We built a new house (DIY) in Japan on family land, and about 3 months after completion the tax office came to assess the value. To my surprise they measured the perimeter of the house (not the area), the height of the interior walls (7m in our living room), and the length of the kitchen counter tops (we have a large kitchen with about 20 running meters of counters). I was getting nervous watching them but they were very kind, and asked if I wanted to pay tax on my DIY labor, or should they just tax the material value. It's our family home so I opted for the lower valuation, with no plans to ever sell. So they valued the house at 6.5 million yen (I spent 5 times that, but they weren't interested in receipts) and the annual tax bill was 80,000 yen ($700) that goes down every year for 30 years when it will be 0¥. In California, I paid $10,000 a year for as long as I owned the property. I sing and dance on my way to the tax office in JP, sayonara California.

Thanks for all this info, it is very helpful for those of us thinking of buying a house in Japan. Big difference to the US seems to be that the buyer pays the real estate agent commission in Japan and the much lower property tax than we pay.

I am trying to buy a house in Kyoto while still living in the US. ..its been a bit harder than I anticipated but your videos have been really helpful

I always believe that the property seeks for the owner and not otherwise. If its meant to be yours, all things will align to make the switch of ownership a breeze. 😄

just a big thank you for this video and putting all this on youtube!

I'm studying this. Best wishes in your new house 🙏

Mahalo . Good information! Looking forward to coming videos. Best of luck with renovations.

I hope you and family will enjoy this home in good health and good cheers. You did a lot for this project. I hope you will be guided and protected always. Love&Light

Great video, all of your content is super. Hope you get lots of views!!! Get that loan paid for!

really excited to see this video

Superb video!!!

One of your videos randomly came up on my feed yesterday. So I watched out of curiosity... now I'm obsessed with these kyomachiyo and am seriously considering buying one as a holiday home/rental.

you used to work for hachise! it all makes sense now :) very informative video as always, thanks Machiya-sama

Really interested in costs. Please share more! Thanks for the videos, very informative.

Nice to see more of the details, hope the wife doesn't find out you're sharing the information! Thank you for sharing, and good luck!

House purchasing process in Japan is not that different from US. Each area in the US is a little different so we are not identical to ourselves but fairly similar. Thank-you. This was very educational.

Property taxes are very low. Equivalent property where I live, which is low property tax by US standards is roughly 400,000 Yen/year. I'm watching this video running a Yen to USD webpage in the background so I can understand prices. That's fine. Happy to do it. Enjoying your story. I hope you find great satisfaction in your home.

❤Thank you very much for sharing. I own a vacant house too but in Nagano Ken. ❤ send my regards to your wife😇

Please explain in future video about what was involved in and the cost of renovations. The other issue I would expect with an old, wood construction structure in a hot, humid climate would be maintenance. Could you give us an update on what maintenance has been like? How much it has cost?

The overall process seems fairly straight forward there. In the US, many cities have similar assistance plans to help people buy older homes - especially those which have been abandoned and fallen into a city managed programs. For example, St. Louis has a LRA (Land Reutilization Authority) which auctions off properties but also negotiates direct purchases. I think most of the taxes you listed for your Machiya are mostly symbolic and only there to sustain a working group in theory (ie proof that a city PR campaign or city plan is working to bring in buyers), it's not as if such small amounts could sustain a working budget or that anyone is becoming wealthy off of one-time $200 charges. The big tax hit will most likely come at the time of sale, which I am guessing is why the purchase price was near US $160,000 (which is kind of crazy through the eyes of an American but perfectly fine to a Brazilian who views such investments from the opposite end of the spectrum due to how income and sales taxes function there). Looking forward to the next installment that covers renovation costs as that will hopefully clear up what Kyoto pricing is like and give others a heads up about how realistic it is to attempt what you are doing. If you can come in at US $300,000 total and have a property that then rents for $1,500/mo that would leave $250/mo over a 20 year pay-back ($1,250 x 240 months = $300,000). Personally, I wouldn't be interested much below $2,000/mo rent ($1,666 pay-back over 15 years) because, ummm, crazy unforeseen things happen and within 5 years I'd want to be able to leverage any capital in it toward another renovation (or offload it to a rental agency for US $100,000 cash - hopefully with the $20,000 I'd then skimmed from rent for emergencies :P). 15 years / 180 months is a good measure to work within, in my opinion, 10 is too short and 20 is too long.

Thanks for sharing! Could you put some links of old machiya/akiya Fudosan in Kyoto please?

Very good video, loving your content. Found you when you first started your channel but forgot to subscribe. Subscribed now, look forward to looking at your renovation journey. I am renovating my second property outside of Washington DC area, lots of work! I plan on renting out for extra money.

Very informative

Very useful

Juridical scrivener would probably be County Clerk or more probably the Country Recorder of Deeds. We are very excited to see your progress on the machiya!

Thanks for sharing the detail info. The one time property acquisition tax is very similar to the welcome tax in Quebec, Canada, but the tax rate will be depended on the property value (in today average house market price over here, it will be around 2% which it's 1% lower than in Japan). We also have the yearly property & school taxes together which it's around 1% of the property value. I think the property tax in Japan is low, based on the draft calculation, it's around 0.15% of the property value (16 million Yen). The only thing we don't have is the fire & earthquake insurance, or I should say it's not mandatory to have, but it's possible to have (mainly for the fire one, because our houses are mainly built by woods too, excluded the basement).

I would find fascinating what sort of renovations were done and what they cost in time and money.

I love okayama and kyoto.

Good info to share... rite now i have plan to buy house in japan. May i know it is possible to settle all procedures in a month? And for the foreigner what documents and details that needed to buy house? Thanks in advance

Hi, may I ask how taxes are paid? Is there a gyro system that we can set up with the bank for deduction to the authorities? Or do people physically pay up at the municipality office or a post office payment service? Or could you send a cheque through mail? How would a foreigner without the benefit of a bank account in Japan pay taxes for the house he bought?

Hello @Good Old Houses Japan. Could you let me know a few websites where we can mind AKiya around Japan? I already checked the "Sumai" one. Maybe there are some others? Thanks in advance and thanks for the very interesting and informative videos.

do they sale house to foreigners .

We are debating now about purchasing a renovated Machiya in Kyoto. We have heard varying things about the annual tax. Yours seems to be extremely reasonable but one agent told us it is 1.4% + .3% in total which could make the annual payments to the state and city very high. Do you have any insight into the calculation between the sale value of a property and its ‘assessed’ value? For example, if a property is 40m JPY how can we estimate the approximate assessed value?

How much of the paperwork is on the buyer to complete or does the agent step in to make sure nothing is done in error given an explanation to the buyer? Also would one be able to buy a property to have mixed use for a business to operate out of, using a business loan?

35 years of housing loan debt. Now that really does feel like a lot. I guess it’s necessary for many people, and I guess it makes sense to paid off little by little if you are planning to perhaps rent it out or actually even live in it. It’s just the idea of actually having to do it for that amount of time, when you know that’s money being taken away from you in order to pay it off and you need to do so, just feels like a lot of weight on the mind. still makes me question in the long term whether I’ll ever actually own a house or whether I’ll just rent for as long as possible trying to save money, even as house rent prices continue to go up. I must say though, living in Japan, even if it means renting would be an absolute dream come true. At least for about a decade of my life anyway and see where it goes. I’ll probably end up doing so when I can do long distance work or when I’m in my 30s.

Hi I have a question. Assuming I am a tourist without a visa. If I have all the money in my pocket to buy a house. (No need for bank loans). It is possible to buy a house. And to be able to live there until I return to my country. (Sorry if the question is not easily understood). Then the house will remain mine even if I am in my native country. And it is possible that the house is still mine but to leave a Japanese friend living or taking care of my property. ?

Hello dear, May I ask, did I hear you say that you have to pay 7,700,00 for the land? Is that 7 .7million? Did you have to pay that amount first in one lump sum or did you get a loan or mortgage and then slowly pay back monthly? I am really interested and I am here in Sapporo…could you tell me more?

I have a dream of living in Japan where my parents used to grow up and live. Fortunately I got U.S. pension a little more than $3k a month, I am not a city buff but also not a hillbilly. I want to choose somewhere not too cold. Where would you recommened?

It’s amazing they are still trying to sell abandoned homes for this much money.

What’s the value for the land?

The Hachise properties are very grand and well renovated. I wonder who can afford 1 million up to 4 million USD to buy such a property....

What was the total in the end?

Would you have the option to tear the house down and rebuild in concrete and steel particularly if you were willing to maintain exterior appearances?

I guess for a foreigner you have to be residing in the country to be able to buy a property? or can you just go, do all you need to do and go back to your country?

Hello, What web site is that exactly please? Thank you

Sorry if I missed it but what was the total cost?

Hey, no answer? Okini domo. 😅

Thank you Japanese Adam Driver.

All of these taxes.... Just seem like oppression to me 😂

How does a American buy a house a akiya in japan ? I want to move there so bad I want to live in the rural part of Japan so bad. I wish somebody would do a step-by-step guide. I know I’m not having a midlife crisis just because I’m 42 and single. I have always wished to live in Japan and have like a little Homestead.

Can I add you on socials? just in case I need someone to assist me buying a good price range house:)