My partner owns a 50sqm 1LDK 5th floor apartment in a good location in Osaka. The building is a bit old (built in 1986) but it’s well-maintained, and the apartment itself is also quite nice, save for some older kitchen cabinets and lack of good natural lighting. The apartment has new floors, new shower door, new gas stove, etc.
My partner chose a small, local realtor to manage the apartment because the realtor is located near the apartment and his fees are low. However, it’s been almost 6 months and nothing has happened. The apartment is still empty, and the realtor doesn’t seem to be doing his job well. He’s often unresponsive, and it took him a couple months to even post the apartment on Suumo! (The apartment is supposedly reasonably priced, and we even lowered the price recently.)
I think switching to a bigger real estate company would be better, but my partner is hesitant because 1. fees are higher, 2. it’s a bit of a hassle, 3. he feels bad because we’ve been working with the current realtor for so long, and 4. there’s no guarantee a different realtor would actually be better.
I don’t have a good knowledge of Japanese real estate so there’s not much I can help my partner with, but I want this taken care of before the March/April apartment rush ends. So I’m turning to Reddit for some advice. Has anyone rented out an apartment before? How long did it take? Would you recommend sticking with the same realtor?
Thank you!!
Note: My husband is not comfortable posting a link to the apartment on Reddit due to privacy concerns, so I will not be posting the Suumo link.
by ichigodaifuku88