Building a house in Tokyo, not impossible!
 

Hi there,
After a few years of research and thousands of hours negociating with real estate agents, banks, architects and builders, I will finally move in a few days in the house I built here in Tokyo. This experience was so full of up and downs that I fell I want to help anyone wishing, and willing, to build a house here in Japan, especially Tokyo! My friends even say I should write a book about it:rolleyes:

If any of you is currently thinking about jumping in the same crazy project, feel free to ask for any advices!

Post pics of the house or it didn't happen ;)

I wanna c too!

Pics or it didnt happen

Yeah, I want to see to.

Here are 4 pictures of the house at different stages !
:ywave:

Is it completed now? If it is I am curious about the final results. Can you take a picture?

and post pics of young hot scaffolders in jita tabi and chocho zubon

Thats awesome!! How small can you go!?

How small can you go ?
--> what do you mean ?

I will send pic of finished house next week, just need a few more days to finish paintings and garden, etc..

you meant how small is the house. ?
well it has 3 levels with 110 sqm in total.

I just finnished building our house. We built in Kimi no mori in Chiba. We own an condo in Odaiba. Weekdays in Tokyo, weekends in the house. I would never build in Tokyo. My wife has 100 tsubo in shinagawa but no way. Where in Tokyo did you build?

dude *snap* you are loaded. or you wife is at least.

Nope. I paied for everything. I make my own money. I dont need to marry for money. :cool: See profile. :vsign:

It amazes me that they still stick build houses in Japan. There is such a large manufactured housing industry that does a fantastic job. Don't get me wrong, stick built houses are still great I'm just surprised its still done in the land of efficiency.

That really is a decent size house for Tokyo. My Sister In Law lives in a "large" condo but I have hit my head on a ceiling beam twice. The place is simply tiny. Of course I live in Texas where my 1/4 acre lot is considered small :)


Post up pics of the house when its done.

The construction industry basically lobbied the easily "influenced" government into charging people outrageous taxes for moving into used homes.

In the US 1 out of 5 purchases is of a brand new home.

In Japan 1 out of 6 purchases is of a used home.

You`ve got it the wrong way around. They don`t charge outrageous taxes on used homes. They just have tax breaks for new homes. They charge the same taxes on all major purchases - but with a new home they give you a break and a tax credit. Same thing in the end, really, but it`s a bit different from putting extra taxes on a used house. You also have various government services (to help with the loan, etc) available if, and only if, it`s a new house.

We thought about building, and also considered used housing. But in the end we went with a large condo. Mainly for privacy. You actually have more privacy in a condo than a little house crunched up against others. And it`s actually big - unlike that of SgtBeavis`s sister-in-law. Unless, of course, he`s incredibly huge. Our ceilings are 2.8 meters, with the lowest beams at 2.5. The place itself is more than spacious enough for our little family - 106 square meters. Tons of closet space, an actual laundry room, a huge veranda - and the real kicker, a private 28 tsubo yard (not counting the parking space, etc..) All within 10 minutes of Nagoya station. Oh, and we can have pets too.

Sometimes houses seem kind of nice, but I`m glad we went this route. And we bought it in our early 20s, so the loan will be totally paid off long before retirement. Woohoo!

you may want to check that again. If i am not mistaking, you get tax breaks on wooden houses only. I have to check this for you.

This is mine. When I get back out to Chiba, I will snap some shots for you. Land is 370 tsubo and the house is 180 tsubo. Built on the #5 hole at Kimi No Mori CC.

ciao

big place! I see you have a fireplace on the skecth. where/howmuch/ do you get the wood? by cutting tree on your own land ?

Mine is in Shimokitazawa, near Shibuya. there is a little stove also, but need to find a place to buy"maki"/wood.

2 fireplaces. heheh I was thinking of going to the mountains and stealing wood. lol Freash cut wood always smells better. lol

I stand corrected! What is it you do? Import ferraris? I can see how that would be a gold mine in Japan.

I work in investment banking.

Wow the sketch looks awesome.

Thank you but the company did it. lol Not me.

@TokyoFerrari, wow! nice house O_O just give me more reason to work hard! :D can i ask you so stuff about banking & stuff?..

Thank you.

I dont see why not.

Why you post this thread ??? It's looks like very hard to build house in tokyo, It's so expensive or there is some reason ??

Are you interested in buying a house in Japan?

Hi there guys, any updates.
We are looking at building soon and would love to hear anyting you might think is helpful, or funny.
Know any good builders?
Did you go through an architect?
Did you import goods, oven so on?
Thanks
Colby

Don't hold your breath. These people haven't been on this site in years.