Looking Out My Back Door

Posted on 02/21/2023 Last updated on 01/11/2024

So you have lived in Japan for a while and have been lucky enough to have met someone. You are getting tired of living in your micro-apartment with paper-thin walls. You talk with each other and decide to buy a house. If you’re going live in Japan for an extended period of time, and you are ready to move on from the life of a renting, it’s time to go big. Let’s go buy us a house!

Where to live (and who to talk to about it)

First thing you want to do is decide on which part of the town or city you want to live in. You think about the schools in your area, how convenient the location is and maybe how close to work you want to live. In my case, it was about being close to my wife’s family. We live a 5 minute walk from the train station, so that makes it easy to get back and forth to Okayama City. Then you need to decide on whether you want an older house or to build one from the foundation up. We decided we wanted a new house. A fresh start, after all.

The next step is to find a realtor. This is fairly easy: ask friends and do some research online. Realtors are always having an open house that you can go to and check out what the homes look like. The realtor we chose had several model homes behind their office, so we were able to choose pretty quickly.

Then you go into the office and talk about location, basic finances and a lot of small talk so you can get to know each other. If you decide to go ahead and buy the house, you’ll do some paperwork and pay a small fee to get the ball rolling. Now the real fun begins.

What you need (hint: it involves money)

Now you need to get all your personal paperwork ready like your passport, reisdence card, proof of residency, and if my memory serves me correctly, some paperwork from your company. I’m sure there was a lot more that my wife took care of. Next, you need land to build your house on. My wife’s family had land, so luckily we didn’t have to go through that process.

However most in this situation won’t have land available, so the realtor will take you to different lots in the area that you are interested in, and you can decide from there. Now that you have your ideal location with your ideal model home, it’s time to see about financing. This process seems to take forever, because there is so much paperwork to do.

Think of it this way: you’re laying the foundation of your new home!

The writing has to be perfect on this paperwork, no mistakes, otherwise you have to redo everything. Then it’s just a waiting game until they either approve or disapprove your loan. Unlike the United States, there is no credit rating in Japan, so your credit doesn’t mean a thing.

Congratulations, your loan has been approved. First thing before the building starts is that the realtor is going to check your land out. They are looking at the size of the plot, if it has a well and the location of the septic tank so they know how to build your house.

Right before construction begins you buy some gifts and meet the neighbors to explain that there will be construction going on for the next few months, and hope they understand. Some fancy, tasty treats always help to sweeten the deal.

How will it look?

The next big step is going to the realtor’s and discussing how you want the house to look. This includes colors of the floors, walls, types of doors, kind of lights. Everything you can think of you will decide the shape, style and color of. This seems to take days, but it’s just several hours of talking.

After that the foundation gets laid and a priest will come and have a blessing ceremony (an essential part of construction in Japan). Before you know it, construction will begin, and the house will be finished. Time to move in!

You now have your own home, an exciting and scary prospect at the same time. Everything is finished, you have furniture in every room, appliances in the kitchen, and a new sense of being. You can now do as you wish. Do all the things you could never do with an apartment. Plant flower gardens, decorate for the holidays, have friends over for a BBQ and smile as you look out your back door. It’s your house to make into your home.