Hi,
We’re a couple from the US and we’re curious if it’s possible to rent a luxury apartment with a relatively low salary? My spouse and I are planning to move to Japan as English teachers but we both basically FIRE’d (8 figure USD NW) already so money isn’t a concern.
I was curious if we could just show our landlord our brokerage accounts or something vs them just looking at our salary?
I’ve read online landlords in Japan are very particular about tenants having a job.
Thanks!
by NoProfessional4650
10 comments
Was in a similar situation to you. Long story short, you need a job.
That being said, I showed I had a job, and showed my bank statement, and that let me get an apartment that was around my salary. However, that’s going to be largely property dependent.
The way a realtor explained it to me, it’s typically not the landlord that’s refusing you, it’s the guarantor company that’s rejecting you. Some properties might allow you to get a guarantor to sign for you, but what I was seeing was a lot of places requiring a company, moreover a specific company that must be used, or two or three companies to pick from.
So ultimately it’s not a landlord rejecting you because of xyz reason, it’s a guarantor company saying you don’t fit a checkbox in their system.
It is a pretty “form over function” environment in Japan. You generally need to fit the standard model and things aren’t super flexible when you don’t.
How is your Japanese? If you can speak at a very high level, you might be able to explore paying the entire rental period up front. Maybe.
Doing that in English would almost certainly not be successful due to communication issues.
You can do “monthly mansions” (furnished apartments). You can also offer to pay some or all of the rent up front (some monthly mansions may require this). Even a luxury place should be easily doable for you all. Think of these more like Airbnbs with a light application process (you can also do ABNB if you want)
If you don’t speak Japanese, you have to find a company that will do everything by email and then google translate your communications. There are also English speaking companies targeted to rich foreigners on assignment (https://hmletjapan.com)
There may be some Oakhouse apartments that are nicer as well — they don’t care since you pay each month up front and are extremely flexible. It won’t be a deal, but it’s still peanuts for you
It is surprisingly hard mode for FIRE folks in Japan since it’s a culture that expects you to work until old age
Was in a similar situation once and it was basically a no-go. Realtors could have cared less about my ‘overseas’ assets. For them it was like ‘no salary/income in Japan, no rental.’ Went with a pay by month serviced apartment option. But these are overpriced in my opinion.
I have a similar worth and was able to rent an apartment direct from an agent that owned the property in Shiodome simply showing my assets.
Good to come across another foreigner coast FIREing in Tokyo at more of a chubby/ FAT FIRE level ! I am starting my early retirement at 39, husband is still planning to coast another 3+ years to pad up our nest egg. Anyway, at your level you might want to look at Mori building (https://www.moriliving.com) which builds some of the most iconic complex in Tokyo. They are more used to dealing with foreigners, when dealing directly with them, they will probably care less about your income and more about your asset, unlike your typical Japanese real estate agencies.
Oakwood T-cube is like a 4-5 star hotel for just 2.1-2.5m jpy a month for a 130-150m2 apartment. It’s a monthly rental so you can pay monthly without deposit. Overall, highly recommended.
I moved to Japan as a retiree and with no Japanese income, and I rented what most would consider a luxury apartment. Here’s what I can share about how it works.
The owner will require a guarantee company of their choosing. Normally the guarantee company will be looking for steady Japan income that is sufficient for the amount of rent. As an alternative, they should be willing to accept if you have a relatively large cash balance in a Japanese bank account. I was able to do this, and I have heard reports of others who have done the same.
Another option is to offer the owner to pay many months in advance (perhaps 12 months or more) if they will waive the requirement for a guarantee company. If the owner agrees, this can save you the cost of the guarantee company, which is a nice benefit. I wish I had tried this with my lease, and may try next time.
On a related subject, you might want to learn about your tax situation. Your US passive income will be exempt from Japan income tax in the first 5 years, except to the extent that you “remit” it to Japan. Per the Japan income tax rules, any money you send to Japan (including use of foreign credit cards) is deemed to be remitting your foreign income. Since you are coast-FIREd and staying in a luxury apartment, you will surely be sending money to Japan (or using foreign credit cards in Japan) and you surely have US passive income. So in effect, you will owe Japan income tax on some or all of your US passive income. Per the Japan income tax rules, the remitted income is determined using a ratio approach so your Japan income will include some of each of your types of US passive income. You will be able to apply FTCs for your US income tax on this passive income, so that will take out some of the sting.
When you need to write down your income just put the amount that you live on regardless of where it comes from. I wrote down my overseas employer and my salary as if I was full time (I worked half a day a week at the time). No one checked. I’m sure I could have written anything.
Just curious, are you actually interested in teaching English or just looking for a way to stay in Japan