buying real estate in JP as a foreigner

I have been looking in Hakuba and thought that I had a property,travelled there to inspect (from Australia)made an offer(first person to do so in 12 months) returned home thinking everything was pretty good (was willing to negotiate further) then told by agent that owner had a Japanese friend who was willing to offer much more ....no negotiations nothing...Needless to say I am a little jaded with Hakuba. So I have turned my attention to Shiga.I am looking for a 12 room plus lodge within walking distance to ski lifts....Can anyone help me ???

Thank you for all your information. I am wondering how did you make the payment for the 20% deposit and the settlement? Do they accept bank draft or internation transfer? I am also interested in buying an apartment as a holiday house in Kyoto so my wife and I can go to Japan more often with our children to enjoy the lifestyle ther. Where do you advice me to start? thank you for your help

I'm not Steve, but when I bought my place, they did not accept anything but yen; either cash or transfer of yen into their account. No transfer from my USA bank. I ended up transferring money from my USA account into a Japanese account, then transferring the money from the Japanese account to their account. It may be different for others though.

Thank you Don. What happen if I have not got a bank account in Japan? I don't think I am able to open an account in Japan as I do not live there. My wife is a Japanese citizen residing oversea, can she open an account even if she has not got a permanent address in Japan? thank you for your advice Don.

My wife is Japanese also and we lived in the USA before moving to Japan. All the time we were in the USA she kept some bank and post office accounts open in Japan. Maybe your wife already has some accounts in Japan you can use. Just a thought.

Thank you Don for your advice. We live oversea and I had just make contact via e-mail to a real estate agent in Tokyo who said in his e-mail that he will help me to find and buy one apartment in Kyoto. He is from Ichii Cooperation. I am not too sure how trust worthy are the agent in Japan? Obviously I will need to fly there to have a physical look at the apartment and sign the contract,but in your experience, do I need to engage a lawyer in Japan to help me with all the legal stuffs. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Real Estate agents in Japan are like anywhere else. There are good agents and there are bad ones. If I were you, I would look for an agent in the Kyoto area. Also, in Japan, there is a buyers fee as well as a sellers fee, so you will be paying the agent a buyers fee. It's about 3% of the sales price. We didn't need a lawyer for the process, but we were in Japan looking at a lot of places before deciding on the one we bought. I can't imagine buying a place with just the advice of one agent I just met on-line.

if you want to know more about japanese real estate market, i'd recommend this book
http://sheldonthinks.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2060236

I am really interested in buying a foreclosed property in Japan but do not live there an I am wondering if anyone knows what is necessary to be able to do that. It appears to be possible yet nobody seems to be able to tell me how! I speak and read Japanese so can scour the Japanese sites for information on the properties myself so it seems a waste to pay for an agent. Does anyone know of a way to bid without physically being in Japan or having any residency status?