The bank (or other money lending financial institution) wants to make sure that you're healthy and live until the end of your mortgage. If you passed away or became critically ill/disabled, you couldn't work and make mortgage payments. The result would be foreclosure. This would make everyone's lives more difficult at the bank. They're in [...]
Does Japanese real estate decrease in value? Well, it’s complicated. Some parts of Japanese real estate are likely to decrease in value, while others are likely to increase. Furthermore, the statement “Japanese real estate decreases in value” is a loaded one. It assumes that in other popular investment destinations, real estate doesn’t (or won’t in [...]
“Should I buy or rent in Japan?”. It’s a question on which even the Japanese themselves haven’t come to a clear consensus. 60% of Japanese own their own homes, and 40% rent. Among foreigners, 17% own. There are many pros and cons to both buying and renting, and that goes for both foreigners and Japanese [...]
Imagine, in your life in Japan, never paying rent again. Never being subject to the whims of a landlord. Having a home you can furnish and decorate, and a garden you can landscape and garden however you want. Perhaps even renting the place out when you aren’t there, and making passive income. This is the [...]
Japanese Residency/Citizenship Via Investment Several countries have residency/citizenship schemes for foreign investors. You invest a certain amount of money and get a residence visa or citizenship there. This usually requires hundreds of thousands of dollars for second-tier countries, or over a million dollars for first-tier countries. Did you know that you can become a resident [...]
Investors from all over the world invest in Japanese real estate for a myriad of reasons. The most common ones are its high cap rates and low risk. Average returns on investment (ROIs) include 5.5% (downtown Tokyo) and 7% or more in Niseko, Hokkaidō and elsewhere. Higher-return properties also exist (usually with higher risk, of [...]
Click here to Take Me Back To Part One to find out how the system works... Previously, we learned that by law, those who live and work in Japan must join government insurance schemes. Most employees get ”Social Insurance”, which includes Health Insurance and Pension. Social Insurance is a fixed percentage and comes [...]
By law in Japan every person must pay into the government health insurance and pension scheme unless exempted. These are arguably large financial obligations. They cost a typical worker hundreds of thousands of yen per year, and the premiums are increasing. During Fiscal Years 2013-2017, premiums for Social Insurance (including health care and pension) increased, [...]
Take Me Back To "Things To Avoid In Japanese Real Estate, Part I". A Floorplan That Is Odd or Unusual Not every home is rectangular. Some have “eccentric” designers who design them to look like a shuriken, a sausage, or an eyeball. Are the toilets, or is the kitchen, in a disconcerting place? Are [...]
Japanese real estate can be very lucrative. For example, take the current average return on investment (ROI) in the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo. Using this average ROI, for every $100,000 you invest, you’ll get $5,500 per year in passive income. This number goes up to $6,500 in the outlying areas of Tokyo. It soars [...]