Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to the Buying in a House in Japan podcast. We have a special guest today. We have Yoshi Chaitani, who is our Akiyomart preferred partner for Tokyo. He actually helped us buy the house we are sitting in now, Tama Base Camp. Yoshi, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing? Yeah, I'm doing good. Thank you. and My name is Yoshi. I'm an agent of a real estate company, and I can support you in the finding a room. Perfect. yeah Welcome Yoshi. You're the most wanted guest. Yeah. Thank you. We had a, we had a party yesterday. Unfortunately you weren't able to make it, but everyone, we had some, there was a couple of people that listened to our podcast. We met for the first time. They're MBA students and they're like, we listened to your podcast. Where's Yoshi? and like Oh man. He's not here today. So yeah makes sound next time we'll bring you, but let's start off with a come by Yoshi. Thank you so much for getting us this place. Come back. and by
Speaker: I'm drinking a non -alcoholic beer because in Japan you cannot drive and drink one beer, unfortunately. so Zero tolerance. Zero tolerance, right? that's ah There's a lot of rules in Japan we're learning about, Yoshi. But let's have some questions. Tell me a little bit more about your background. you Where did you grow up previously to being a real estate agent? So I grew up in the Kansai area, the Hyokung. Kansai boy. Yeah. And I went to the university in Kyoto, and I'm getting to the like rock music. Oh, you're in rock music? then red hot cheap Yeah. the music video, and do I went to California to study. Oh, really? Okay, cool. And I came back and played band for maybe 10 years. Oh, what? But I got a baby, so...
Speaker: I have to make money, so that's why I will i i was looking looking for their some job that I can use English. The first time I worked for the share house, Sakura house. Share house is like a dormitory or like a hostel. Kind of hostel. Hostel, yeah. And then I wanted to study more professionally, but re -arrested and I changed my job and now I work in the art body. cool Were you the guitarist or drums or? Guitarists. Guitarists and vocalists. I didn't know this. Wow. Where did in California did you study? I didn't even know that. Long Beach. Do you have Cal State Long Beach? LBC. Oh, my my friend Carly was at the party. She's from Long Beach. she Next time. All right. yeah We missed you. But wow. I didn't know you were in a rock band, Yoshi. How come we didn't tell us? ah I think I told you. I probably forgot. Sorry.
Speaker: Red Hot Chili Peppers, your favorite artist? Nirvana. I also like Subrime from the room. Okay. Wow. That's interesting. So how many years have you been doing real estate now? Maybe about eight years, well including working in the share house.
Speaker: And then and so eight years and then most recently you're an ad value of the company we for four years. Is that right? Yeah, about four years. Yeah. Well, always Tokyo or? Always Tokyo. But you do you cover, you can help people all over Japan? Or what's your feeling towards that? Just our company is focusing on supporting the people from the overseas. We are focusing on the overseas owners. Can they buy only in Tokyo? Or could you, including Okinawa? Yes. What about Yakushima?
Speaker: excellent opra ring No problem. have go there You will go there? you will like the pro but I want the Jomon Sui table. I want that someday. yeah i want land in yakshima oh a tiny house Yoshi, again, thank you so much for helping us get this place. Tama Base Camp is what we're calling it. The process was, would you say our process was extra difficult? Was it On an average client, I know we put a couple offers, a couple of low ball offer, a couple of problems in the way. But how would you say our process of getting this house was? that three eight no more On average, how many hours do you think it you spent on an average?
Speaker: deal like 40 hours, 50 hours. About 40, 50 hours. yeah all right ah see i'm jump I'm jumping in with a difficult question. Okay, here we go. This is a question that I've asked other people on the podcast. And, excuse me, people ask me this question a lot as well. And I personally have a hard time answering it. I'd love to hear your perspective because you are Japanese. So I think you probably have a better understanding of the the question and i'd love to hear your answers a lot of the time people say to me how you're selling japanese property to foreigners right the end is weak right now yeah you're taking advantage of the country how do you think japanese people.
Speaker: feel about foreigners coming, buying Japanese land, buying Japanese property. Do they see it positively? Do they see it negatively in general? Do you have any thoughts here? Yeah, it's difficult. Maybe if you go right but countryside, there they have the society already. yeah and all the people living there. So they might feel uncomfortable if the foreigner by the house is there. But in re Tokyo, Osaka, the Kyoto, I think nobody cares anymore. But also, but like Japan is Ireland.
Speaker: right yeah And if we keep going like this, the current custom and syncing the idea, yeah maybe Japan can survive there. Maybe everyone has to change their mind, their account. That's something I think everyone realizes, right? there's It's a big problem yeah coming and you where are you going to find more? you're like The population is not going to have more kids all of a sudden. You have two kids though, so you're doing your job, Yoshi. yeah and the but Do you think you're probably younger than the average, but the older generation, definitely, how do they look at it? Just they are afraid for the unknown people and also the language. So if you can speak Japanese and communicate with them, then I think it will be no problem. Yeah, I learned Japanese. That's the common. I want to talk to Kendall too. A fast impression, maybe they feel uncomfortable.
Speaker: Got it. what do you we We talk, there's a lot of Akiyamondai. What's the solution, you think? Is it getting, tearing them down? Is it giving the foreigners? do does From a Japanese mindset, what how is this going to be solved? A difficult question. So for this moment, I think that the Japanese doesn't want to buy their Akiya. We like the new built -in house. So there's no solution for this moment. So and now, again, it's weak and many foreigners are getting attention on their Akiya. So that's a good opportunity to solve this problem.
Speaker: Got it. Yeah. Have you ever had difficulty with a seller that would not that didn't want to sell to a foreigner? Yes. Sometimes when I encourage ah to the sales agents, they inform those information. Yeah. So we will know before making contract. Do you see that often or is it w more rare? It's rare. And is that more do you think more likely in a rural region or more likely in a city like Tokyo? More like countryside.
Speaker: country it's really it's I think it's rare. Yeah. Interesting. So I'm i'm curious, yeah we've as we've gone on this journey, we find we're learning so many things about the process and some things don't make sense sometimes. And I think we we talked to Kendall, the previous agent, and he said, there's rules and but for some reason, people have the whatever the normal thing. the whatever and other agents are doing, they follow that. The norm is what he said. I'm curious, what kind of strange things in real estate that doesn't make sense to you in Japan? Like, why are we doing it? Is there stuff like this? This doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker: oh
Speaker: I'll start, actually. One thing that doesn't make sense is when you talked about our set the seller contract, the buying contract, where you're like, you made that from scratch, it seems. Like you had to, I asked like, how many hours did it take you to make this? You're like, ooh, it takes four to six hours or something to make the document. For me, that doesn't make sense. I feel like there's no standard kind of contract or... I see, yeah. Actually, there... or In Japan, there we still are making paper right yeah to make contracts. Fax machine. Fax machine. And there are many documents me to sign up.
Speaker: So actually, if it can be more simple, yeah it will be better. But I think it's like one of Japanese culture. Still, we use stamps. And we want to put many conditions, the special agreement, to avoid that. getting so yeah What does, so we heard from someone else that we interviewed on the podcast, you this real estate agent do at Nostle Homes in Osaka. He said that sometimes he will approach, someone comes to him, they want to buy this property. He approaches the seller's agent and the seller's side, the seller's agent says that
Speaker: No, I'm going to rotate this property, work both sides. So you are not going to get any commission. Have you you've experienced that as well? Yes, yes. And how does add value? How does your company handle such a situation? Actually, there's per agent and buyer agents doing zero and buyer. But sometimes sellers want to find the customer by themselves. yeah So as Joysan said, they refuse to include one more agent. okay But there's no way that if they don't want to, ah we cannot introduce.
Speaker: and You just drop the house and it's not possible. But those houses are usually popular and they have a confidence to sell immediately. Maybe what percent of the time do you feel like 20 % of the time you contact a house? 10 %? I think 5%. That's pretty low, right? I'm not sure if we talked about it in the podcast. There's a new law that came out starting today. Wow, actually July 1st, right? Hold on, let me play that actually. We have this air horn here. New law alert. New law alert. Yoshi's, we talked before, the commissions typically have been 3 .3 %
Speaker: plus 6 .6 month yeah for the commission. This translates usually for Akiya is very low, right? Almost like, why would anyone want to put spend 40 to 50 hours for a couple hundred dollars? So the new law, what is it called? I don't even know. Just, is this a new real estate law? Akiya law or yes if we send it to a Japanese person, what would we say? yeah Yeah, like rural property, agent in fee. Okay. Yeah. i In Japanese, what is it? On the title of the document, it's just like... ah yeah age you' funny ah th In Oh, they call it, they put Akiya. So this is a law to, Japan has put in place to address the Akiya problem a little bit, right? Yes, yes. Because there's been this exact problem where agents haven't wanted, want to work on these. Yoshi, what is this new law? What is the commission for it?
Speaker: Actually, the and if it's on the 8 million yen or $50 ,000 for anyone listening. yeah yeah So the maximum or agent fee will will be 330 ,000 yen, including. That plus tax on top. No, it's included. So that's the fee. Yeah. So anything from a $1 .00, Akia, to a $50 ,000, Akia, you will get paid the same now. Yes. That's great. Great news. We look forward to hopefully yeah sending some more people over now because of that.
Speaker: Yeah, make move great news because previously it's hard to find an agent in Japan willing to help you buy some of these lower -priced properties They just don't make enough money to justify the time spent Yoshi a question for you. What would you say your average deal sizes? Average yeah, so this new ones 8 million yen Sorry, this new laws 8 million is your average like 15 million to 20 million. Yes, average is, if it's like a detached house, 50 to 60 million 60 million yen. Or the reused house, if it's in Tokyo. If it's countryside, maybe 20 million to 30 million yen. And these are foreign buyers? Or these is this including Japanese buyers? Including in Japanese. For foreign buyers, maybe. President, 20 million yen. Like us. Yeah. It's popular. Yeah. Got it. We're glad you're going to be getting paid a little bit more now for at least this change. um for what What are some challenges you have with foreign or but foreign buyers?
Speaker: What do you mean? What are some of the difficult points, maybe the cultural differences? What can we tell our listeners? What kind of tips maybe? If foreigners want to buy the house in Japan and if they stay outside, Maybe there's many other additional documents is required to transfer the owner. And also there are other companies explained important matters in the contract in English. So I have to translate them. So it takes time more than like normal contracts.
Speaker: And that's a ah legal thing that you need to do. I noticed that we had to get on a call and you showed your license to the camera. Yes. yeah So so yeah it needs to be on a call. You can't just send the buyer a document pack and get them to sign it. No, it's illegal. So okay I have to show my license and I have to explain the important matter. And recently the so film broke. video chat explanation is become, but before it was in person. Yeah. So in person meet up and explain. Is it possible if we did again for us to skip that explanation? We said, Yoshi, we understand. why Does anyone do that? No.
Speaker: Yeah, actually, yeah, it's a bit dangerous. So if ah you say, and I didn't explain the important matter, and after you buy the house, and if there's a program, and if you sue our company, yeah and then our company have paid to you. That seems to be a very Japanese thing to make sure there's no reduced risk, conservative, make sure you tell the customer everything. yeah So it's on them. And I think that's, In the U .S., we just go, like, it's more loose a little bit. Let's just go fast. so I think that's where a lot of Westerners feel like, I don't need to see the document, just give it to me and I'll sign it. Which is what you get, Connor? Little, yeah, this clause is like, as is, or something like that. I'm curious, how...
Speaker: and When people sue, have you guys dealt with any lawsuits recently? or No, actually we have never seen those cases, but we have ever heard those cases because, for example, someone bought a house and behind the road was a private road. And at that time, the agent didn't explain that this owner cannot go through that private road. But after they bought the house and they got to come in front of the neighbor and that's owner to the real estate company. And then they pay.
Speaker: got it they do ah etc so yeah ah Interesting. All right. I'm going to switch gears a little bit. We have a lot of investors on the line here. People, I say our average. customer or client they're looking at, again, probably Akia, they're like, they want to come here on a tourist visa, spend a couple months. And then after that, they leave property management. Do you guys do any property management or is that another service? Yes, we do the property management as well. That's like an extra fee or something, right? Yes, like month three, the average 5 ,000 yen. That's pretty good. And what do you guys, what does that include? Let's say me and Joey, we actually are,
Speaker: We're leaving, we're here for a month or something, then we leave. What does that, you come and check it or something? or Actually, that if ah you stay outside with japar and non-reidential of residential of Japan, you have to find a tax manager really in Japan. So our company can be a tax manager and like property tax symbols will be sent to our company and we can pay. Yeah. I think that's the most important thing. And then also we talked about it a little bit before, but utilities set up and all that stuff cannot all be billed to you. So as a customer, we can just pay your company for everything. Yeah.
Speaker: Is that part of the property management fee or? Sometimes it's part of. But if you ask to open up and close the utilities, many times maybe we have to discuss. That makes sense. Yeah, I think that's what we should actually talk about. We will discuss with you. I think we... Is a tax manager the same as accountant? If we have our own accountants, it's different. Property tax management. Yes. So actually like Japanese government, like tax office ask owners, the foreign owners to find her a tax manager. Then ah also if you ah rent out that room and if it's over 3000 yen, if you have an income, maybe you have to report the pilot tax. Over what amount? 480 ,000 yen.
Speaker: year thousand Do you manage rentals also? yes So if we want to rent out this house, you know, you guys could do that also. yeah Also we can rent this house as a monthly apartment. Really? Or a normal two years contract. Oh, so we could rent, you guys can help us rent the house we're in, let's say right now for a monthly rental. Yeah. And then how does that work? So do, let's say me and Joey want to come back in December, but we want to rent it from now until then or something. Is that possible? Yeah, it's possible, but it's better to have our like furnished room. We're furnishing now.
Speaker: How much do you think we could rent our house for? This one? Yeah. Give us honest, conservative, monthly rental. Furnished, yeah. With a car. With a car. With a car. With a car. Maybe 150. 150, oh. 100 ,000 yen to 150 ,000 yen. That's really good. How about like a thousand bucks? A thousand bucks. Yeah, I guess we spent again, $114 ,000 on the property. If we'd got $1 ,000 a month, that's $12 ,000, close to 10 % return. Because how much of that do you guys take for your property management? If it's like showdown, like month and monthly renter, like 20%. 20 %? If it's two years contract, 5%. How do you guys find people? We put in the monthly apartment side.
Speaker: Well, those exist monthly apartments, right? Yes, the weekly and monthly. Yeah.
Speaker: we've We've been getting a lot of people asking us about foreigners looking for monthly rentals. hu If I was a tourist and I'm like, hey, I want to rent a place, could that work? You could help us find a monthly or you need special documents or something. Actually, it's completely different like monthly rental rent, two years rent. Yeah, we're out on two years. No, no two years. I think we're only considering monthly rentals. um Yeah. But I can't find a room, but most of our like apartment or house is rent out for two years construct. So some room is rent out for the monthly rent. okay But those companies are like putting the advertisements themselves. And maybe our company cannot go.
Speaker: into that Okay. so to you So let's say for example, we found, you know, we have Akimart, we posted our house on Akimart, someone wants to rent it. And we say, Yoshi, we found someone, ah you guys could do the contract or the payment collection, all that stuff. yes is's Interesting. jar We haven't thought about that. Hmm. And there's a golf course? Two golf courses. The U .S. Military Golf Course and Sakuraga Oka Country Club. Anyone listening, if you like golf, this might be the spot. Yes. Yoshi, do you think we could become members at Sakuraga Oka Cantorikura? Ah, yes, I think so. Really? If you pay. There's a dress code. yeah So you just got to pay money.
Speaker: What is, what is the, so we're, I know we're in Tokyo, but we're a suburb. What is your opinion of our area? like What does, a nat if I, we tell someone, we live in Thomas City, what do they think? Actually, I like Thomas City. First, when I was looking for the my house, yeah I was looking for in this area. Oh, really? Because we you can see there. natures. Yeah. And definitely a lot of parks. Yeah. Rotor parks. And it's not too crowded. And but the access to the Shinjuku is very fast. value end like Train is so crowded. Yeah. I'm sorry. We're sending you back later. You're taking a real crowded train back. Right. So yeah, it's good to adhere. But in the future, maybe the state will be developed. More. More, I think.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm curious, which way is it being developed? We spent some time earlier this week in Centro Minato, and it's just like, holy crap, there's too many people, it's too crowded. I think a lot of our listeners here are trying to predict what areas are going to get better. Is it Kotoku? Is it this way? Every direction? But that this area maybe, because of I like this area, I hope, and also there's a linear car, the faster that Shinkansen will maybe go through. and Really? Yeah. Faster than Shinkansen? Yes. The new one. Really? Yeah. When is that coming? That's decided to get but they are already walking on this. Yeah, they're like Tokyo owe to Osaka in 45 minutes or something like that. And do you think it will stop maybe in Tama City? Maybe I heard this are they might build up the station nearby here. Really? Yeah. Chioggi or like closer, like actually? Maybe... between Hachiyoshi and Hiyo. Really? Wow, that's good news for us. So I think that if it comes through, maybe this area will grow up. We're already here first, guys. Seiseki Sakuragaoka. Seiseki Sakuragaoka. Interesting. And where can foreigners find information on this? We were looking at Sapporo, for example. We saw the Shinkansen being made from Tokyo. Sapporo, is there a website?
Speaker: We can look for all the new trains. I think that's a good way to plan. I'm not sure. Okay. But maybe there are those new train like scene constraints are ah made by the JR. Well, maybe if you. Okay. Good. and Thanks for recommending this area. This is maybe 10 years from now. We'll be like, yes, we're right next to it. Yoshi. Have you ever, do you have any opinions on real estate around the American military basis? Because American military, they get an allowance. some
Speaker: They get their rent paid for and it's usually Niju, Gomon and a month and up depending on their rank. do Have you considered real estate around American military bases or do you have any thoughts? Yeah, actually ah we already are managing that those property nearby Yokosuka real estate. And also Zama. And and they also we can rent out ray more than operates. Really? That's a really good investment. We did that presentation and we talked to all the military folks. yeah I think there's really a really big opportunity there. But this there are many conditions based on the like military base. okay They come check and do the inspections. And if you pass, maybe you can rent out the house to the military.
Speaker: But actually, those lease contracts are based on US row, not Japanese real row. Interesting. Yeah, it's interesting. Can you make those contracts, or is the base? later Yeah, we have, so we can. ah So actually, we rent out to another US military contract. Do you think that those properties, the price is higher? Someone was saying that, oh, you're too late. Everyone's already thought of this. Those houses are more expensive. I think it's not popular. Really? I think there's great ah ROI there, return, right? Great opportunity. But sometimes they are.
Speaker: right But it's like, the inspection is very strict kind of. and Yeah, so you have to follow. meanme pocket There's certain things you have to... the Once you buy the house, let's say you renovate it as a Tysheen earthquake proof, certain kind of things they look for. I know it has you have a handrail on the stairs and yes small weird things. And double rocks. Double rocks. Really? And the instruction in English, and the breaker. Interesting. yeah We got a question when we were doing our presentation. There's, can we buy near the base or is there some restrictions? I know there's some like areas in Japan that are a special zone, no foreigners can buy. Do you know anything about that one? ah Just ah there's the restriction for the or buying the big round. Big round. But ah just so you have to rap report and you can buy.
Speaker: So let me just ask the question again, yeah rephrase it differently just so for full understanding. So the way that the question was posed to me when I was speaking to the person that asked the question, she said that She wasn't 100 % sure, but she said that she heard around the military base, there is a Japanese law that says that foreigners cannot buy around that base, but Japanese people can. So she said, even though I'm American, I live on the base, I cannot buy a house just outside of the base because I am a foreigner in Japan. And the law was to prevent, I don't know, Chinese or Russian or people from buying near that the base.
Speaker: Yeah, I have to check, but I have never heard about the restrictions for the who can buy it. Yeah, who can buy it. Yeah, I think there ah you guys can also buy. but you have the So probably what happens is they, let's say, someone, china Chinese buyer buys a lot of land next to the base. You have to report that to the Japanese government. And the Japanese government at that point might be like, nope, that's no risk or something, right? Yeah. um like And then they'll maybe say no or something. And then the Japanese government, let's say it's a US military base. that you You inform the Japanese government and they've informed the US government probably. Yeah, you're I think so. Got it. yeah
Speaker: Yeah, I think there's a big opportunity. We talk to people and they're like, we most Westerners will bring their dog. Sometimes they have a big dog. And I know Japanese tenant but landlords don't like having dogs to renters, right? Yeah. And sometimes there's like extra pay. You have to pay more for a a dog, or right? If it's but you are talking about apartments? Let's say a house. A house actually you can have. You don't have to pay extra. Maybe neighbor might complain. Keep complaining. Keep complaining.
Speaker: Cool. another We had another conversation. I wanted your opinion on this. so ah we talk We're talking a lot about like buying in, I think, areas that we think are going to grow. We talked to Nio, one of our other agents, the other day. He talked about the first casino being built in Osaka in 2030 on Shima. yes How do you feel about the casino? I like casino.
Speaker: I think most Japanese people are excited for the casino. Because the some people are addicted to the pachinko. Totally, yeah. yeah And also as a like, how can I say, the package or place to visit, maybe yeah it's good. I think. Yeah, were and we really think that might be a good area because we have our Beppu house. we have we Now we have Tama house. We could take a Shinkansen to Osaka. 45 minutes. 45 minutes, then from Osaka we take a ferry to Beppu. It connects things for us. So I think maybe that's our next target. You miss Shima. You miss Shima. Question, do you also do Minpaku? Also, can you help register or is that someone else? another We have a couple companies. but I'm curious if
Speaker: Yes, actually we are working with Mimpaku, our company, so you need an extra fee to register, but we can help you. Really? Yeah. So this house... We were checking now actually with our friend. He thinks we can meme -paku this house. What is yours? You can, but there's some restriction I think. yeah ah So you're saying you have another company basically that can help you register the meme -paku. But do you guys do the meme -paku operation? Or no, the other company? No, we do. yeah
Speaker: ah But we also need the management company. or there If something happens, Mempaku requires someone else to come and visit within 30 minutes or one hour. We have to find a company that's the place. Perfect. It should be no problem. yeah i think that's We're starting to see more and more people. are The Mempaku was very intimidating. yeah For us, we we really asked a lot of people now we're starting to understand it seems like it's much more doable. You just have to check zoning, you have to call the office. There's some restrictions, but ah where it's becoming clearer to Joey and I. But rule is like dependent on the cities. So it's complicated. yeah
Speaker: Got it. Other than that, I'm curious, what one of our top questions people ask us is like, what are hot areas? Where do you guys think we should invest? ah very old We always, we don't have an answer, but Yoshi, we gave you $300 ,000, let's say. and go send my where Where would you buy something for investment? For this moment, it might be its rates as Osaka. We recommend Osaka. That's two for two, Osaka. What about Fukuoka? No, Fukuoka. Because Osaka has ah like are special rules for main park. So you have no limit to operate that day, operation date. Osaka, that's two for two, Jerry. If you're listening to this, Osaka seems... to be the spot. Yeah. And if you have like 50 ,000, maybe you can get really nice house. Okay. And to rent out. So funny. Do you help project manage the renovation? Let's say if borders abroad and we want to renovate the house, is that something your company does too? Yes. So we have been already some contractor in Osaka. Okay.
Speaker: And they can operate. Really? your Your company's really one -stop shop here, Yoshi? Yes. Wow. What about Tokyo? If we want to renovate this house more, do you have someone? or Yes, its we have many companies. and connected Are there any nationwide, all like one company that can can't do renovation all across Japan? Is there a one? I think usually the one company belongs to the one area, like Tokyo area. So if you pay to go to Osaka, they can do much.
Speaker: It's very costly, I think. Is there also similar, is there one company that that is home inspection? That's a very common question we get. Can you guys coordinate home inspection? where is Is there one company in the company in the nation that can do it? Actually, sure yes. there There's one big inspection company, ah which we use usually. you And they can do maybe Osaka, Kyoto, and maybe the Fukuoka area as well. Interesting. Yeah. I think we, maybe we should, we'll talk to you offline. Larry, we want to know more about that one. Yeah. yeah Would you handle, so someone came to us maybe about two months ago, excuse me, some very small island off Kagoshima, like that
Speaker: obviously travel difficulties getting there. I don't know. That's like the most difficult access property I can think of. Is is even that something that you you can handle and help you find contractors for, and maybe a building inspection, like no issues? or Yes. i I think no program. But in that case, maybe you need to pay the additional fee. Yeah. inspect um Okay. To yeah. ask to go out there That makes sense. Yeah. Osaka, I'm still going back to Osaka. I think that's a good hot zone. and what ah other Any other spots that you're excited about? any where If you could live anywhere outside of Tokyo, if you couldn't live in Tokyo, where would you want to live in Japan? ah Right, the ocean, so maybe Chiba. eighty year How do you feel about Chiba? There's a lot. Chiba is the prefecture next to Tokyo. It's quite popular, I feel it. Yes, but I like the east side, the coast. Like Chigasaki kind of area? Chigasaki is the Kanadawa. Oh, that's kind of hard. That's right. Okay. Yeah. So Kudju, Kurihama. Kurihama. Yeah, that's where the Olympics of surfing. Yeah. Nice. we show Nice area. And there's not much houses. Very cheap. Pretty simple. Could we meme Pakku in Chiba, you think? I think so. Yeah. That might be. Yeah. That also might be another good connection for us.
Speaker: Cool. Other than that, a couple of lightning round questions for you. Here we go. We're going for the lightning round. So we're going to ask you a lot of quick questions. So just give us your first impression here. I'll start off Jerry. Feel free to interject whatever. Average time for start to finish for closing a property. Average time. Yeah. Two months. How many clients do you have at one time? 10 to 20. What is your number one tip for foreign buyers? Tip means advice. advice by so Find a good company. What is one thing you want to tell all foreign customers before they contact you? What do you want to say to them? So our companies are very kind. We are a good company.
Speaker: i were we I agree with that, Sam. Agreed. Joey, any other lightning round? those I know there's a weak lightning round. Favorite food? Favorite Japanese food? Abrasova. Abrasova? Nice. That's my favorite one, too. Favorite Japanese rock band? Andimori. Never heard of it. Andimori. Andimori. Cool. Joey, any other? Do you, you were going to ask him that hard question, right? Oh, yeah. So I have, I do have, uh, I was asking about mining around. Yeah. gio buen ah So I was looking through the Akiemara database for properties that said, uh, Jikobuken or whatever they say. And I can't remember what the exact wording was. Someone told me that.
Speaker: 95 % of the time, if you see this specific word, it means that there was like an unnatural death on the property. First off, is that correct? Do you think if you see, was it is it jikobuken? Yes, jikobuken means suicide or something else terrible. So I went through and I calculated 0 .3%. So in 1000 homes, three of them had this wording. So less than 1 % in 100 homes, maybe one. Does that seem like the right number to you? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, we get this I get this question a lot from the Instagram account because people are are always like, oh, why is this so cheap? It's haunted, there's ghosts there kind of thing. So I have been trying to understand that a little bit better. Are some of these haunted is I guess the question that I'm trying to answer with that. but
Speaker: So you agree maybe three in one thousand had either a suicide or some other kind of terrible thing happen on the property? Yeah, I think so. Because I think Japan, the suicide, the number of the suicide in Japan is very high, right? It's comparing to the other country. And yes, I think so. Yeah, there's cases. And do you ever hear something, so suicide is terrible, but do you ever hear something more like ghosts? Someone believes that there's a ghost in this house. Haunted house. haunted house
Speaker: i har yeah Actually, I have never seen or heard of those houses. But I have ever seen the ah room among passed away with seaside. But if you don't care about this, I think It's no problem. Can you help us hire a priest? I know that's a common thing that you can't actually. yeah we Usually, if something happens, the Japanese hire the priest and do something. How much do you pay those guys? I think it's done magic on my end. How about you in your country?
Speaker: I think they probably have something. Sage. They burn some kind of sage and things that clears the energy. I believe it. But there's definitely homes in North America that people think are haunted. ye like this ghost This place has ghosts. ah Well, that was the end of the lightning round. I know the last question was a little little dark. But other than that, I think, and Yoshi, you've been such great help. We're really appreciative. Yoshi went above and beyond for everything in our Tokyo Tama Base Camp House. He installed ACs for us. he did the cleaning He got the cleaning. He brought in all the Amazon boxes in for us. I'm sorry, Yoshi. We had so many boxes. I'm like, holy crap, you brought everything in? Did someone help you? You brought it yourself? I brought inside of their entrance. And the cleaning company brought it into... Whoa. You're a hero.
Speaker: you're here So yeah, yoki Yoshi is our Akimart preferred agent for Tokyo area and and he can help other elsewhere too. Yeah, every we only but good things to say Yoshi, you've been super, super helpful. We're excited to keep on sending you folks. We're going to be sending them this podcast just so they can get to know you a little bit better. yeah um But other than that, Joey, anything else from you? No, thank you so much Yoshi for all your help. this to We're excited for the next one. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
