Owning a home(Vacation) without citizenship

[rpk2012]

I am doing some research, and have searched the forum with no luck.

My wife and I are both in love with Japan. If we could live in Japan, we would do so asap, but with realities of the world today, it is better (right now) to stay rooted where we are. With a 19 month old kiddo, and a long life ahead of us, we are not ready to uproot and move halfway across the world. As an option we have, we are looking to purchase a small vacation home that would work as a retirement home in the future.

I guess my questions would be as follows.
1-What are the legalities of owning a home in Japan as a non-citizen?
-Foreigners are able to purchase properties.
2-Is there a special stay visa for those with a home in Japan in this situation?
-No known for a vacation home.
3-With a home in Japan, is there a way to obtain a cell phone without citizenship while staying here?
4-What would be needed, if feasible, to setup any utilities / local services?
5-Tax information, non-citizen?
-Same as Japanese citizen, fairly low cost based upon area.
6-Is there a way in the future to use this as an "in" when we retire to become more permanent?

As I gather information on my own, I will add to the thread for others who are in the same situation. Thanks for any responses and insight on this issue, and if I am overlooking anything previously stated I am sorry and would you mind pointing me in this direction?

~Ryan

[GoNative]

No problems buying a place in Japan if you're a foreigner but it won't help you with getting any sort of visa. Up where I am over a 1000 foreigners have bought apartments and houses at and near the ski resort I work at. I've bought a house myself and had an investment property which I've since sold. You pay the same land taxes as any Japanese person would and they are pretty cheap generally.
In terms of getting a visa though as I said it doesn't make any difference. If you had a business running out of the property you could look at getting an investors visa but that doesn't really sound like what you're after.
I'd add that if you're looking in a scenic rural area prices are generally really, really cheap for houses but to be honest on the whole I don't find the quality of most Japanese houses I've been in to be all that great. Building a new home though is not all that cheap especially if you are looking for some of the things you'd expect in a more western style house (like decent sized kitchens and bathrooms and open plan living).

[rpk2012]

Originally Posted by GoNative

No problems buying a place in Japan if you're a foreigner but it won't help you with getting any sort of visa.

Thank you for the information. The visa question was just out of curiousity as I am sure others would of liked to know as well. As for building a new home, that sounds like a good idea, but not to build grand kitchens, or large living spaces. If quality of the older homes is an issue, a newer build might be more suitable for a retirement/vacation home. We would build to be a traditional Japanese home as this is another reason we wish to buy in Japan.

Anyone else with some ideas?

[GoNative]

Well what part of Japan are you looking to buy into? This could make a big difference to the style of house that would be appropriate.
What is your idea of a traditional Japanese home?

[steven]

I've done a bit of research on this kind of thing. I think the term "traditional Japanese house" may vary depending on the region (and the time period of "traditional"). I have friends who have houses with parts that are 150-200 years old (with obvious repairs/remodels of course). There are also "traditional houses" in this area that are 200 or so years old that are quite unique from other "traditional houses" in other areas.

If you mean "traditional style house" in the modern sense, then you're looking at kind of a compact house that is 2 stories. This means one bathroom/shower area for a family. It also means that you'll have kind of a small living area and a numerous small rooms (as opposed to a few big ones). This could have something to do with heating/cooling as well as a couple to a few generations living in one building.

To build a decently sized house of medium quality, I'd say it would cost $300,000-500,000 or so. That will generally get you a nice "western style" house (you could still get a "japanese style room" in there though). To get a "Traditional-modern" style house (they call it "wa-modern/和モダン" I think) you'd be looking at 600,000-800,000. Then you have to add in the land, taxes, and the loan.

I've heard that taxes are much cheaper on used houses. A used house could be quite a few things though. For example, you could get a used house that was built 5 years ago or you could get a used house that is pushing 50-100 years old. Those "fixer-upper" like houses go for real cheap but I can't imagine all the variables that would determine the final price. Houses that are 5 or so years old might have quality issues though. Keep in mind that "traditional style houses" in the "old" sense of the word implies a lot of things. It's usually a house that has been passed down generation after generation. It's built on the family land and may or may not have been re-built or added on to a few times.

It is my opinion that the structures of Japanese houses are great, but the interior varies drastically. The "model house" you've gone to or seen in the ad was great looking, but when you go to someone who actually built a house with that particular company you might notice plastic counter tops or rubber baseboards and too much flimsy plastic everywhere. A company might have a cheap baseprice, but they charge a ton of money for sprinkles and nuts, if you get what I mean. All this stuff is in the fine print, of course. Some home-building companies are slyer than others, so be careful.

[GoNative]

Agree with all of that steven. The house we bought was definitely a fixer upper and we spent about double what we bought it for on renovations. Up here in Hokkaido there are very few what I would consider 'traditional Japanese homes' as Hokkaido has only been settled by the Japanese a little over 200 years and probably due to the brutal winter there's not that many old style homes around. Plus on the whole, at least in my experience here, the Japanese aren't big on buying older homes and renovating. Generally they'll buy an old place, level it and build a new one. Old houses are often valued at land value only as it is expected new owners will knock down the existing house. In our case they actually reduced the sale price to take into account the costs of removing the old house.
I agree structurally a lot of the houses are very well built, carpentry here is of a really high standard but I also agree that the interiors can vary greatly. Up here it's not unusual to have most of the pipes for plumbing fully exposed on the interior in the kitchen and bathroom. I find that simply crazy and hideous.
And rpk I wasn't suggesting that you'd want a massive kitchen or bathroom but I really don't think you realise just how small the average Japanese kitchen and bathroom can be. The bathroom in our house before the renovations was minature. We actually turned that room into the laundry, it's barely even big enough for that! Also be aware that most Japanese houses do not have an oven in their kitchen. Personally I love roasting and baking and having friends around for dinner so living without a good sized oven just wasn't an option. We got a good deal on an stianless steel commercial overn/cooktop that is awesome.
As steven points out most Japanese houses, even if reasonably large, break up the interior into lots of very small rooms. In our house the downstairs area had 3 separate rooms aside from the kitchen/bathroom area. All too small to be of much use for anything. So we took out two of the walls opening up the area into a more usable living/dining area.
And as steven points out if you're looking to build a new home using traditional materials and methods it get really costly!