed up the, uh, my, my dates and I'm going back on the sunflower fairy to, to Osaka tonight. So short stint, I'm going to be meeting, um, heads up Fumi or Mizota-san, our new contractor is going to be maybe rocking up in 30 minutes. So got some, got some suggestions.
Speaker: Uh, okay. Really quick. What's like the, Number one thing that needs to get fixed. Number one thing that is really good and number one surprise coming back to the house.
Speaker: Number one thing that needs to get fixed is our garden. We rocked up yesterday. And it looks like a fing jungle here, bro. Like nature has really taken over.
Speaker: Like all the plants. If you looked at our house from the outside, you'd be like, oh, that place is abandoned. Strictly because there's so much green stuff everywhere growing in wild directions.
Speaker: It didn't look too bad. I would think I was there February it was the last time I was there. It didn't look too bad, but it was the the wintertime. So. I agree though, like the garden, there's like some glass beer bottles that are like half buried in the garden. I think maybe they were decoration at some point or maybe they were just trash.
Speaker: But anyways, we've been looking at those for two years now. I think it's time to clean up the outside. Okay. Yeah. So that's, I think the top priority just like, we need to, the inside looks pretty good, but the outside looks brutal. Like I, there's like a thousand mosquitoes. I was i was looking around, there's a ton of like pots with just water in them. And so,
Speaker: That's probably it not look like an Akia anymore from the outside. Yeah. And it's just like leaves. So I do think we need, we haven't really talked about this, but we we need a gardener, I think just to like keep an eye out on not only our inside plants or outside plants, all our indoor plants are, are super dead except the monster. A groundskeeper like Hagrid.
Speaker: So yeah, outside needs some work. Gaga, my fiance came in and she's like, this place looks like an Akia on the outside. And It's like bad enough where, you know, we have that, I'm trying to reverse in with our minivan and there's a huge bush that says I'm hitting it the entire time. So it's like, I can't get a sense of no work because there's like too many distractions.
Speaker: Yeah. Right now when people rock up, they're like, Ooh, like this place needs work. So we need to change that mentality when people see it for the first time, we need it to people to be like, Oh, this place looks actually pretty good.
Speaker: Yeah. That's the goal. Yeah. I agree with you. The inside is looking pretty good and I'll get to that second, but we really need to focus on the outside because it I think first impressions matter. It looks pretty gnar mosquito, like you're filling with the keys and mosquitoes are biting you and stuff. And you're just like, oh man, this was, this was a little, little bad.
Speaker: How's temperature you are? It's probably like 30 degrees there and like, I don't know, 70% humidity. Donetsu or the insulation we got. Great, man. We have AC on right now It stays very, very cold in here.
Speaker: ah Then again, it hasn't been like blazing, blazing hot, but it it stays quite cool. um I'm sitting again downstairs right now and it's yeah very, very comfortable once you're inside. i don't think there's too many.
Speaker: It's been raining a lot too, but yeah, it's overall been very, very good. Comfortable temperature inside. Thumbs up. Okay. What let's talk about the kitchen unit real quick. Cause I think that is interesting. So me and Taki at this house in who J Lux, we have the original like 1960s, 1970s kitchen kind of set up in there. And we wanted to keep it cause it was stainless steel and thought it looked cool. but after using a modern prefabricated kitchen unit in the tama house tbc it's just so much more comfortable like it's an enjoyable experience to cook on those clean like modern surfaces versus you're coming back to j-lux i agree there's no proper gas hookup we have like ah a mega gas conlo kind of setup going in it's like feels darker feels dirtier
Speaker: what do you what What are your thoughts, Saki? Yeah, I think when you open the door, it looks straight. look first First thing you see is the but table, which is awesome, but then our kitchen unit like definitely does not match that look, and I agree with you. like ah We have not fully cooked a meal here. and yeah But we've I've cooked at TVC.
Speaker: like I think the message here is like that could be a place to spend some extra renovation money if you are doing this yourself. just like Our experience is the kind of older style Showa kitchen. It's just not doesn't like It's night and day compared to the modern kitchen unit.
Speaker: Yeah, we thought. i mean, the kitchen unit itself is in good condition. it looks looks good. you know There's nothing wrong with it, but it's just like if we're not wanting to use it, there is maybe a little bit of an issue for sure.
Speaker: ah We have like a huge fridge too that's a little bit like gross. Coming from our Tama place like where we have the nice fridge and the new kitchen unit, and we have like cabinets that are really shiny.
Speaker: this is it It looks like a hot podge of random things here. Yeah, I don't, I don't really love using the cabinets and i like, I don't like storing stuff in them. It's just like something about it feels a little bit off, but again, TBC, those cabinets are full of stuff.
Speaker: Same with yeah. Kitchen, uh, the fridge. Yeah. Same thing. The worst part is actually we had that fan above. So we don't have like a hood that's pulling air. It's just like a fan that's blowing out. And it was actually open when I got here. And so mosquitoes were just coming straight and there's like no net. I'm like, no, so, uh, entry point into the house, unfortunately, but.
Speaker: Yeah, I will talk to Mizota-san. I do think we just we just come get new cabinets and kitchen. soing i agree. yeah There's really good stuff there too, and it's not that expensive. no That being said, to the Tama place gets a ton of sunlight, that kitchen, and the J-Lux one gets no sunlight whatsoever in that kitchen. It could just be darker in general.
Speaker: dark Yeah, we definitely went for the dark vibes, I'd say. and one Gaga, my fiance, kind of mentioned she She wants more of the traditional Japanese look. We went really kind of away from that.
Speaker: So she's like, she wants, don't know. She thinks she kind of liked the old style better, but I'm like, nah, I'm tired of that Japanese style. Like green tatami mat, kind of white walls. Maybe shoji doors.
Speaker: I think she really likes the shoji doors, even though I'm just like, nah, they're just blocking space. yeah Shower. What you think? moment truth here. you just took a shower. just came out of the shower. I've a shower in Jalex, but this was Taki's very first shower, and things have changed since my last shower, so I'm very excited to hear his story. First one, and just for context, I'm only here for two days, and Joey's like,
Speaker: hey man, you you got the number one priority. You got to try the shower. and I'm curious because we got some, it like it sucked. When I took it the last time, it it was kind of redone. It wasn't the creepy old shower, but the water sucked. Sato-san kind of like did a really crazy job hooking everything up in there. And so we got a different plumber to come in and just like set things right. So I was very excited to hear Taki's experience.
Speaker: Okay. Let's go. ah Let's hear it. Shower is eight out of 10. Good. So. Eight out of ten. I'll take it. very Yeah. Water temperature is good. Water pressure is good. The controls are good.
Speaker: has unique smell in there. I think it's the cedar might be like maybe plant. We have some snake plants in the corner there, too. um good Like earthy or bad smell or good smell? It's not bad. Maybe it's a little earthy.
Speaker: I'm not quite sure. It's not like mold or anything. It's kind of like, I think it's a cedar smell. We don't have a ton of ventilation in there. It's just raw cedar. So very likely. Yep. As you kind of mentioned, the downside is there's and a lack of changing room. So when you open the shower door, it looks like directly at the front door. And the living room and the kitchen, basically all have a line of sight.
Speaker: But the shower room is big enough that I do think we could just put some hooks or something up there just to make like a little drying area inside is my opinion. I know we put like a little curtain rod. I don't know if that's going to work. I'd rather change inside and just have all my clothes there, maybe like little cubbies or something above the door. I think you're right. i don't love the curtain. I was kind of like, hey, Mary, let's just try this, see see if it works or not. But i agree. It's going to look weird having a curtain there.
Speaker: Had we redone this, would you have rather just gone with like a prefab shower unit? No. I was very curious if this would work. i like like I like the TBC, the Thomas houses shower unit. It's very comfortable in in much the same way that the kitchen is very comfortable.
Speaker: But I was very curious about like, ah can we go one above the cookie cutter comfortable? And so this is like a little bit of a personal challenge. And so I'm glad that glad glad we took the challenge and that you were down for it.
Speaker: I worry though long-term this is maybe a liability versus like shower units are so like perfect, maybe from like a warranty perspective that it's good right now when it's new, but I do worry like a year from now, it's going to get a little grody and maybe little messed up.
Speaker: And like how much do you trust Sato-san's waterproofing, you know? Yeah, there's some there's a lot of ah cracks from Sato-san's work here that I'll go over, but overall shower, good.
Speaker: This place, first shower ever in two years. we have Have you taken a shower here, Joey? You have, right? Yeah, but though the controls were all funky. It is back to normal. Miesel to San did a good job, and I'll make sure that to compliment him.
Speaker: Has Gaga, Take's fiance, has Gaga showered or no? No, no, no. She wants to go to the onsens, which is fair. and to Okay, but she she wasn't creeped out by the shower.
Speaker: Yeah, I'll put it as the podcast cover here. So the shower looks appealing, and I'd say, like, Overall, like the aesthetically, our house is getting pretty close to looking pretty good. It's like a little bit still hodgepodge, a little bit of everything. But I think our next big trip here, we will have it fully done.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited for the outside. I think it'll look nice. Kind of looks, yeah, and ah but like an abandoned house still. I mean, because it's still in the abandoned house state. We haven't touched it really. And in big contrast, I just came down from Tokyo. Like our Tama house, the garden looks great.
Speaker: Like really, really good. Very clean. Looks like now it's ah it's it's not an Akiya, but this is the the exact polar opposite, unfortunately. A little bit change of gears, unless you had something else to talk about. epi i wanted to I was thinking about it earlier today, and I don't even know if we talked about it on the podcast, but how did that all go at one point in time, maybe about a year ago,
Speaker: now you were thinking about buying property in Japan using like a 401k. Yeah. How did that journey end for you or how did it start and how did it end?
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I, so it took a little while to move my 401k into like a self custody or for a self-directed IRA is what it's called. I did end up doing it, but I just found it easier to put it in stocks and crypto instead.
Speaker: Do you think it's possible though, for someone to, who wants to buy property in Japan to self-direct their own 401k and then purchase property? Yes. So, I mean, i'm I'm still open to the idea.
Speaker: It did take a lot of time to get it all together and it does add a couple layers of complications, but overall, I mean, if you really need to access funds, it's good, but there are big rules that you can't technically work on the property. You can't be in the property. So there's can't use the property, quote unquote, but I don't know how the U.S. will ever truly figure that out.
Speaker: Right. Right. I remember the conversations now that was the thing. So you can buy this property, but you can't use it at all for personal use. Like you can't go on the, and like there's, there's other stipulations. You can't go on it and start swinging a hammer and fixing stuff yourself.
Speaker: It has to be done all by a contractor or something. There was a lot of rules related to that, but kind of in the conversations we had with people that had done these sorts of things, it was kind of like wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Like how are the types of people ever going to know? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. I guess your 401k is meant to really be, i guess, ah deliver returns, not be a vacation home. So if you do think like something in Japan will bring those returns that are better than crypto or tech stocks or whatever, it could be a viable strategy. But looking at like a risk portfolio, yeah, maybe not.
Speaker: I've kind of gone away from that after being boots on ground in Japan for so long. It was definitely an interesting idea that you pursued there. I could still try it. Yeah, definitely for a cheaper property, but Man, I don't know. My big realization that going back to like what surprise is like, damn, this house is never going to be done.
Speaker: i think unless we are here for three months, I think, or something like our next trip, maybe we really, really just prioritize like, let's get here and and get it done.
Speaker: It's perfectly livable. But it just doesn't, I'm not like proud to be like, hey, come and stay here right now kind of thing. Yeah, kind of like sore, like, hey, you can say in bed, but it could be a little ghetto.
Speaker: I think, yeah, we got we just got to put the finishing touches. Gaga did not love how dirty it was. The cleaners did not do good job. Okay. I agree. I think we need to get rid of those cleaners. I had the exact, you know, that little tray, have like tray table upstairs. Like I was like, what? Yeah.
Speaker: And like incense, you can still see the, the ash, like they didn't even bother to. So I agree. i don't, yeah, we need to find new cleaners. Something that Linda did in Thomas, you wrote like a checklist.
Speaker: And I think that was like really, really good. And the cleaner marked off the checklist. So I think we just need to start getting more reps and getting to that point. Like, They didn't leave the towels on the bed, which I had asked for. So we'll give that feedback to Fumi. But, um you know, it's just part of the process. We just need to keep keep trying until we find the right cleaner.
Speaker: Yeah. And we have the whole office room, um potentially use the home office for like a business manager visa or some sort of immigration visa. And it's just an empty room. So, I mean, it's it's clean and it's it's renovated. But yeah, like we we we got to put some effort into fixing that.
Speaker: We got the kitchen situation. We got the outside situation and then all everything, out all the other small things. Yeah, I know as we look at like we keep getting people keep sending us properties. We keep seeing these new deals that whether it be like Surf Shack or Coin Laundry or an EGOT to house like we got to really just just finish finish this one off. I think we're we're so close.
Speaker: It probably needs another 10k I would say of of renovation. Okay. Between the two like livable properties, JLUX and TBC, everybody, we're about two years in, now just under two years for JLUX and just under maybe a year and a half for TBC, the Tokyo property. Like what percent done are they both in your mind?
Speaker: Yeah, Tama's 90. Okay, so it depends on season. So let's say it in the summer season. It on season. It does. Like for fall and spring, Tama is 95% done, I would say. Maybe even higher, maybe closer to 98%.
Speaker: But in summer, winter, because of the lack of insulation, I'd say Tama's closer to 80%. um But the path is quite clear. I think we just need a insulation, maybe the concrete crack.
Speaker: Tama is very, very good. From Beppu's Jisoji Luxe perspective,
Speaker: I would give it an 80%, honestly, like the kitchen needs to be redone. There's like some small things like getting the cleaner dialed in. And and this is partly dialing the property managers too, just to make sure that we can leave and and things are going.
Speaker: It was unfortunate. Like I came in and you know, you just see like a lot of things like, dang it, we didn't explicitly ask for me to water the plants or something like that. And so a lot of things are just. plan like Yeah. I'll talk to the plant watering.
Speaker: Well, sorry, I'll talk to you about this after the podcast, but I think one of our neighbors, and again, I think like if you're not coming to your property, you know, very often, I do think you got to make friends in the neighborhood a little bit for, you know, if you want to have a house plant, like you got to keep it alive. So I do think one of our neighbors speaks English and maybe we can get them to help us out.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, our monster airplane killing it. So it's interesting to see what plants do well. I thought the cactus would do really well. um But yeah. Actually, when you showed me that, so before I left, I like gave everything a big drink of water. And I thought with cactuses, you're supposed to like really soak them and then really dry them out. And like that's all they need for six months.
Speaker: So that's what I did. But I'm kind i'm worried, like do that did I kill the cactuses? Because they both died. And i was like, oh, maybe it was me. Yeah. So I guess, and and we've talked about this on the podcast with GSoji Lux, our bad boost spot.
Speaker: We still owe Sato-san money. We've gotten some feedback from some listeners. So shout out to you guys. Thanks for reaching out. We we definitely want to pay Sato-san and just kind of clean break it. As it currently stands, he wants our, this is context, our old contractor, he wants us to send him ah mail of cash.
Speaker: ah we We can't do that. So I'm going to ask Fumi to be like, hey, can you call or- He cash, like bills, like literal bills. Yeah. I mean, from ah from a- A briefcase. This is a business expense, right? So we we need to have some trace of it, unfortunately or fortunately. so and we Yeah. I mean, there's, I think there's ways to do with cash. I'm not really that,
Speaker: clear like you get a paper i don't know get receipts and stuff like that but like it's just so much easier I think way less headache for us to not deal with cash like you know we're a business in Japan I think I yeah we can't be doing cash transactions chapter we're working with me so to a new new guy so Joey I'm excited I think in the fall we I will do my best to carve out as much time but we're close we're definitely close a couple dollars needed on the kitchen unit furniture is all great i would say the stairs are treacherous in both properties and this is just a japanese japanese design thing i think for anyone listening the stairs are are treacherous that's why if you see anton anton always replaces the staircase and probably one of the big reasons i mean design is is likely one as well but also just like they're so steep yeah i like feel like i might die every time i go up and down the stairs i'm just like especially in the night i'm like oh
Speaker: But um yeah, I think we changed the stairs. And very last thing, we yeah I'm going to ask Misato-san to change the door. I think we really should try to get electronic keypads for the sake of hopefully Misato-san not coming in and checking door in our house. agree. I think we got to replace the doors.
Speaker: It would be nice to do it at a TBC as well. Yep. But overall, man, I think ah mixed feelings. I'd say overall, we got to be maybe a little more explicit with Fumi would be like, hey, can you do these things? Or maybe our cleaner just isn't good here. so um I blame the cleaners, actually.
Speaker: I definitely blame the cleaners. But also, you know I think we can be we can ask for additional things from Fumi to be like, hey, can you come in once a month and just check in on the property? But overall, like I think had we asked someone to come and look at the plants, they would be like, yep, you should definitely trim those.
Speaker: You know, we also need at JLUX, like we have that closet downstairs at TBC where we can like store, you know, extra stuff, and you know, shampoos and stuff like that and towels and sheets or whatever. Like, I think we need that. Like there's nowhere in, or we have the storage shed outside.
Speaker: Yeah. But like, I think we need to get that organized for cleaners to be like, you know, like kind of like an Airbnb would like, Hey, here's the, here's the new sheets. Here's the, you know, so it's, everything's ready. And if they have a checklist, I think it could be real easy.
Speaker: Okay, I think he is here now. So I'm going to go ahead and drop off Joey. But yeah, he's knocking at the door. So I will catch you later. Hope you have a great day. going to talk to me. All right, take care. Have a good chat.
Speaker: Bye-bye.
