Real estate investment

Hi there

I am not really sure about where I should post this topic, but I have thought several times about investing some money in real estate. Maybe an apartment for renting it.

Actually I contacted in the past some RE Agents in Japan, but I am afraid they are just doing their jobs and they want me to buy - of course, they are plain sellers.

What would you think about buying a property and renting it as a foreigner?

Regards

I don't think real estate is a good business for an individual in Japan now.

The value of the houses/homes drops very fast right after the property is bought. Also there is oversupply of apartments for rent as population continues to decrease. It would be very difficult to squeeze in because the already established renting companies are quite protective of their area.

The passion of Spanish people for real estate market will never cease to amaze me. I am from France and I have seen what Spain has done with all the real estate speculation, the country had gone crazy. The crisis that is going on in Spain is really a crazy situation.

Retrospectively, I thought Spanish people would learn something about this but after watching many TV reports about Spain and reading many stories about Spaniards wanting to invest in real estate I guess we should all just sit and wait for the explosion of the next real estate bubble.

Anyway, you should just forget the Japanese market, things are different here. The building or the house you buy today will NOT be more expensive tomorrow like it usually happens in France or in Spain, it always goes down. Japanese are obsessed about brand new things; they build and destroy homes and buildings very quickly not like in Europe.

They are talking about a possible real estate bubble if Tokyo gets the Olympics but Japanese should remember the '80 bubble and how it ended up.

Seriously, I hope they will not get the Olympics that would help to calm down all the speculators.

thanks you guys for the replies.

In response to Marco, let me say that is no all about invest and speculate. It's about buying and renting.

But I'll take into account your advices, seems to be a bad moment worlwide to spend some money in real estate.

Hi Javi
I've looked into RE investments internationally and looked (albeit briefly) at Japan and there are definitely opportunities there (not the best that you can find around the world though). If you are going to rely on capital growth then your opportunities will be VERY limited. However, if you want a place to rent out most of the year but available for you to use a few weeks or so a year then I would look at suburbs on the fringes of larger cities or even places where there is a year round flow of people. Cost will be less but because the distance to major centres is not far then you will still be able to attract short term renters. Just keep in mind, managing it from another country also has its pitfalls...

Sorry javi, I did not really read enough seriously your message.

It seems you want to buy to rent not to keep it empty waiting for price to go up. That is different. OK, I see now. What you need to know is that prices are very crazy in some area of Tokyo but quite affordable in suburbs.
First you need to seriously look for which town to invest in: Tokyo, Tokyo suburbs or other regions of Japan.
Second, I never found someone who rent directly its apartment here, people almost always use real estate agents. You cannot really avoid them. Not like in Europe where there is a lot of free papers with apartment to rent and tenant phone number.
Third, prices are quite high in Japan; I thought about Okinawa when I will get old but even there prices are quite high. Of course there are a lot of places with very low prices but it will be difficult to find someone who wants to rent your apartment.
I think nice places to invest in are those near US bases, there are never enough houses inside US bases and some of soldiers always want to live off base. Hope it helps

PS: Very sorry for Santiago de Compostela tragedy.

Hi,
I am Japanese having couple of small condos in Yokohama for investment purpose. I am not sure where you live and which kind of investment you are thinking but here is my few cents. Hope you may interest.

1. Tax: Property tax in Japan is in between 0.5 to 1 % of market price of property, I would say. Comparing to US, it seems good advantage. You may need to think about HOA fee (10K yen - 20k yen almost) for Condo. In terms of income tax, I think you need to do tax return for Japanese tax agency whether you live in Japan or outside.

2. Type of investment: If you are thinking short term investment, only possibility is a house flip. This means not a buy and hold type investment.

3. Realtor is important for long term investment: Realtor is working as property manager as well in Japan (5% of rent usually). So the relation with realtor is quite important for success in Japan if you are thinking about renting your house. While I am living in US now, so far no problem since my realtor is working as interface between owner and renter quite well.