Transcript
Speaker: ah I'm just going off pictures. Dice roll, baby. pictures look good for sure. um But yeah, it could turn into, um I mean, like Jay's place a teardown, you know?
Speaker: But I looked at this one and I was like, all right, my siding's good at least. All right. so i don't have a I don't have that. um yeah I like wood siding over steel siding in Japan. um When I say that, there's a lot of older homes, like 50s and 60s homes, where you see the corrugated steel siding.
Speaker: I don't like it. That doesn't mean other people can't buy those homes and have fun and and be successful. It looks like the demilitarized zone in Korea. Yeah, it just doesn't give me good vibes. It gives me like, yeah, like a scary movie vibes type deal.
Speaker: Welcome back, everybody, to a another exciting episode. of the buying a house in Japan podcast. I'm your host, Joey joined by co-hosts Take and Eric in the house today. Let's go.
Speaker: hey guys. Eric, what's happening, bro? You got some exciting stuff coming down the pipeline here, right? Super excited to announce we have an approved or accepted offer on a third house in Tere Domari, Eric Domari.
Speaker: Eric Domati. Yeah. Self-proclaimed the mayor. So, i dumb yeah. So really, really hoping to take over the town, you know, so I have to buy one house at a time.
Speaker: um But this one, exciting fact, is ah it was listed at 68 US dollars on Akiomart. So close for 69. Yeah, I think it's the exchange rate. So, you know, it would have normally been 69 dollars, but the exchange rate.
Speaker: Just say 69. I think that's a better number. Round up another number, another dollar. But yeah. All right. 69 dollar home in Tera Domari. Pretty sweet. So you're the only person I know of that has gotten the Ichimanen $69 house so far. Congratulations, Eric. Thank you. Thank you. It's the second one I've offered on. So I didn't expect it when and I already got shot down on the first one. I was the second person in line.
Speaker: So I kind of went into this one like, you know what? I almost have to do it because I probably won't get it Number one. Number two, it's in my town, which is ah really tiny town. So if there's a ah house for sale in my town, it's already rare.
Speaker: So it's definitely rare for it to be. This is a world first, I think. This could be a world first. It's not a world first. I mean, people get free homes. No, no one's getting these free homes. I think they're out there. But like, have have you guys ever heard of a single person getting these free homes?
Speaker: Technically, right? From a technicality standpoint, Jay's home. 2,500 US dollars was essentially a similar setting.
Speaker: That is what Chitani-san explained to me. He's like, hey, instead of it being free, sometimes they are listed at $2,000, which is your commission fee.
Speaker: So just so that the listeners understand, there is usually a double commission fee with these homes. Wait, so sorry, backing up with Jay's house was listed for $2,000, but then he bought it for $2,000, but didn't pay commission.
Speaker: Yeah, he didn't have a double commission fee because they just built the double commission fee. into the price at $2,000. But he paid commission on top of the $2,000. Just his buyer commission. Okay, he did not get $69 house in my mind. You are the only one that got the $69 All right, fair. i'll take it I'll take the trophy if you give it to me.
Speaker: I'm calling it a world's first. I've never heard of anybody else getting a house for this cheap because there's usually, and this is what I want to ask you quickly about, Eric, there's usually hurdles to this. It's not one, it's not truly $69. The hurdle is usually that commission fee as unless there's others like extra legal fees or, oh, it's really bad. And you're probably going to have to tear it down fee.
Speaker: Like, just to be clear, you had to pay commission twice. So normally as a buyer, you'll pay buyer's side commission. But because this house is so cheap, a lot of Japanese real estate agents, they want to work both sides of the deal.
Speaker: So they're representing the buyer and the seller. the buyer and So here's how my breakdown works because I can't speak to other situations. But Chitani-san negotiated.
Speaker: which I was already like, he negotiated without me asking or doing anything. and he just like jumped in was like, Hey, savage. Yeah. He's like, so we got it for $69, 68, whatever, 10,000 yen.
Speaker: But I negotiated the seller agent fee or technically I'm paying the buyer agent fee. Right. And then I'm paying Chitani-san to be translator on on this transaction.
Speaker: But the buyer agent 220,000 yen instead of the standard 330,000 yen. So he already knocked instead of the standard three hundred and thirty thousand ye so you already knocked off You know, each sorry. Okay. Sorry. i garbled that when I said it, but let me just make this clear for people listening.
Speaker: So Eric is working with his real estate agent, Yoshi, but when they approached this seller who's selling this $69 home, the seller side says, Hey, this only makes economic sense for me if I can also represent the buyer. So I get both the seller side commission and the buyer side commission that leaves Eric. But most of these times, these ah sellers agents, they don't know how to work with a foreigner.
Speaker: But at the same time, they're saying, i need to represent the for the buyer, the foreigner in this transaction. So the way that we get around this is, unfortunately, Eric pays double commission. He's really working with Yoshi as his buyer side agent, but on paper,
Speaker: It's this Japanese seller side agent who's, you know, quote unquote, representing him as the buyer. So Eric's paying the buyer side commission to the Japanese seller's agent. And he's also paying Yoshi some sort of commission because Yoshi's truly the one representing him in this transaction. So yeah this is such a common...
Speaker: case that we see, especially on these really, really cheaper homes. And this is the only way we've been able to solve it is that, you know, you really got to pay the the commission twice, unfortunately. Yeah. so if I was fluent in Japanese, maybe a resident citizen or just better, i guess you could actually write, then maybe I could just get away with paying the buyer side.
Speaker: ah agent fee and the 10,000 yen. But um'm yeah I'm shelling out extra shillings for Yoshisan to basically just manage the whole process. And they are going to be putting it in the name of Japan Unlocked.
Speaker: So they're going to be putting it the company name. is this the JU first property? JU headquarters? Yeah. Yeah, technically it'll be a JU. Nice work. Nice work. So I'm getting Yoshi my hunko stamp, my inkon shomei.
Speaker: And so he's going to be stamping it for me. So so ballpark, sorry, house all in with a two commissions that you got to pay and then registration fees to the judicial scrivener. You know, what is this, about $4,000, $5,000 all in I think it'll be six. I think it'll be maybe, because I think judicial scrivener property taxes, what is that, probably about 2K USD?
Speaker: And then there's probably another three k in commission, maybe three and a half in total commissions. And then you have stamp duty fees and a little bit of insurance and stuff like that. so Want to be clear to the audience too.
Speaker: Eric is getting his AMD fee waived because he's working with Yoshi. Yoshi's not getting paid a lot for this. I do whore out Yoshi quite a bit, it seems I feel like, because he's like...
Speaker: He's my homie. so yeah know We're working. where he yeah Yoshi's an exclusive agent. He's working with us. so yeah yeah some Eric's a veteran and this is his third time around here. Maybe fourth time? Third time?
Speaker: Anyways, see Eric knows what he's doing. He's working with Yoshi who he's built a relationship with. Most people, as Taki mentioned, if you're coming in here fresh and want to do exactly what Eric did and want to work with us, we do charge an additional fee on top of that. so yeah you know Expect to pay Closing costs, I would say ballpark $7,000 to $10,000 to put a house in your name in Japan.
Speaker: Yeah. I would say it's going to be a lot easier for Yoshi in this situation because he's already worked with me. He already has money in the account to literally do the transaction, and he'll have my stamp to do everything. And he already has my POA.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's going to be pretty easy. And they they expect to close at the end of October. They want a fast closing. Yeah. I'm looking at the listing, dude. This is looking pretty sweet. And I see it sold one day ago. So I think contract signed. It's it's pretty much yours now, right? Yeah. Send me the link or where's the link? i put it in. It's in WhatsApp right now.
Speaker: yeah All right, Eric. Just give us the lowdown. what What are we looking at here? This looks pretty cool. Is it attached to the building next door too is my first question. But yeah. No, it's ah just there's a gutter runs in between them.
Speaker: So it's it's not attached home, but it is a seaside home. So it's about a block away from the ferry port. Congratulations. That's awesome. yeah and So I can. Ferry boys.
Speaker: Ferry boys. So I can, yeah, ideally at some point park at the house and then just walk over and catch the ferry. And it is Terra Domaree.
Speaker: for those that didn't catch it earlier, but that is like, it is considered the fish market of Niigata. So it's food connoisseurs. Yeah. Kite surfing, parasailing, you know, I'm always trying to sell people on visiting my beautiful tourist town.
Speaker: Where does the ferry go? I'm looking at the map right now. I think that one goes to Sato. This one is a Sato ferry. Oh, Sato Island ferry. That's awesome. Sato huge. World Heritage Site.
Speaker: Sato is really popular. UNESCO World Heritage Site Sato where you can see the Toki birds and get like barrel water rides or what they have, those water barrels. that's ah yeah The red-faced bird, right? Red-faced bird, white body. Yeah. Mascot of Niigata, right?
Speaker: It definitely the mascot of Niigata. Yeah. Well, this is a big, big plot. I love the siding too. I can't really fully understand it. Is it two structures, one structure? And and for listeners, we'll put the link in the um the show notes so you can follow along.
Speaker: It's it's one one wooden home with an older style Kawada tile. There's like a shed attached to the back. It's almost like a mudroom. And then there's a like a what concrete wall around the backyard, yeah shaer which we plan to cut out a little piece of that so that I can pull a car into the backyard.
Speaker: And then the front is like, it's a street facing home. So like, you know, a downtown type home in a small village. So It has a rooftop patio on, I think the second floor. but So I'll put in some railing, have like some sunbathing. Who knows? so I see that. Yeah.
Speaker: Sold in 25 days. I saw it and pounced. Yeah. Yeah. So I think ah we talked a little bit earlier off before the podcast, but you did mention moving quickly, Eric, you you stand by that. If someone else is looking to do this.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, yeah. If you're already obviously working with us enrolled, it gives you the ability when you see something to move on it. Right. Rather than being like, oh, I should schedule a meeting with the guys at IKEA mark because I found something that I like.
Speaker: It's like, if you like it, there might be 20 other people. You got to have the gun loaded to some degree. Right. Yeah. I mean, I don't, that's just the reality. I mean, on the last one that I offered on, I think I was maybe three to seven days in And I missed out. I was the second one to offer on. so Did you send an alert? Or like how did you find this? Were you just checking this area every day? Or what was that? It's my location. So I just yeah keep ah keep looking at it. And that kind of it's a kind of comes back to my suggestion to listeners is always location, right? Real estate.
Speaker: So figure out where you want to be and then monitor that area, right? Rather than trying to monitor the entire 10 million homes or million and a half listings on IKEA Mart.
Speaker: like and keep track of where you want to be and then hopefully there will be something that pops up so i really like how high the ceilings are i feel like that there's a really tall living room just like my just like my actual um like primary home yeah really the style of tada domari i think there's just in that i don't know i just love that style though high like traditional ceiling yeah I also love that the photo, there's like one photo of a kitchen is just pitch black and like, but what if I look looking at a fridge here. Like you guys could have used flash or like, do you want to sell this house? Yeah.
Speaker: They were quick to give us additional pictures. So yeah, I said, yeah, I think I'm good on it. And just send me some more pictures. And they sent it like and within the next hour. And then I was like, yeah, definitely for sure. Let's do it.
Speaker: So, um, there's a filter built in 1972, thousand square foot building, thousand, 500 square foot lot. Eric, the question of the day, what's wrong with this house?
Speaker: Why is it so cheap? It's that vacant for a while from the additional pictures that I got, I didn't see any ceiling stains or mold, but a lot of times when these older homes sit for a little while, they might, they might develop some like humidity or smell and odor just from being older, I guess it was company owned.
Speaker: And so they just wanted to get it off their books. And I think they want to take a loss for the tax benefits. That's my guess based on what I've gotten from limited dialogue.
Speaker: What kind of company owned this? some I think just like a real estate portfolio. how's the You're a roof specialist. How's the roof looking?
Speaker: I am thinking about redoing this one. oh With the Japanese tiles are you going to do something else? Yeah, yeah i'll I'll always try and keep them. Triple lamb? Now we're going Kawada tile. but ah the Triple lamb? um Definitely...
Speaker: Yeah, it has Kawada tile. I don't think there's any leaks, but when they age, that like ceramic coating, that shininess to it, probably leader says goes away and it becomes more of like an exposed tile, like almost like you see the concrete or clay to it.
Speaker: And I think I saw a little bit of that in one of my pictures, so I was like, all right, we'll plan for to have a really beautiful Kawada tile that I can pick out. What's the plan for this? those tiles Sorry to cut you out there, Joe. they still make these tiles? Like you can just pick them up off at a store?
Speaker: Yeah, there's tile specialty places where you can go and and have this have it done. So so i I think you slightly mentioned this earlier, but what's your plan for this house? ah in addition to your other two houses, this just like, hey, I'm gonna chill at this house for a little bit, chill at this house for a little bit, or or what's your grand plan here? He's trying to be mayor, dude. He's gotta have the Yeah, just wanna like really just dominate the town. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker: I asked my wife actually, i was like, hey, what do you think about this? I showed it to her and she was like, nah, I wouldn't do it. And I was like, 68 bucks. Oops. You know. Get it it? Sold one day ago. Yeah. Slipped on a banana peel and bought a house. So the that's a really good question. I really just hope that it'll come to me as I renovate and fix it up.
Speaker: I already talked to my DIY guy about new wallpaper and and air conditioner, heaters, and just maybe getting a paint job on the outside, like making it look slightly old school modern, like giving it a black and white, but keeping it that wood historic home look.
Speaker: But giving it like the yucky burnt cedar look, right? Yeah. yeah Just with black stain, though, instead of actually burning it. And then maybe it's short term. Maybe it's midterm. Maybe it's a resell.
Speaker: I do have some friends that want to have property and to live near me. So I'm like, I guess I could fix it up and just sell it to them. This reminds me like Joey, I think during COVID, Joey was living in Williamsburg in New York and he and his roommate rented out this like huge high ceiling garage just to work on their cars. And like, Joey, that was such a dope spot you guys had. Like, I feel like you can make this into just like a straight garage and it'd be so cool.
Speaker: Just got it, open it up. and then Just have a high ceiling garage basically. Garage door on the front, garage door on the back. You drive like straight through. And just have fun with it. Like, that's the thing is like the ah you the possibilities are endless when you look at it and go, ah I spent $68 on it. This is a steak dinner.
Speaker: Like, plus 6,000 or whatever. My vote is cool garage because like, yeah, I could see it just drive in. think, Joey, you guys do like a huge warehouse party. If you open up that front, so you could drive in from the exactly from the front and make it like the yeah like ah like from initial D days where the where the dad is working on his car and like the in the front of his ah tofu shop or whatever.
Speaker: be sick, man. Do you think it's possible, just an idea top my head, to like bulk order? So say there's a few $69 properties in Teta Domotti and like one real estate agent is handling them like, hey, let's do one slightly larger commission, but we're buying 10 of these or something like a bulk purchase to try get them. Yeah, I don't see why not. If it's in the same area and the same representative and the same transaction, right?
Speaker: Because it's all about effort for that agent to compensation. I buy Akiya's for cash. um like The American yard signs just pop them up. Do you guys get the cars for kids ads? Where are at? Or is that a New York thing? 1-877-CARS-4-KIDS. I remember the slogan from back in the day.
Speaker: a Cash for clunkers. Remember that one? That was the thing. Joey, on the multi-purchase, I imagine each one would still need its own documents created.
Speaker: Like, let's say you bought 10 properties. And I think for that reason, the agent probably wouldn't be, unless they were all bundled by one owner or something. It would certainly be reduced. It just wouldn't be like 10 for one. Yeah.
Speaker: I think it'll come down to like whether the seller side trusts us. to not come back with like complaints and try to sue them like, hey, you know, because the beauty of the bulk order is they do less paperwork, less studios due diligence for each one, but they're not going to want to do that if they don't trust us. So I feel like maybe building a relationship with a seller side agent. Hey, we buy Akia's. We don't complain ever kind of thing.
Speaker: Buy five, get one free. I still think they have to do the same documents. And for, actually, we have a currently a couple Akiyamart Direct customers who want to buy multiple properties. And for that reason, we we do charge that same fee because our agents are doing the same amount of work.
Speaker: I think it's a very, very rare situation where like, so If it's the same seller agent, maybe, maybe there's an opportunity, but if it's just like a house next to each other that are different agents, it typically requires almost like, I'd say 90% of the same amount of work.
Speaker: Different seller agent, different closing day, different transaction. yes The only way, yeah I think you even get it consolidated even slightly, like slight discount is if it's the same seller agent.
Speaker: Exactly. Yeah. yeah But then imagine they still have to deal with if there's a different property owner on each of those, then they might have to deal with a different Scrivener for each of those properties. So, yeah.
Speaker: right, Eric, what are you going to do with this house? I know Joey kind of already asked you this, but like when do you get keys in hand? So the off contract was made. Sounds like October 30th is our tentative closing date. oh Halloween. Spooky, baby. yeah I was wondering if I may have inherited like a ghost with this one because I was like, nobody's going to go yeah see it. We didn't see it in person. Did you ever get and and end up getting your first Tana Domani spot blessed by a priest?
Speaker: No. Um, so yes and no, they did do a ceremony before I got there. So, and then they left all the sake and everything there to make all the spirits happy.
Speaker: So I didn't do it, but they did it for me. So, okay. That's good. I do want to, I want, I want to learn more about that. Actually. think we should just get all our houses blessed. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it teedda tolmay literally, I think it translates to port anchor, but I think, or not, I mean, a temple anchor, because it was a temple town, like as a stop for ships coming from the north on the Sea of your Japan side.
Speaker: So there's a lot of little temples and that region, Echigo region is famous for Yahiko shrine and the Buddhist deity that settled that area.
Speaker: So for that reason, it's really easy. There's a long way of telling telling that it's easy to find a Shinto temples and priests that are willing to stop by. I literally live like four houses down from a giant Hongkoji temple.
Speaker: so Interesting. Kind of switching topics here. You mentioned you are going to tear down that like concrete wall and just make a parking spot. I want to cut an entrance. Do you need to do anything with the government for that? I've never actually encountered that issue. Can you just take that wall down be like, this is a parking spot.
Speaker: Yes. Like, I think you can, I think you can take down that. Uh, I think it's when you put something up is more critical. So like if I put up a car port in that backyard, I think if it's over, think it's 12 square meters or something like that, that they want you to,
Speaker: Pursue a permit. However, I think it also depends on the land classification of how rural it is. So like as you get to where my primary home is in the countryside of Tere Tomari, they're like, do what do you want. You live in the country. You're basically it's kind of like America where you have to pull a permit if you're working in Minneapolis and I'm doing a roof.
Speaker: But I'm also doing a roof next week in Jamestown, North Dakota, middle of nowhere. They don't, you don't pull permits unless you're literally touching the framing and doing a remodel to the home.
Speaker: But if you're doing a roof, no permit required. So I feel like they take that similar approach where the more rural you get, the less is required. Yeah, we had a similar, actually it was interesting. We we were on a conversation yesterday with someone that builds a tiny homes in the Hoku Riku area and he re brought up the issue or not issue, but the law that changed back in April about, oh, now a two, a two story, uh, wooden structure in Japan, you need permits to do remodeling, you know, depending on a few other factors.
Speaker: And I remember, so. thinking back to our initial conversation with Koons, who's an architect we've talked to on this podcast here. And remember he mentioned he wasn't worried about it. And honestly, we haven't heard this law being brought up for many months now. was just last night that we heard about it again. But I remember Koons mentioned that, oh, he's like, I think the small time guys like us, we can pretty much get away with it. But he thinks that this law was aimed at the mega builders, the Sekisui homes, Daiwa houses who maybe are trying to cheap out on stuff these days. And there's been enough complaints that the lawmakers decided to pass something, but it was specifically aimed at the mega home builders and not at, you know, ah people like us trying to remodel homes.
Speaker: And I think the intention, if I had to guess the intention behind the law as a builder, it would be you're trying to protect people that are... Not knowledgeable. So like if you're buying a new home, you trust that mega builder, right?
Speaker: You trust the mega builder because of the legislation they put in place. But if you're remodeling your own home, they, I think Japan takes the approach. It's like, it's your home. Like you want to risk yourself and crawl up on your roof and shovel snow off.
Speaker: Be our guest. We're not going to OSHA violate you for being on the roof without a harness. It's your house. Yeah. Yeah. That, that, that's what it seems like based on this conversation with the architect as well. Although, Honestly, we have not heard anything about this loss since. so I don't know if people are getting these permits or not. It was hype for a while.
Speaker: like All the Facebook groups, people were reaching out to us like, can we not buy Nokia anymore? And we're just like, i mean, it really has faded away. But yeah, Joey, we talked to builder up in Miyoko, actually.
Speaker: ah We're looking at getting some kind of like tiny homes built. And he kind of talked a little bit about the second story restrictions on permitting. So it sounds like they at least the builders are aware of them.
Speaker: Yeah. Maybe that that's why. ah Eric, how much are you going to spend on this property to make it livable? Let's just ballpark rent. ah How much? and Sometimes my, uh, give us a estimate. How much do i want to spend or how much, how much are you going to spend before you sleep there for the first time?
Speaker: I don't know if I'll, I don't know if I'll sleep there. Cause my house is three minutes away. I'm with like my actual bed, you know, like, um, but 10, yeah
Speaker: I'll probably keep it to 10 to 20, 10 to 20K USD. And this is you doing all the work or is this you delegating a a lot of the work and hiring people?
Speaker: I'll probably do 25%. Okay.
Speaker: okay so but That sounds like a good price tag. like Yeah. like Like it's, I think ah even with a new roof, I think I'm estimating on this smaller property for a new roof, I'm estimating about 10 to 12,000. How thousand how much Do you know about like moisture damage or are the, is there like whatever the joists under the floor? Although was okay. Like how much do you know about that kind of stuff?
Speaker: You know, I encountered a little bit of that with my first house with the termite damage and then renovated the tatami room and spent 600 US dollars on all new wood. Oh, sorry. I meant like how much you know about the condition of this new house? Is there water damage? Is there... I'm just going off pictures. Dice roll, baby. The pictures look good for sure.
Speaker: But yeah, could turn into... um I mean, like Jay's place a teardown, you know. But I looked at this one and I was like, all right, my siding's good at least. all right. So I don't have a i don't have that.
Speaker: I've got I like wood siding over steel siding in Japan. um When I say that there's a lot of older homes, like 50s and 60s homes where you see the corrugated steel siding. I don't like it.
Speaker: That doesn't mean other people can't buy those homes and have fun. and It looks like the DM looks like the demilitarized zone in Korea. this Yeah. It just doesn't give me good vibes. It gives me like, yeah, scary movie vibes type deal.
Speaker: And um whereas the wood ones, I'm like, all right, you can put When you have wood siding, you can either stain it, refresh it, piece in new pieces if bad pieces are there, or a lot of Japanese do use that wood siding as the nailing substrate for new siding.
Speaker: So you can nail new siding right on top of it. So your, your house, i'm looking at a photo and it's similar to Jason that you have like so little room between you and your neighbor for that siding on that side. Like if that becomes a problem, like how do you, how do you fix the siding between your neighbors when you only have like a three inches of space?
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know. I ah genuinely don't know how you handle it. I mean, it's completely covered, though, so I feel like it's kind of like out of sight, out of mind. Okay. Like like a gaping hole or something.
Speaker: yeah yeah i I guess in theory, if there was, I think you'd have to try and address it from the inside. Yeah. yeah okay yeah that that i know jay was like he couldn't he had some messed up siding between his house he could walk between his oh but it was like okay yeah like you you and there's just like furnace pipes and gutter pipes and like bump outs from windows and stuff so you're walking but they had like a gutter ravine ah concrete. Everything was concrete between the two houses.
Speaker: And you could you could walk and you could even set up a ladder. It's just that the ladder angle that you would set up on his own was like sketchy, you know, like it's not a it's not a great angle to be on a ladder. so nothing wrong with buying a teardown, guys, me and talking one teardown.
Speaker: yeah yeah ah college you know business Yeah, you got to notch it on your belt. You got to have one teardown. If you're going to do this many or be in the in the space. One in six.
Speaker: One in six, yeah. But we knew going into it, I believe. But yeah, you knew the potential that, yeah, you might. You might do it. Just like I know that this might be a parking lot. Yeah. The up the upside on our Miyoko spot is just so high. Like looking looking back when we purchased it, we didn't we just felt the hype, but now we like tangibly see that the data and traffic going to Miyoko that we're like, okay, good decision, baby.
Speaker: Could you imagine if I could spend $3,500 more and just have this place in Miyoko? I mean, like hands down, of course, right? Yep. Looking at the photos, too, your neighbor's spot looks pretty abandoned. and Yeah, I think both my neighbors look pretty. i mean, I was looking at the Google Street View, and I was like, I might not have neighbors. you There's a fabric shop like right down the street, though. Oh, my God.
Speaker: So I'm excited to see what they sell for fabric. Do you use, what you do with fabric, Eric? i don't know. Whatever you, whatever people do, I may make a new outfit for my Chihuahua something. so All right. all right.
Speaker: Cool, man. I'm, I'm pretty pumped for you. This is, this is amazing. You know, end of, we'll, we'll do a Halloween celebration for you here ah for your $69 home. Yeah. It's, uh, gosh, I'm,
Speaker: Cautiously optimistic, but yeah, from the pictures, I feel like I'm really hoping, i think my grand hope for it is that I can make it a little nicer, obviously, without a without breaking the budget and provide a place for people that want to stay Tere Tomari for a night or two.
Speaker: check out the fish market, maybe catch the ferry, go to Teta's Omari, come back, and it's convenient. you know I mean, literally, you can walk to the ferry port like five, 10 minutes. so I'm bringing this back up.
Speaker: Where's the sauna going, bro? Is it going here? Is this the sauna house? I think that little shed in the back room within the back of the house is like a mudroom. So I might like just transform that into a sauna wing.
Speaker: to the home. Okay. right Especially if I have any sort of mild success with people wanting to rent it, I would definitely be inclined to then do the sauna on properties.
Speaker: Speaking of sauna, my mom found this mobile sauna thing here in my home Bay and they park it by the beach that we've been going swimming at cold plunging in the evening. So going to hit this sauna and then cold plunge in the, in the ocean later today.
Speaker: What did they charge for a sauna visit? Like $10 or something? No, I think it was maybe like $40 per person. Oh! Damn. All right. oh Signal from the world, Eric. Let's go. It's the sauna business. $40 for a sauna trip? I like that. i like That's music to my ears.
Speaker: Yeah, we have a couple. Minnesota, it's pretty big too, right? So there's people that run around with trailers and like post them up. and then That's exactly what this is. Yeah, yeah sauna sauna trailer. Yeah, I think they should put them at the ski resorts or like Miyoko or something like that. I think that would be a big hit. But the problem is you have all these onsens that people go to, I think. So maybe it's conflict.
Speaker: We might be looking into a mobile sauna setup, Eric, actually, with this guy we talked to yesterday. I'm not sure if it's... I think we can make it mobile. Joey, what do you think?
Speaker: ah sorry, you're talking about the tiny home? Make the tiny home mobile? Yeah, but we're getting a son on it. Can we make that mobile? Oh, yeah. It's a good question. I guess that. Do you want to?
Speaker: No, no, no. Just ideas here. with Are you mobile home gaming it now? These tiny homes? who uji It's like the tiny home situation where it's technically like a trailer home so that you don't pay property tax and you pay Shukken instead. it Is it all um remote living, like panel solar panel and LP gas type setup?
Speaker: No, the idea is you, you have the utilities on the plot of lands and then the mobile home just like hooks in kind of like a little arena. yeah I've always really wanted to do a project where it's completely like off grid, but you're not and like out in the middle of nowhere. So like you you could build a place in Miyoko, have solar panels on top of the plate the plot, have LP tanks that get refilled and, and you're, you're then you're set.
Speaker: Right. And you truly don't need any grid usage. So. Up until yesterday, we were thinking, like do we sell the Miyoko spot? But I think this is a teaser. I think we found the right person for this project.
Speaker: Awesome. yeah i I knew you would eventually. I didn't really want you to sell it because I was like, I really see a lot of success in it. What's even more funny is literally, so this was just yesterday that we're like, we found the right guy that we think can really build these homes. The, the literal day before that, mean, Taki run a call and we were like, all right, we're selling Miyoko, like no turning back. like joke is Like, you know me, I'm not a snow guy. I'm like, I don't want this. I'm not a snow guy. i don't like this cold. It's not cool.
Speaker: You know how I feel about cold weather places? What do you say? Like you don't. Yeah, it's not. It's kind of like being in Minnesota and hating the cold because it's like it's not usable cold. But that's the thing about Japan. is' such It's usable fluff, man.
Speaker: it's This is my snowboard era. I bought a season pass to Tahoe. I'm buying all the gear, ah hanging up the surfboard, put it on, take it down the snowboard, baby. have you purchased your equipment yet?
Speaker: No, I'm, I'm planning to just go hard, go in a sports basement, tell them want and just, uh, get sold, get outfitted. Yeah. Yeah. Just buy it for life. Get the good stuff. Find a dude with like dreads and 20 years on the slopes and be like, yeah fit me out. Clippins only or step it, step ins.
Speaker: Yeah. Step ons. I'm never doing the old straps anymore. No way. My, uh, yeah. Once I went step ons, everybody I like teach, I now, if like they buy equipment or I help them get equipment, I'm like, Hey, buy step-ons. Cause I don't have time to wait for you on the hill. Sorry. From Ted auto money. Where do you go to a snowboard or ski?
Speaker: For sure. Oh, okay. Akakuda. Akakuda. Yeah. g All those spots. How is Akakuda? Is it great? Good or great?
Speaker: i yeah I think it's 8 out of 10. In Japan, 8 out of 10. There's 9 and 10s in Japan, but I feel like the 9 and 10s are when you avoid other people.
Speaker: so like you know like I feel like to get to those 9 and 10s, for me, i haven't found I haven't had enough time to explore and find more of those kind of you say hidden treasures in the Miyoko area.
Speaker: I know there are probably some there, but I grew up in northern ah Japan, so I'm used to the really cool spots like Hakoda, which and is Hakoda Forest is really well known. Like there's even been known for like people dying in avalanches and stuff. So you're like, this is good stuff.
Speaker: That's yeah, that that's how i I know that area, but I don't know the Miyoko as well. What I would really like to hear from your, if you have any listeners that have done heli skiing in Japan, this guy, I will i i'm one of those action list items.
Speaker: And I, I know that there's like companies like heli and stuff like that put together those packages. I talked to Matt, Matt guy. I mean, he's big into like the secret back country spots. He might be the guy that knows this.
Speaker: Yeah, i'll let I'll let you guys ask Matt Guy if he knows a guy that, like, I want to go direct to the guy that flies the chopper. I don't want to go through an intermediary that, you know, sublets it out and, like, you get lodging and all that. I'm like, I don't i don't need all that. I just want to go right to the chopper, unload my car and,
Speaker: I'm not on choppers, bro. kobe bryant Kobe Bryant can get in a chopper accident. Anyone can. Sonny Bono can die on us on a hill. you going to avoid snowboarding? Kobe doesn't die on a hill.
Speaker: No way. Dude, I think it's a bucket list for sure. Like, you got to check it off. Once you get – I mean, you're just getting your gear, okay? So we'll let you get accustomed to it. What would be the equivalent in Surf World to heli-skiing? Would it be like – Like big wave surfing? Yeah. Big wave surfing. Toe into like a – Toe in.
Speaker: Huge wave, yeah. What is like the biggest wave that you guys have – hit. I don't like surfing huge waves. I feel like once you you have to get a separate gear once you start going home really like you need to start getting like the impact vests and because you just get held otherwise youre just knocked on like oh yeah and like the board needs to be a different shape.
Speaker: Didn't you just say you're like a Honolulu was so big that like last trip you did with the swell really big, but it's like nowhere compared to what you see from like Nazare or it's like some of these like, monster yeah, it's like, it's big from my perspective. Like the wave is double overhead, like twice your height kind of thing. It's already.
Speaker: The balls on those dudes is like, I'm like, man, give it up to them. That's incredible stuff. Just. Looking at how the wave towers over them. I don't like how Instagram, I'll be watching like surf content on Instagram. And then it keeps recommending these like toe in like massive NASA race.
Speaker: Like you'd held under for five minutes. I'm like, I don't want to watch this. Like I was watching some chill breathing training. yeah Yeah. The algorithm keeps going in that direction. I think whenever you watch surf stuff. So you guys limit it to like body sized width, like 10, 12 footers. Just fun, fun waves, fun, fun, chill waves. But i'm we do have a kite surfing training or center in Tere do Mari, like along the coast.
Speaker: And I do hope to, I think that is actually more. my speed. I'm hoping that I'd be better at it. Less swimming, less paddling or whatever, right? Nah, we're snowboarding this winter, Eric. We're coming out. Well, I mean and in the wintertime, yeah, snowboarding, but I mean, like, come summer, i'm I'm really hoping to take a lesson or two in kite surfing.
Speaker: Cool, man. anybody has any recommendations. Well, heck, you got your ah you got the crib, the kite surfing crib now all set up. So congrats, man. It's in tsunami zone. so How high is the tsunami zone?
Speaker: Three meters. Three meters? Okay. we' like I'm on the very edge. I'm on the like the very, very edge. We're looking at a property down in Shikoku that's, I think, in the 10 meter.
Speaker: Oh. And it's already elevated in the hill. So, yeah. Well, more to come. Joey and I are headed down to... We're not giving a up on Surf House. Yeah, thought it was like 16 meters. What? Yes. And it's on a hill. So, it's like, oh, 16 meters above the hill.
Speaker: That's crazy. that even possible? Like, I guess it is possible. I thought I was like... When you're at a port, like, you just kind of expect it. But... quick teaser we're calling it the non-kai surf house just because it's not like swim club non-kai swim club is it the one you sent me that before that you guys have been no i'll send it this is an off-market cool opportunity but we we really don't i think it might be like a jungle at this point so it might be too much effort for what it's worth but um
Speaker: The selling point is like it looks like it has a like 90% private beach. Like i don't think it's private beach, but there's like there's no one else around there. So it could be like a kind of cool private beach. Go swim in kind of.
Speaker: And it's so it's a Western kitchen. It has a Thanksgiving turkey oven. It's got everything West. yeah You got an oven? Western ovens. It's got American outlets in the wall so that, you know, with the three prongs. I'm not sure if long outlets. yeah It's got the three prong outlets. I've never seen it before.
Speaker: i Literally not on on not off base like on base. You see it This was someone from San Diego. I think like a Japanese American man. old man it sounds like he's passed away now, but I think he sent a shipping container over maybe sometime in the early 2000s when he first bought the place with like the American like these these are like real from America like cabinets and cabinets and yeah, yeah, so I think he just wired up the house as if it was ah an American house.
Speaker: question for you guys or maybe for the audience too you said it was not where is it located but like describe on the kochi south kochi where is shikoku so yeah that's the middle that's the middle island okay southernmost tip though okay shikoku yeah So look direct tsunami earthquake zone. What is the distance to get, what is the time to get there? like From Tokyo?
Speaker: You gotta fly. So we're we're experimenting this trip. So we're taking a ferry, because you know us, from Tokyo to Tokushima. That's like overnight. And then from there, it's probably like a three, four hour drive from Tokushima down there. But you can also go from the other way, a bepbu, but It's not convenient at all, but that's kind of what we're going for from like a surf retreat house. Can you, how many, how many rooms? How big is this place?
Speaker: Ooh, I don't know. It's pretty, it's a huge, huge lot. I thought it was five LDK. Yeah, five LDK. Like, destination wedding for small party? Like, could you pull it off? Definitely.
Speaker: All right. It's a nice house. I don't think you get private beach anywhere that's convenient to access, unfortunately. Right, right. but that's And that's the allure to it, right? It's like, it is private. It is in the middle of nowhere. You're not going to be disrupted.
Speaker: But it takes a little effort to get there, so. Our biggest qualification, water needs to be good and clean. So we are going to go swim, I think, at this spot and bring some surfboards and and see what the vibe is. Yeah. and That's my biggest.
Speaker: Onsen access in that area? I don't know if there's onsen access, but we could put a sauna, cold plunge. We could jump in the ocean. I think there's a lot of other things. Yeah. I think my biggest concern with like,
Speaker: oceanfront property in Japan is that these homes are built in the Showa era. I think they're just straight piping the sewage into the water there and I wouldn't be surprised if it's still like that. So this house is close to the water.
Speaker: Are all the other homes in the area, you know, is the water kind of a little bit contaminated would be my concern about swimming there, but we'll see. We'll find out. Is it a cove? Is there like a cove thing? Cove-ish. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Cool. I'm excited. We'll send you the website.
Speaker: It's pretty good. um But either way Eric, thanks for sharing your $69 home. I think we got to definitely follow the journey. What are you calling this house? Actually, you have a name for it?
Speaker: Didn't, i mean, it's been so, it's so fresh guys that I, you know I'm open to ideas. I think we've been focused on the Eric Domari so much that I haven't, I have a village at this point. So I'm like, Oh, name each home in my village yet.
Speaker: So. Okay. We'll come up with names. 69 Domari. I think the garage, you make it a garage, man. I think it's could be such a cool garage space.
Speaker: Drive in, have a deck, drink a beer. Like the the the drive-in lower level is all garage space and basically living space above that type of deal. think just high ceiling garage space, just unnecessarily high ceilings would be my vote. but You can do ridiculous things because it's $69.
Speaker: Pour concrete slab in it. Just red fit it with a lift to maybe. I don't know. There's a lot of lot of things you could do. Stop getting me excited for spending $50K on my $69 house. Let's do it.
Speaker: All right. Cool, man. Well, keep us posted. And thanks for taking the time to chat, Eric. Yeah. Talk to you guys soon.
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