Hi all!
My wife and I are moving to the US once she gets her green card. We want to buy a property in Japan before we leave that we can use when we come back to visit (we want to visit maybe twice a year for a few weeks each time). We are not asking about how to get a loan or buy the property itself, as we have an understanding of how all that works.
But we also want the property to make some money for us while we’re away. Here are some options I have thought about:
We could try the Airbnb route but we would need to get a license, we would need to arrange for someone to manage the property and arrange cleaners after each use, and we would have to buy a property in a desirable neighborhood with permission from the apartment complex governing authorities, among many other challenges like paying nonresident tax, etc. However it would allow us to use the property whenever we are back.
Another option is to buy a property and rent it out to long term tenants, but obviously this would not allow us to use it so easily when we come back to visit.
I guess a third option is to look at buying a place where a lot of students are looking for 3-6 month rentals and plan our trips back around when it’s vacant, but I don’t know what the market is like for those kinds of properties and what students renting habits are like.
Any other options besides these three? Or is there a clear front runner among these options?
Or should we just not do any of this and leave a box of clothes and things at a family member’s house for when we are back and rent an Airbnb or a hotel lol.
Thank you for your help and advice!
by TheJeweledShillelagh