Transcript
Speaker: Hey all, we're starting a new series. We recently started helping people buy Akias. We're calling our purchasing process AkiaMart Direct. Find out more on akia -mart .com slash howtobuy. We'll also link it in the show notes. We've also received a lot of feedback that people want to hear more testimonials. So here we go. Welcome to the AkiaMart Direct Buyers Club series.
Speaker: Welcome to the buying a house in Japan podcast. Today we have a special episode. We are recording live in Tama base camp. Joey, who do we have today? We have a special guest, special episodes, special guests. We have Catherine with us. Catherine is our, the first customer to successfully make it through our Acumart direct purchasing process.
Speaker: We've also got a second special guest, Yoshi Chitani, returning special guest, Chi Chitani, our, one of the greatest real estate agents this world has ever seen. He helped us buy our Tama house that we're sitting in right now, and he also helped Catherine. Yep. So thank you guys for being here. Let's do a quick come by with our, we got like some quarantine here or what is this? Quarantine. He get ya. He get ya. How are you doing Catherine? Yoshi? Doing great. Thank you. Thank you for having me here.
Speaker: How are you feeling, Catherine? Very happy. And I've been dreaming of this moment to walk in the door and finally see it in person. was yeah Today was the first day you saw it? In person, yes. And it's really as I expected. So you flew in yesterday, Taki and I flew in as well. yeah So you landed in Japan yesterday and then today was the first day you saw it. Congratulations. Thank you so much.
Speaker: Yep. Katherine, let's learn a little bit more about you. Where are you from? You gave us these sweet hats. We'll talk about them in a second, but can you tell us a little bit about yourself, Katherine? Hi, I'm Katherine. I'm from Las Vegas and I've been living there since 2004 straight from the Philippines. Cool. We're in the Philippines. Quezon City, Manila, and I've been working in Vegas as a nurse initially and now I'm a nurse practitioner.
Speaker: Awesome. When did we talk to you? Let me see, you like a couple months ago. So we started this process back in, do you know when Catherine? I think late last week of July. And then I got to talk to Yoshi in August, I believe. Yeah, we talked to you in July 18th. So it took about.
Speaker: three months, a little two and a half months to get you keys. But I'm glad it happened. I know there was some ups and downs and we'll talk about them in a little bit here. But Catherine, I guess first question, why Japan? Why Tama? What made you do all this? It first started on my first time in Japan last year in October for my birthday. And I went to San Rio, poor land, and I just fell in love with the place, the surroundings, all the trees and the people that I met. I don't know them, but I just smiled at them and everyone's so friendly, yeah even though I don't speak. A smile is universal, I think. So yeah, and that's what started my love for Tama, Japan, and all the people here.
Speaker: When was the your first introduction to Hello Kitty change? Oh no, I will be in my age. When I was like in grade school, okay I didn't even know yeah i've loved Hello Kitty since I was a little girl. And I only had one stationery at the time because it was expensive to buy these unreal stuff. And then I've never lost the love for Hello Kitty. And then when I finally came to her house, which is for land and that's what made me want to get a place here to be closer to her and to be in this great country and city.
Speaker: What a coincidence. I remember in our first conversation, you're like, you said, Tama, you're interested in Tama. Me and Joey were like, we had just bought this place, I think. And we're like, what? And Yoshi who'd helped us. And we're like, why Tama? And she talked to us a little bit about Poodleland. And we're like, let's Poodleland. We went down this whole route and we're like, we're so close to Poodleland too. So we're actually going to Poodleland after this. Yes. Yoshi, thoughts on, thoughts on the condo. How's the buying process?
Speaker: Actually, she works very hard. Yeah. Everything goes smooth. gosus yeah two and Two and a half months. Catherine and Yoshi, can you tell us a little bit more about the condo or but but how much do you buy for? How big is it or any details that you, that stand out to you? The reason why it took this longer because the first one I saw that I liked was already in the process or under contract, so I didn't get that. and I was like getting discouraged because I couldn't find an exact place in the same location, so I told Yoshi that I'm getting discouraged. He said that, no, there's something out there. and
Speaker: I trusted him in the process, so I just waited. I didn't rush. There were some places I liked, and I asked him if it's okay, but he advised me against some that are not probably wise for me to buy. When Yoshi came with this condo, and I found out it has the three criteria I wanted near poor land, near a train station, and Cottagawa River, I said that. You nailed it. Yeah. Yoshi nailed it. You got a view of the river, yeah. Yeah. So I said, okay. Check and check Yoshi. Nice work. Oh, I'll let Yoshi talk. Yeah, Yoshi. Tell us about the place a little bit more. Sure. In that area, like this, not many like one room or properties available. And even if you pay 10 or 15 million yen, maybe you can find the place but like
Speaker: It was like five million yen. And I think, yeah. what were some of reki well yeah nice What were some of the concerns you saw with the other condos that Catherine had been looking at?
Speaker: It wasn't. Or Katherine, you mentioned that Yoshi had some concerns about a few of them and you decided against it and then eventually found the one that you purchased. I was looking at this condo that was built in the seventies and I was like willing to forego the fact that it didn't have an elevator because it had a bigger floor area. But then Yoshi had an advice to me that I shouldn't and I let him explain why.
Speaker: Yeah. So actually there, yeah, elevator is very important. If it's like fourth floor, fifth floor, it's hard to get yeah every time but when you go back to the house. And so also there, maybe if you, if it's like old house, old building, there might be more options, but eventually it was built in 90, yeah, 1992.
Speaker: two Oh, this condo. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Just I focused on the, those concerns and look for the property. Okay. I like the color of your building. Is it like a bright, is a bright yellow or orange gold? gold It looks good. It was like kind of sunset. Like the the sun was on it like the sun was shimmering on the river and we were walking across. its squidy You got McDonald's right there. I was like,
Speaker: So location wise, how far away, you walked to the the place today, how far away from the train station? um It was exactly, I timed myself around nine minutes from Odaku Nagayama station. So nine minutes, easy walking, not very uphill. yeah um And there's always a breeze, which is what I like about Thomas City. yeah And then how far from Pudaland?
Speaker: I think by train, it's only one train ride, like maybe five minutes from a dock in Nagayama, going to Kyo Tama center. Yeah. And then by walking, maybe 20 minutes. Okay. And then from the river right there. you Wow. The river is hard. I wish we could maybe put a picture on the cover or something. It's really beautiful. Especially in the springtime when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Yeah. how So what's that river called again?
Speaker: Kota gawa. Kota gawa. Yeah. Joey, you said some fact about it. What were you saying before? I just made up the fact. We were filming video outside and Joey was like saying all the stuff about it. We were testing out the camera and I just was making stuff up. Yeah.
Speaker: The process seemed pretty smooth. Again, you're one of our first people. We helped through the process, Catherine. So thank you for trusting us and trusting Yoshi. We learned in the process and I know there were some up ups and downs. It started off smooth and I tell us a little bit about the buying process. you you The first condo you wanted didn't work out. You stayed patient, but how was the rest of the process? I know the money transmitting side. We can talk about that, but for anyone listening, what was the process like for you? So the process is, thank you for answering my question because I asked somebody else and they didn't reply. So I said, okay, I guess this is not for me. But then I saw your website, KMR. And then I inquired about that particular condo, which was under contract initially, the first one I liked. And then I think it was you or Joey who replied to me. And then from then on, we, I set up the first appointment with Yoshi. And then Yoshi and me kind of got along on the first meeting. It's like I said, I could trust this person and he's very knowledgeable on what um I should look out for. From the first meeting, he gave me advice. This is how much and how much you're going to pay for electricity, maintenance, and future rent. So he gave me all those information on the first meeting.
Speaker: and Yoshi, how long have you been doing real estate for? He's a wealth of real estate knowledge. Eight, nine years. He's got eight, nine years with foreigners. I'm curious. Just for the first four years, I worked for the share house company. Okay. So eight, nine years of real estate knowledge. You trusted that. You felt that when you chatted with him. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. We feel the same. She got us the house we're sitting in today, the furniture we have. Yoshi hand brought it up from the garage for us. Thank you, Yoshi.
Speaker: So once you found the place, what was the process or did Yoshi find the place for you or how did that work? Yes, Yoshi found the place because the first one I like, like I said, was under contract and then i so he found me a place with my conditions and within the price range that I want because I don't want to be overpriced on.
Speaker: I don't want to be over budget. The next thing is we had a Zoom meeting for the showing and I liked it right away because the river was just there. Everything I wanted was there. It's close to the train station. Actually, Yoshi just walked a few steps from the condo to show me there's the station.
Speaker: gotcha And I said, wow, okay. That's a two point. And then when I saw the inside, it was in great condition. yeah So just a minor, like minor issue with the AC, but that's okay. Did they fix it? It looked fine. Like so that little gap. It's just, yeah, it's just the building owner or the management won't allow us to drill, but that's okay. Everything else is good. Yeah. it's ah it's a I would say it's a perfect spot if you're going to put on like often, right? Yes. So after the video tour, you said, yes, let's go for it. I guess maybe this question for both you guys, what happened next? Yoshi, I think you put in maybe an offer in or? Yes, there we put an offer and yeah just we made a contract in down payment. Okay. and yeah
Speaker: Let's talk about the payments. I know that. That was a pain point. there was a there That we acknowledged it was a pain point. Catherine, tell us a little bit. We recommended you use OFX and a lot of things happened. Oh, I forgot about OFX. Tell us the story. So initially I took your advice and signed up for OFX, but then they had this requirement every time I even just sending like 500 yen, they would ask me to verify is this for what and it's I'm trafficking money, but I think it's a precautionary thing with them. But I got turned off. So I signed up for Weiss. So Weiss was easy initially signing up and sending the first 1000 yen. ye So that was good. What I didn't know was they had a limit on daily transfers in terms of
Speaker: usd So per day you could only transfer 10 ,000 USD. And then on my last transmission, they wouldn't let me. I don't know for what reason, but they said that I should go to the bank and do a wire transfer, which is for only 6 ,000 USD. So I don't know what's up with Weiss regarding that, but that was like photo or finish because I was like due to close in two days or three.
Speaker: so I remember we had an urgent email thread. I was like, Oh no. I saw the bunch of thread. I'm like, Oh no. And it was funny because I thought I was calling you and it turns out Yoshi was on the phone. I said, Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it was a group message. And then I made a call. I didn't know it went to him. The phone just went off in the middle of the night.
Speaker: So that was a crisis at the time it got fixed. got it You guys helped me through it and Yoshi as well. And for that I'm thankful. Absolutely. And with thank you, Yoshi. out yeah You don't need to pick up our calls at 2 a .m. if we call you. Just anyone listening, no, Yoshi's dedicated and might pick up a 2 a .m. call and and help figure it out. Yeah, he could sense the panic in my voice. Oh, no. Hello, kitty. The guard leaving right here. Am I going to lose the place? Yoshi, what would happen um if a payment is delayed?
Speaker: Because I know like in Japan, it needs to happen on a specific day, usually. What would happen if a payment was late? First, we have to talk to the setter site and just extend on the Sunday. And also, now usually when we make a contract, that we set the settlement date. And if the payment is like today from the settlement date, that we have to make an additional agreement.
Speaker: It's a bit complicated. Yeah. It's not good. I'm like usually the Cera site will be like upset. the opposites Is there a chance you the buyer lose can't lose the house? The Cera cannot cancer because of this. Okay. as long as the seller is trying to how can i say make a payment. Because they're already contractually saying, hey, I'm going to buy this, and there's a delay. that So the seller at what point can the seller be canceled if you delay like by a week or something? or Yeah, I think it depends, but maybe one month more than that.
Speaker: Got it. Going back to the wise OFX thing, Catherine had mentioned, we recommend most people do OFX for the larger transfers because I think there's no dollar amount. Maybe it's like we transferred a hundred thousand at one time and I think it was fine, right? And and in fact, the fee you pay with OFX goes down the more you transfer as well. Yeah, but Catherine is right. They have very strict like anti -money laundering deals. And so especially I think for the first couple of transactions, we recommend I think moving forward we're going to recommend people do it earlier and just make sure they get a couple things in or a couple tries in before they send the final payment. yes But we also recommend WISE now too. So I think WISE works for the smaller payments under $10 ,000 in Catherine's situation. obviously was ah
Speaker: kind like Time crunched, and so you can still use Wyze, I think, but maybe we just have to put the payment earlier. earlier so I thought I was going to be able to make the payment in one lump sum. I didn't know I had to make installments of $10 ,000 USD per transaction per day.
Speaker: So we we definitely learned with you there. So thank you for being in that that first run. Gosh, no detail indeed. I think Y is also by countries a little bit different. I think we have someone in Belgium that transferred like 30K at once. So I think it's, I don't know, Y's changes all the time. So if you're listening to this and you're transferring money, and just know in the US at least it was 10K. And then OFX just know there's some hoops and hurdles. They want to make sure um Japan's very strict about anti -money laundering deals, right?
Speaker: Yeah, OFX also asks for a ton more information about the recipient as well. So it's Mendoza to enter in all the details of the recipient and that kind of stuff. And Wise does not ask for very much, it asks for like their email address. Yeah, OFX, higher hurdle, but I think once you're using it, I don't know, we haven't had too many issues, but yeah, I agree. Higher hurdle and a lot more checks.
Speaker: Yeah, the first couple of times we had a couple of issues, I think, too. and And we were like a little stressed, I think. And they took some money from. And slow. little Yeah. So there's no perfect solution, unfortunately. You can pay with cash, which actually one of our clients also brought like a briefcase of cash.
Speaker: so No perfect solution, but some combination of Y's and OFX is what we've learned from this. Catherine, just for anyone listening here, do you have any advice for going through this process? that I know it feels a little scary at times probably, but yeah, any advice to anyone who's thinking about buying a nakia or buying a property in Japan?
Speaker: and say go for it because I remember what your first words to me were. It's a leap of faith. Oh yeah, definitely. Okay. There we go. And I did take a leap of faith and I said, I'm going to trust this process, trust Yoshi, trust you guys, because I didn't know you.
Speaker: like But I just found out your website. It's really great. I would advise anyone out there looking for a kiosk to go on KMR because that's the most user friendly website. And that's how I started the process by signing up for your subscription. And that's how I found the condo and everything else took place after I got your first email back.
Speaker: Awesome. with my question Thank you for taking that leap of faith with us. It was definitely a journey for us too. I think we've learned a lot and we just put out the condo. We're still working on the condos. We don't have all of them. I think we had just put that feature on maybe I'd seen it. So it was a new feature at the time. So I'm glad most people we talked to are looking for Acia houses. But I think in your situation, I'm curious yeah why the condo instead of an Acia?
Speaker: First of all, it's within my price range. And second of all, I have more options in terms of the location I like in Thomas City. And if it's a condo, because I know the houses there are expensive, yeah very expensive. And Yoshi found me the perfect place. so That's true. tom you're So you're still in Tokyo. You're a nine minute walk from this train station you're next to McDonald's, a river, a ramen place, a cake place. We're so excited for you. yes Mega book off, doesn't it? I went there. It's impressive. really yeah Oh, and I forgot there's a hospital walking this way. You got a little bit of everything. yes all right After this, we are headed to Poodleland. What are we going to do first? We're going in in and straight for a ride, a cake, rebind some gear. Desserts. Desserts.
Speaker: Catherine's wearing like literally a Hello Kitty shirt, Hello Kitty earrings right here. We're excited. You're going to need to show us around. Yes. Show us the ropes. Show us the ropes. Again, it's such a privilege. Thank you for being here. Thank you for trusting us on this first one. We're excited to go to Poodleland right after this. Thank you for having me. Thank you everybody for your help. Let's go.
