Transcript
Speaker: Yeah, that's kind of what I, that's kind of what I feel like. I feel like when I talk to a lot of people, even around here, right? They're like, what are you doing? And then they, they have this inquisitiveness and like excitement. Like they want to do it too, but there's like some standoffish that they're like, ah, not quite, not quite there. Doesn't quite make sense. And I'm like, just do it.
Speaker: Welcome back everybody to another episode of buying a house in Japan. I'm your host Joey joined by my co -host Taki today. We've got a special guest Taki. Oh yeah. We got Eric burrow. He's, we talked to you, Eric, what like about.
Speaker: in January, February? Yeah. So it was maybe spring. Spring. Okay. And he's one of, I guess, our first folks that we've kind of helped through the process. We recently created a program called Akimard Direct. Eric, you were actually like right before that. You were kind of our pilot guinea pig before. We didn't tell you you were a gim guinea pig, but I think you have successfully purchased a house. You mind giving us a quick intro on yourself, Eric? I'm Eric. I live in Minnesota a and with my wife Beth and a small dog.
Speaker: And we just bought a house in Niigata, a prefecture. It's about 30 minutes outside of Niigata city center. And the background on me, I i grew up on in Japan for about 20 years of my life, my young adulthood. And now I do construction in Minnesota. And so I'm just looking to get back to my roots and do some more construction.
Speaker: Oh, that's where we hit the air horns. Don't have the air horn. and grab Big congratulations on the house here. Great. Thank you. Yeah. It was, it was it was not difficult. It was just, you're wondering, like, am I doing the right thing level way? Right. Totally. Yeah.
Speaker: ah yeah it gets it Exactly. you're like Yeah. All right. Next steps. So you've got keys or, or Yoshi's got the keys. So for people, Lissa was the agent that helped Eric here. Again, as tiger said before, the I can write direct program. This was just a lead. We passed Yoshi at that time, but yeah, how was the experience? Eric, you got the keys, right? Yeah. Shout out to Yoshi. He's got, he's, he's getting my keys and then he's mailing me the deed and the keys at the same time. So he's waiting for the paperwork to get processed for it to get recorded.
Speaker: Yeah. And then you got the house insurance set up. um um I don't know. you You already share you some numbers. Yeah. They're shocking. I love it. I paid $2 ,500 for five years of home insurance for flood for fire and earthquake.
Speaker: for $200 ,000 worth of coverage. So $200 ,000? Yeah, for rebuild cup covered, right? in in and a Yeah. yeah and And I'm essentially paying 500 bucks a year, actually a little less. And then housing taxes are $183 annually. So less $700. Okay. And how much was your house? what So what was the final price?
Speaker: I'm working a spreadsheet and everything, so it's all along, but the advertised price was I think 22 ,000, give or take with exchange rate. By the time we got all done, Yoshi negotiated a little bit of money off that. And then there was naturally a Scrivener fees, transaction fees, all those fees you guys have covered in previous episodes, yeah came out to $26 ,000 and some coinage for 3 ,000, roughly 3 ,000 square foot home, koi pond in the front.
Speaker: And a big old garden in the back. Oh, right. Yeah. No, I got a smile. Right. Oh, geez. What? That's awesome. I didn't know. any like yeah Yeah. When are you, when are you going to go so check it out? You haven't, have you seen it in person? No, right. I have not seen it in person. I don't know. The Yoshi, you know, video call and everything. He's wonderful. And now he's handling the property management side. So it's super helpful.
Speaker: I'm planning on going to visit as soon as we have utilities and things like that. So that way we can do the vehicle transaction because it is a little farther from the city center. We really want to have the vehicle when we go to see it. And that way I can order the dumpster Yoshi or he said he would order the dumpster Yoshi said he would work with the local shrine. The.
Speaker: The shrine. You had to, to get it blessed before we know. Yeah. We want it to come in and do his thing. Make sure we get all those. Did you guess this or did you, you come up with this? hi I asked, I asked Yoshi if he could arrange it and he's like, Oh yeah, there's the shrine is like three houses down. And they'd be probably more than happy. So wow. That's the first time we should do that for all our properties. i know right're right but You know, out of that idea. All right. do but And it gives it like that, you know, like it's starting into that community and you want to be a part of that, that area. and Yeah. All right. Rewinding the clock a little bit. So you yeah are born. Yeah. I'm sorry. You're, where are you born? And then you say you said 20 years in Japan. Is that right?
Speaker: Yeah, I was born in Germany on military bodies. And I grew up in, I shortly thereafter moved to Okinawa and okay and some years in Okinawa and I was still Akshan baby. And then moved to Masawa, Almori prefecture. And all the way into college, I even took some college years when I was in Almori on that.
Speaker: on and off the base, you know? So I grew up around a military base, but with so many years in one city, and by the their base you you start to, yeah, it's a blend of cultural background. That's the best way to say it. Yeah. i'm I'm curious why you picked Nee got the prefecture. I will say that's rare for a lot of our our clients. Was that because of your experience in the total hope region? or you You nailed it. It's rare. I don't, yeah, I don't like to follow the the path of everybody else. I really liked the architecture, but of the Southern homes. So it's a Hoku region of Honshu is the Northern half of Honshu. That's where I'm used to because there's snow and snowboarding and everywhere has four seasons, but I.
Speaker: I think that that region has the best four seasons apart from Hokkaido. Hokkaido is pretty awesome, but it's extra snowy there and it's different, a little different to get to. But so I was able to get the beautiful architecture that I love in Southern style Japanese homes, but they're like tile roofs and things like that.
Speaker: And, but then still be in an area where I'm, I'm 20 minutes from a racetrack. I love cars. So it was 20 minutes from a racetrack. I mean, nine minutes from a golf course, five minutes from the beach. And, and I'm within two hours of like 10 world -class ski resorts i sold. Yeah. thats all i And then with the added, the cherry on top is the fact that I, and it's a very unique sea of Japan side is very unique in Japan.
Speaker: less, I guess you could say explored or really Westernized and marketed towards anybody outside of Japan. So I feel like it's more conducive to my learning the language. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. I, but you know, how I was in Japan for six years, never once did I go up to the sea of Japan side. So but you're on the right track. If you're trying to get it, get off the beaten path. Nope.
Speaker: Eric, I'm curious what, what was like the catalyst for you, you know, you, you spent a lot of time in Japan where you just like one day, like you saw on Instagram or, you know, what, what made you kind of get go down this path? Do we, we, we, my wife and I go back, we met back a couple of times and we always enjoy it. I obviously, no surprise for me that I enjoy it. And then I've been watching.
Speaker: the the Instagram pictures and homes and things like that. i I followed it for so long. And then eventually I was just like, all right, you know, I gotta, I gotta message these guys. Like, what do we gotta do? Like, what is the process? And I've always understood that it was next, even living there, it was kind of always talked to us that it's next to impossible to ever own anything in Japan. It was kind of like a, I don't know if it was a rumor, but just an understanding of like,
Speaker: Oh no, you're a foreigner, you know, you can't own land. And it was always the idea was you could buy a house, but you couldn't own the land. a And know so we kind of like, I think I've always given it up and just assumed, Oh, it's not, it's not for me. I can't do it. And now I run my own business. So I think I have a little bit more ability to.
Speaker: Hey, go out and try something. And there if I fail, it's still an adventure ah along the way. And if you approach life as like, there is not, there is no real failure because when you fail, you learn. And if you approach light in that aspect, I think you'll get to experience more. So.
Speaker: ah Right on you hit the nail on the head. I think that you're kind of the right person to buy You know, we we talked to a lot of different people but at the end of day, you know I think the people that are looking to buy Nokia's for like the adventure side is where I think is the best fit you don't know Kind of what you're gonna get but I think you learned a lot and there's no failure especially at this price point You know, like I don't know what we can afford. Yeah, I know Everybody yeah yeah but in But you can't As long as you can purchase it it right outright, then you're not, you're obviously not going to go bankrupt because you already own it. yeah it And then you have, i I mean, I live in Minnesota where people buy cabins up north and they go in to their cabin and everybody that grew up around here either has a cabin or has a friend with a cabin or has parents with a cabin.
Speaker: Oh, the cabin. I don't want a cabin and cabin in Japan. Um, there's, yeah, there's, that's the, probably the biggest thing. That's awesome, man. You, you showed them, you bought, you, had you owned the lamp. It's, it's going to be blessed to go in the house. You have insurance, you set up. its It has an air conditioner. I heard that when I lived up north. So but it's a little hotter in the South. Yeah. Okay. I remember when we chatted with you, I have something that, you know, I see your, your username's Eric's garage here. So talk to us about the cars. It seems like you, you, you you're attracted to Japan for maybe some of the, some of the cars or what's your destination there. Yeah. I mean, I grew up in Masawa and there's a port city called Hachinohe, not too far away. And you, you, you grow up going to Hachinohe at night, Friday and Saturday night, go to Lawson's to hang out.
Speaker: And you wait and then Japanese people kind of like lead the, the, you go to where the port is and there's four lanes and you drag race along the border and you ah drift at the empty port, like concrete pad. And i so I grew up being a hooligan in Japan with Japanese, but you literally, and then cops would come.
Speaker: If the lights on, everybody would run, leave, go to Lawson's. They don't really speed away. They just drive away back to Lawson's. You sit there, you wait. Police know you're at Lawson's. And then maybe like 30 minutes later after everybody's had some tea and they're hung out at Lawson's, checked out each other's cars with Japanese people. Then you go back.
Speaker: yeah it all over again and some still party i so I grew up with cars obviously and I have an automotive science degree and that's what I i'd love collecting and and driving and enjoying. So that's just one aspect of the multitudes of Japan that I enjoy.
Speaker: so So ah what what car are you buying? You mentioned you're getting a car po card question. ah they picked one car Right now we're trying to do something somewhat practical. So when other people come and stay at our place, they can stay without me there and drive it. So it is automatic.
Speaker: But it's just a Subaru legacy station wagon, but STI WRC edition with blue, you know, the classic blue, gold rims. it Yeah. Um, it doesn't have them, but they will be there. he got it We got the glow license plate. So we bought a minivan in Tokyo, Toyota estimate. I think it's the Bravia in North America, but we got the glow license plate. what Would you have any thoughts on the glow license plate? And we also got the personalized place. We got seven, seven, seven, Thomas city, triple star.
Speaker: it's so lucky I actually have a glow license plate on two of my cars here in the US. So I love glow plates. Right. And the one is ah a 67 dots and roadster. So like old Japanese car. And then I have a 99 that I imported this year, 99 East on Sylvia. And that one has the glow plates. And yeah, I just, I know. Yeah.
Speaker: So what's the process been? I know, you I know you don't have a car yet. So I was actually through the car buying process as a foreigner in Japan once before, but I'm curious how, what your process has looked like so so far. um I'm working with Nippon bridge. Okay. We're talking later. that's and we might that That's who helped us as well. Okay. Yeah. And so I'm thinking maybe it depends on the different dealership that you pick, but I'm having, I went and faxed.
Speaker: my contract to purchase today and i scanned and emailed before like they were like well we want it faxed so and walk through dh l please but perhaps to japan the day for twenty dollars i was like this is so weird but so nonetheless i faxed it today and like yes and um cause i'm hoping that They well i'm not hoping they he said that they would hold it until I get my utilities and everything in line so that I can purchase it. But they said I have to go to like a registrar's office in Niigata to register it in my name. And I was.
Speaker: Obviously I'm here and I was hoping that I could basically just show up with both keys, car and house and just drive and walk in. But it sounds like I might have to go there for that instead of having, see Yoshi had me do a power of attorney in the house.
Speaker: And so I was hoping for the same thing with the car is kind of funny that you have to go to Japan, finalize the car, but not for the house, but not a house. Yeah. Yeah. So my understanding is that it it comes down to the drive, the parking spot. So they care a lot and that there is a parking spot for this vehicle. So obviously you're going to use your home's driveway. And so they want to prove that you own the house and they want a utility bill to to attach your name to the house. I don't know why they can't use the title, but they're right for utility bill.
Speaker: And they take the utility bill to a notary public, they notarize it with an affidavit saying, okay, yes, this is you, you own the house, this address and here's the utility bill to approve it. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's what I was. and And I think Yoshi was trying to help too, because I included him with conversation with this. is And he was like, Hey, I'll give you the, I can show you like the address and the documentation. If we could avoid the utility bill, but it doesn't. So.
Speaker: Dang, hopefully you get that car, but you know, want to throw a bunch of them. Yeah, want to throw a fun question here. whats What's your dream car you're going to buy in Japan? What's the next, you know, whatever. doesn't Just for yourself.
Speaker: Um, I'll just say I don't, I don't know. I was actually hoping to go to the track a handful of times and make some brands and maybe find somebody that is looking to get out of their track car and just get into one of theirs or something like that. That way yeah I've always, I've made some of my best friends buying and selling cars. yeah my So it kind of, yeah, it's more of an opportunity to to meet somebody that.
Speaker: I mean, cars got fit, but that's kind of not too hard. no Let me, you know, after this conversation, I'm going to introduce you to my friend, Ken Mellicar. He actually helped us buy our car in Tokyo. He bought a Mercari for us and he like went to, he checked it out for us. And he he does a lot of this. He does a lot of street racing or does a lot of track racing. So oh yeah he's always, he's always rotating through cars. so' I'll, I'll, I'll enter him into you. He's a nice a good resource. He might have something for you.
Speaker: Yeah, it was kind of a little, you know, you' are you guys familiar with the JCI? At least that's what I used to call it. J -C -I, no. Well, I call it J -C -I, but it's the Japanese compulsory insurance. The insurance on the car to be on the road for like two years or whatever. That was the thing i was I was wondering like, Hey, who can check out the car? Who can do these things? And they're like, Oh no, we just like talk to them. We don't.
Speaker: We're not going to test drive the car or anything. I think it's in Shiba. I think, but because I was trying to make it so that the car is like in Tokyo area or yeah, the air, you know, in that area, I didn't want to buy a car. We were, we were thinking about that service, just spitball in here. You know, we help people buy the Acia that we have a car ready for them at the NARTA parking.
Speaker: parking lot, you know, is that kind of the the dream? Like you land, you drive your car to your house kind of thing. You nailed it. Yeah. That that was kind of what I was trying to achieve. Right. So that way, yeah, we could land, whether it's at the parking lot or somewhere else, or even at the dealership, if they held it at the dealership, I was not opposed to that and paying the storage for it.
Speaker: just land, then get settled, stay one night in Tokyo or two or whatever, and then go grab your car and then drive home two yeah hours, three hours. And we got the and then, you know, start. Okay. Yeah. Well, we'll let you know when we have that service out the ground, but we were thinking about that. Be like, how sweet would it be to land in Tokyo? Just have the car ready to go in your name and rock up to your house. So and even if it's not their car like it's like you have a loaner vehicle that's set up for them so that way if they have to go deal with the paperwork of their own car yeah whole vehicle because I was like wait so I have to do all this paperwork stuff and I know you have a great subway system Japan
Speaker: But when you, when you live 45 minutes, you know, and, and you have to go to registrar's office and you don't really know anything, it forces you to learn it, which is good. But on the bad is kind of like. Kind of nice to just have a vehicle and just be able to have a little, that American independence kind of sets in, right? Yeah, exactly. Defined an American individual as the open road and you can set off. I had my side note. I had a meeting, I'm working on a ah business visa in, uh,
Speaker: Oh, and I had a meeting with the city and they thought it was kind of strange. They're like, you're so far away from the city. And I was like, no, I, I enjoy driving and I want to be in a like a country, more country style. so Right on. What's the business for business manager visa? You do need like a ah real business plan. what what Yeah. So my business plan kind of stems on my current business here. So hopefully it's easier to approve just home remodel, you know, and kind of.
Speaker: Hey, you got a squatty potty. You want it to be Western. You want it to be more moving ready. Cause you have a bunch of trash in the the house and cause the vacant homes have a bunch of stuff. So, but mine is really just meant for maybe Australians that want to rent a place in.
Speaker: That area for like six months and then just let's talk Eric, you know, that's something we're we're looking for, you know, where we we we we need help with that exact thing. We lived with one of those squatty potties for two months. So this is interesting. We should, we should definitely connect after this also on on how we can work together.
Speaker: For sure. For sure. Yeah. My, I mean, I do construction, so I was kind of like, seems like the easiest way to get the visa approved. And you know, do I have a lot of smoke shop with smoked meats, you know? Yeah.
Speaker: or avoid yeah I was going to say, as you know, just going on what Taki said, we do have a lot of clients that are looking for some sort of quick renovation, you know, at least converting the squatty parties to a toilet or those type of basic things after they purchase property in Japan. So.
Speaker: Right. And maybe you want an additional air conditioner because like the wanting that you get is, yep. Especially English language. Like, you know, that, that seems to be the the key right here. We're missing here. So, right. and It's a little bit easier to get the, what they want across, um, to be executed. And then, and we know Western clients want a little bit more counter space in the kitchen, right? Like what additional more cad.
Speaker: Is we'll go that much farther and is appeasing your Western needs to have more countertops or raise the Canada. That was something in our better property. The counter was like so low. Oh yeah. I brushed my teeth. I was hunched over.
Speaker: yeah of po You're going to be like, a Oh, Oh, well pass on, you know? like Yeah. So the ultimate goal is, yeah, has to be there, you know, visit shooter. Okay. That's, I didn't realize that. So you'd be planning to be there full time and then visit Minnesota.
Speaker: Yeah, I was going to ask what months of the year you were thinking of being in Japan, but starting hospital times like yeah, starting off, it'll be the winter months. Cause I, my busy season in construction in Minnesota is right now, December, October, my busiest, but all through, you know, non snow season. So that allows me to transition. ah Um, like you can go in the winter time, enjoy the winter time, do winter time. still yeah And you come back here and make money. You live what I tell everybody. America is making money and not retiring, but that's fine. yeah Yeah. Let's talk about the home buying process. I know we've talked about cars and all this stuff, like but do you guys, but given us to give us the timeline. So you started, when did you start? When did you finish? you know What was that process like for you? for you Gosh.
Speaker: I don't, I don't recall the exact date when we had our first meeting, but after that day, I started searching and searching and searching and I found a number of, I mean, I, I was just on your guys's platform and I think I started wanting to be closer to where I grew up and how more the manufacturer and I, and then I had a meeting with Nick. Yep. And.
Speaker: nick i ten remotely right Yeah. Nick at Japan remotely. Yup. And he shed some light on different visas in different areas and kind of how you, you know, different areas support you getting a visa. And cause then I, I kind of migrated in my search down in Nagano and I found some real awesome cabin and I found another cabin before that. I like ago was really set on like cabin ask remote by skiing and stuff like that.
Speaker: But it, it came to be very apparent that it was going to be difficult to have car parking a lot of the cabins. Oh, really? Yeah. More than one. And it would definitely probably, you know, a lot of them didn't have it covered the ones that I was looking at. And so then I was like, Oh, I'm going to leave it there. Oh yeah. Yeah. You want a garage. I see.
Speaker: Yeah. So I really wanted a garage and then, and then I really was actually trying to find it as a, as a rental unit, my first one. So when I'm not there, I can rent it out and have somebody clean it, maintain it, look after it. But the more remote you get in the woods, it's more difficult.
Speaker: for to find somebody that'll do it. Number one and number two, the minute municipality of the area or the controlling body doesn't always want the house to be in a rental unit. They want it to go to somebody that's going to own it or live in it or whatever. Especially when they're in like these controlled cabin places meant for kind of vacation. It's kind of weird. It's a vacation home. So you'd think.
Speaker: Can I turn this vacation, the Japanese traditional vacation home into an American yeah resort zoned properties have, have weird restrictions. Yeah. And that's what it boils down to. I was like, all right, that's going to be tough. So let's just get a place. And then I'll have roots to figure a lot of the other stuff out. So by, by all means, this might not be our final one, but it, but it's really awesome. So I think it might be.
Speaker: But yeah, we're already looking at other other places. because I think but you hit on a ah good advice there. you know I think people try to like nail the perfect property and that hits all the boxes all at once. And and sometimes it it it stops them from from acting. So yeah I think you you did a good job. And I'm checking here. We talked to you on June 12th.
Speaker: three that's That's pretty great. Three months. Congrats. That's a pretty good, yeah you know, transaction. I think you spoke with Joe Yoshi shortly after. Did you go to Japan at all? Or did you do this fully? or I didn't pull from the house. I haven't been since, since the wintertime. so Okay. Eric, did you get a building inspection done? I did not.
Speaker: ah Okay. And no billing inspection. I, yeah, I'm kind of like, I was curious about the tile roof. You mentioned the tile roof, just, you know, kind of like an older style roof. I was just wondering, yeah he I love the, I love the challenge and and then part of it is like, Oh, something needs switching. Then I get to learn.
Speaker: How would you get it done so that if there is somebody else that's looking at a property and wants to, they need to done, I've already done it. Right. So I was like, no, in no way is the worst case scenario. Cause it'll learn from it. There you go. Good attitude.
Speaker: Yeah. And David, I, that's my main trade is roofing. So I was, I looked at the roof like more of a, I wanted it from an aesthetic point of view, certain type of roof. So as you go north, you'll notice a lot more smooth, flat metal roofs. Right. And they're just not as a step for snow, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, at first, no, so they can shed and it's, that's cool. I know what about it. Anything like in this whole past three months in this process, anything unexpected that came up or any sort of hiccups that you ran into? Gosh.
Speaker: I, if there was, I can't, I can't even think of what it was. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he went once we picked it, I actually picked two places. I think there were about 30 minutes apart from each other, but in Niata prefecture, one was a thousand dollars. but but but okay was Like $1 ,200. And I was like, cause I originally, I was like, maybe I'll just buy a bowl and pick up the wall.
Speaker: And live in the other, but he went to the other one and I was like, Oh, it's good. I kind of want it. But at the same time, I was like, that one needs a lot of work yeah where I was like, I don't want that to be my immediate need. And I was like, so I'll wait. I'm sure there'll be more. It's not like, you know, there's a finite amount. There is when you look at certain areas that you want to be in, but in that case, it was a thousand dollars. So I was like, I'll, I'll be good.
Speaker: And it was, it was still a pretty awesome property. It was big property, land, driveway, detached, large two car garage. That was probably plenty fine. But I think there might've been like a little fire in the attic and it was just like, I don't really want to deal with structural stuff. So I want to deal with light cosmetic. So.
Speaker: It's interesting. talk to We sent a lot of people to Yoshi. We've sent a lot of people at this point and I was like, Yoshi, who's been the best client? And he said you, Eric. So congratulations. He was just like, Eric is so easy. he's He can do construction. He could do it himself. So you're you're you're probably the Yoshi's best client of the year, I would say. see Because I'm hoping to bring him some more business. I'm only looking at like a $10 ,000 spot and you got to city.
Speaker: Just because the Visa wants you to have property in the city proper. So, interesting. Yeah. and Oh, is that for an office or just in general, you need property in the city? With one or the other, just you just need it. And cause you can classify the house as the office. I don't really, I figured I'll figure it out later type of deal. It's like a long.
Speaker: Yeah, I think the thing to keep in mind, I know my process went really quick, but I would tell people to be patient with it their systems, right? Yeah. When they, when you buy something and he goes, Hey, I'm going to mail you the paperwork and the key. Don't be in a rush for it, right? Don't be in a rush for the utilities to be turned on. and Just accept that the it's getting done um and be patient. Good advice.
Speaker: know Yeah, they're never not. I don't like to think that they're not working because they're going to do some of the hardest working people on the planet. So if you already gave them the direction, if they need something, they, they let you know. Let them know. She's an animal. Like, yeah I don't know how this guy juggles so many things at once. And I, we're trying to like pick his brain a little bit. Like Yoshi, how do you like stay organized? And he's just like, no, I keep everything in my head. for like my Is there an Excel sheet somewhere or like, how are you, how are you project? yeah he was Like all up here. Have you, have you asked him if he, I'm curious. So as a kid, I did a lot of soda bond. Oh, I did soda bond too. Yeah. So i I have like, you know, I get.
Speaker: Casual trophies are around here somewhere. Okay for my soda bottle contest But I wonder because it helps, you know, you're just cognitive recall of all these yeah numbers and things So I wonder he must have been like he's part a champ. He's a champ for sure Interesting. Here's Eric. We've actually had a you know, we're actually a couple clients that are going through Yoshi right now We're having trouble transferring money Like how did you transfer or did you use wise? Did you use wise? Nope. Okay. I use transfer wise and I did it from my regular bank, my credit union here in town. So I have my credit union link to transfer wise. And then I sent it and I thought, you know, if I've already dealt with like starting a company and buying things in China from Ali, stuff like that. So I already had wise set up probably made it even easier. So yeah, if somebody's already thinking about it.
Speaker: I would just, you know, right out the gate, just get your wise work. And then, yeah, cause it probably takes a little while to like verify the bank and all that other nonsense. Yeah. That's good advice. Did you have a limit? I think there's like, might be like a 10 K limit or like, did you have, do you just transferred it all at once? What was your situation? I did it all at once. um I think I did it for different things. So like for him to go visit and check it out, you know, I paid him to, Hey, hop on the train and go check it out. Like.
Speaker: Dude, you're saving me thousands. So yeah, I paid that. And then when we got to purchasing it, I think I had to do a deposit 10%. Yeah. Typical. And then I did the final in one chunk. So technically three transactions, but one primary. So yup.
Speaker: Cool. Oh, you had such a spirit process. I feel like everyone we typically ask is like, there's some hiccup here or there. Really? and Maybe it's because you're super patient and understand, you know, how things work a little bit better. yeah i'm I'm curious, like any, anything that surprised you throughout that process, or was it all pretty straightforward or anything that scared you? You were like, you know, as you're, as you're going through the process with Yoshi.
Speaker: man, I mean, I definitely asked him a number of things like, Hey, and is there a company that will deliver a dumpster? Cause that's what I'm used to over here. Yeah. You know, cause I mean, you see the house and you're like, all right, I'm getting this house. And I'm like, what am I, what am I getting? What's it going to be in that house? Right? Like I already see within there, but like, what am I going to do with?
Speaker: 60 % of the belongings that I don't need, right? Like I, I remember trash is very, we already know trash is already like a faux pas thing in Japan, right? Like you make your own trash, put it in your own bag bag, right? While you're figuring out like, well, where do, where does this go? Cause I've never seen um construction dumpsters even growing up there. I didn't see it because a lot of times our construction is covered by the walls, right? Where they are construction. They have their walls up around.
Speaker: So you don't even see happening. Yeah. Chips. I don't, I don't want to scare you, but I believe I could be wrong, but I believe I've never seen dumpsters either. I believe you have to buy these like little white cloth bags from the, like the they the hardware store there. And then everything needs to be broken down and then put into those bags. You can't just start checking stuff into a dumpster. Like where you see, you really have to, you're probably right. and but That's how everything is. that's a Yeah.
Speaker: Everything's going to be a like, ah yeah everything's a chore. But if if you look at it, it's like, everything's an adventure, not a chore. hey they go like All right. We can get down with this. And then there's a lot of cool treasures, right? A lot of people say like, when you're going through a house and I mean, there's like a piano with the house. I'm like, my brother -in -law and my sister play piano. So I'm like, all right, I guess I'll probably keep it. I don't know. but Otherwise getting rid of a piano, like what do you, yeah, what do you yeah yeah had to break it down? Down the white bags. Yeah.
Speaker: Let us know. We'll do a follow -up podcast on trash with you post that once you're deep in it. But here's how long was this Aki abandoned for? Or like, what's the story? Did you get the story? I did not. Well, they said I get a story. I guess if we're going to believe it while the story is it was an old.
Speaker: an elderly couples vacation home. And I'm like, look like their primary home, but they give you, they gave me like a certificate or I don't know if it's like a form that says nobody has ceased to live in your home. And and I was like, all right, cool. They could feel better. But at the same time, yeah, there's some belongings in there that you're like.
Speaker: You didn't take that. um thank you that's a so but i' go by i like that dreams but i They've got a legal obligation to tell you if someone if the last person that owned it died in the house, but before that there's no legal obligation. Right. And then when, I think this property, I think it was on the market, maybe a year, they didn't hang out there for maybe three to 400 days. I think I recall it directly. And the other thing is, I think it was owned by a company prior to my myself. So I don't know if like they put it in a company name.
Speaker: So they handled that transaction or some like a company bought it or what? Cause I didn't actually deal with like your seller sellary and sellers seller Yeah. So it makes you wonder like, wait, if you do that, does that mean that they can say that they never died in it? And then the biggest people couldn't, right?
Speaker: You got the priest coming. You're all good. yeah to so always call out It was three houses down. It's a beautiful shrine. He's coming. How close are the neighbors? Oh, they're on top. I mean, they're, you know, typical house. Yeah. I got a wall and then I got a yard. And I'm hoping that if I put in a greenhouse and talk nicely with my neighbors, they might use it when I'm not there. Just to kind of be like, Hey, it's additional growing area as you need until I get back. I gotta just make friends, right? Everybody just, everybody's just make friends. So.
Speaker: All right. You put a koi, koi fish in that koi pond. Is that going to happen? I think because I'm really hoping to run an aquaponics system in the greenhouse. Okay. So if that is successful, then yes, we'll definitely be so fish.
Speaker: Damn, man, you're, you're an inspiration. This is, this is, you're the true Akia buyer that I think Japan needs here. And I think you're going to be helping neighbors, helping the ecosystem. and That's, so that's, that was my pitch to my visa meeting too. I was like, man, I don't, I know I'm not trying to change anything about Japan. I'm just trying to, just trying to exist, you know, and be a friendly neighbor. So.
Speaker: Yeah. Cool. All right. One piece of advice you'd give to any person in, that's considering by Nokia or in the process, anything. Yeah. and And what would, what advice would you give them or give your previous self even at the start of this process?
Speaker: a Figure out what. What you love about Japan the most and ah what, or maybe there's five things. If you got those five things you loved about Japan the most and then try and isolate the area that supports those five things. So from a lifestyle and location balance, right? I mean, if you're purely looking for snow adventure and that is it and you're focused and it's not going to be a full -time thing.
Speaker: then, you know, Northern Japan slash Hokkaido is probably the best fit, right? But if you're going with a and like, Hey, I'm going to
Speaker: family or different, I just like the the safety or like the food or something like that. Fun fact, Niigata is known for the best rice in all of Japan. So really I'm a, I'm a booty and hard. So I'm like, I'm already looking bored to, you know, and do and I've never even been. I feel that.
Speaker: I've been to Akida, Akida prefecture and Sendai and all the other ones up there. So I'm like, you that was like me. We bought in Beppu. I'd never been to Beppu before. Never been to Kyushu before. I was like, i I think I know the Japanese smaller cities. Like you have enough trust and faith in like what you know about everything else that you can make that informed decision. And and but then a part of Beppu, right? Like you find the right property and the right everything else. And you're like.
Speaker: It's an adventure, right? Like yeah okay you really can't go wrong. um okay i am i'm all I'll die on that sword. I don't think you can buy the wrong spot. I think that that was like the line that me and Taka used to like way back a year, almost two years ago when we were like first discussing this, we're like, I don't think we can go wrong. Like, even if it's like, we don't want to be at the house or whatever, like jump and then like, we would have learned so much. Like we would have, you know,
Speaker: gone back to japan had this adventure like you can't go wrong here yeah and i mean i i'm on your guys's website gosh at least weekly but probably every other day just looking at other places it's addicting yeah i was gonna ask you put you i feel like there might be more listings that are not on Akio Mart, but that don't maybe don't even exist. light Like, but there, there's more houses, if you will, not listening, but more houses available, but they don't show up. And it's like, how would you guys get those? Yeah. Like that's on you, you know, not me. So I want you guys to get more so I can search more. but we Like we scraped two websites, two Japanese real estate websites, but there are more.
Speaker: You know, there's, there's, there's more original ones and stuff like that. And then there's the Akia bags. There's off market listings. So like, yeah, there's much more than, than we have than we're showing. So, you know, and that's for the advanced searcher though. I feel like it is. Okay. Yeah. And you're like, cause there's been some times where I've hit up Yoshi, like, Hey, can you send me some business listings? Like for business addresses and stuff like that. But and there, yeah, it's different. I actually have the best business listing that I found is so bars. It's not from what Yoshi sent me, but one that is on Akiyama. And it's, it's really nice, but.
Speaker: They, I actually reached out, I actually had Yoshi like, Hey, see if they'll sell it or whatever, see what the deal is. And they were like, Oh, we're interested in selling it, but we don't, you can hire Yoshi, but you, they don't want you to work through him. They wanted to work directly. And then I don't be the assistant in the problem. Double end the deal. Which is and so if you just want more money than just. Just say that, you know, like that that's, cause that's all it does, right?
Speaker: Yeah. ki I mean, that that we're saying it's been happening to us where again, a lot of these Akiyas, a lot of the sellers are greedy and that they want both sides of the commission, um ah but they just aren't capable of dealing with foreigners. So it just like goes unsold. In that situation where, you know,
Speaker: How would you feel if the seller's agent, by the way, not the seller, it's the agent yeah so seller's agent. He wants to, it's greedy. So in this situation, we've been telling ah people, we're helping that in these situations, you might have to pay a double commission so that Yoshi gets paid. but Um, would that deter you from a property? I mean, of course it's more money or given, yeah, that's kind of the situation we're in with a couple of folks.
Speaker: I don't think it would deter me if it's the property like this one, when he approached me and told me about it, I was like, I was more standoffish by the fact that like, Oh, wait a second. I don't want to try and do this without Yoshi. Exactly. So I don't mind paying Yoshi a hundred percent. Like.
Speaker: Should build me on the front end if you wanted Yoshi, like, you know, or bill me hourly or however you want to work it. And then for them, I think the decent thing would be to do is go, Hey, we want to double end a deal, but we're going to do one and a half. You know, so if you're getting a 6%, let's do four and a half instead of three or something like that. But now with the rules around, you know, basically $3 ,000.
Speaker: but but a minimum coverage and Yeah, maybe 2000 yen rate whatnot, but Yeah, i don I don't Gosh, it's not that bad of a fee. I guess that it doesn't Yeah, there's a racket for me. It just kind of feels kind of feels kind of dirty. Like you said, they got a little, exactly and you're okay with a little bit of greed, but double. um and Exactly. That's, that's the problem we face right now. You know, there's all these, all these places, but they just can't deal with foreigners and it's just like, all right, nobody. And then we're bringing our guy that can deal with the foreigner. Exactly. You guys don't want, yeah, you don't want to get any bit of the commission. Yeah. It'd be one thing if you said, Hey, he gets one point, but they have rules or you'd have to get.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, exactly. Well, you know, Eric, you're you're a vet now. We you look forward to your next purchases. and Actually, Yoshi sent us an off -market deal in Miyoko. I don't know if you'd be interested, but maybe, you know, where's Miyoko?
Speaker: Myoko is Nagano. Oh, it is. Okay. Yeah. I said i was originally working there as well. I actually, my mom, she mentioned, I asked her a while back, what was your favorite area in Japan? She traveled way more in Japan than I got to. And she said Nagano was her absolute favorite prefecture. So 10K next to a cemetery. So definitely need some shrine. and Uh, things, but it looks great next to great snow. We'll send it over to you. Oh, I always always love looking at things. Yeah. Other than that, man, we're we're stoked for you. This is so exciting. You're the right person. I think a lot of things you said today will resonate with our listeners. yeah You know, Jerry, anything from you or Eric, any, any last words for our audience here?
Speaker: um for audience Oh man, just do it. You know, there we go. That is, that is the truth, man. And the matter, it was, it feels so good. They, you want to do it again.
Speaker: Like oh, yeah, it's a drug right? Yeah, it really is I mean it's I I buy dumb things up until now so I've actually been downsizing I I so So when I sell one thing I'm like looking at it differently now that I don't know home at this price point I I recently I literally sold one of my washes to pay for the house. Okay, so it's kind of dumb that you'd own a watch that is worth that much. But I was like, Oh, the watch doesn't give me any good, but a home in Japan is endless opportunities and adventures. You can drive hours and be in a whole nother ecosystem and people in different in culture, even with Japan, it's the same culture, but it's different.
Speaker: So the only other thing I was going to ask you guys is when you might be, ah might be around, are you guys going to be in, in the winter or. We, so we, yeah, we're, so we have three houses now. So we have Betbo, Tokyo and Kita Kyushu. So we are coming around end of this month. We'll be back hopefully in winter time. We should definitely come up and visit you. I want some rice. You don't have a, especially if you don't have a ski resort near you guys yet. We're missing the ski factor. So this is keep an eye out for other neighborhood houses. who We'd be, we'd be interested, Eric. I was literally asking Yoshi if the house next door, cause I was looking at Google street view and I was like, is that house next door empty?
Speaker: Cause I'll take it if it is. My sister, my sister, my sister grew up with me obviously, but her husband, my brother -in -law, he's Japanese. So he speaks for the most part, pretty poorly. He grew up on the military base too. He's just that he's half Japanese, half American.
Speaker: Yeah. So I'm kind of like trying to convince them like, Hey, once I get this all settled, you should just come on over. About a bing, about a boom. Yeah. and our work Well, horse we're super glad everything worked with Yoshi, you know, just a plug for us. We are the full, we have a full program now. You know, Eric, you are our our guinea pig. It seems like things went well and we have a couple more folks in the process. So yeah. And you know, we'll, we'll tap you for hopefully construction stuff, ski steps, rice stuff, our car stuff. Yeah. Look forward to it, my guys. Cool. Well, thank you so much, Eric. All right. See you later.
