Hello everyone,
I have been working at a real estate agent for a few months now, so I have seen/heard things that I think people should look out for. It is surprising that there is not much information regarding this on here, and I don’t know why. So if there are problems, I might delete this later, idk. So here it goes:
* Real estate agency
1. Unlike any house hunting websites with only a limited listing, real estate agencies have access to all of the properties available for rent or purchase. On top of that, these sites update the properties’ status faster, i.e is it still available. They also have the direct phone number to the managing company to ask for additional information according to the needs of the clients.
2. Since all agencies have the same access to the same amount of properties, the only edge they have is customer service. So if you encounter an agency that is slow to respond, or just do the bare minimum, just go to another to save you some time.
3. The way agency make money is through brokerage fee (from you), and AD money (from the property owners) –> more on this below.
* Fees & tricks
\- 100% means 1 month of rent, so to calculate your initial fee, it would be the total of all these:
1 month rent + management fee, The remaining portion of this month rent + management fee (i.e, move in on the 10th, pay for the rest 20), 100% Key-money (aka thank-you money), 100% deposit, 100% rental guarantee (max amount, usually 20-80%), 100% brokerage fee (depend on the agency), other fee. All these will sum up to about 4-5 times the monthly rent. You expect that, and the amount you pay would be lower.
If your chosen house is does not require Deposit and/or Keymoney, and still 4-5 times higher than your rent, you are being ripped off. So as if the rental gurantee is only 50% but they charge you 100%, or there are some unsual charge in there ( the agency can somtimes make up charges).
In my experience of using a Japanese agency with english support in the past, on my contract signing day, the agent legit told me that he “forgot” to add in fire insurance fee (￥20,000). It was close to my move in date, so I just paid it and call it a day. In general, be specific about the charges and ask them questions. Show them that you have done your research, and they would think twice before doing something dodgy.
\- Next thing is AD money, the amount that the property owner would pay the agency when they bring in a client. This lead to a problem that agencies will ONLY give you the properties that have AD money. So even if there is an apartment that perfectly fit your needs, but no AD money, regardless of how much money you have, you can’t rent that. If you come the to office, choose the house yourselves, and when you are done, they will go to another room to call the managing company to check the availability of the property. Thing is, you won’t hear their conversation, so they can just say the house with no AD money is already registered, don’t accept foreigner. etc., thus forcing you to choose among the options with AD money. I don’t know how you can prevent this, since they hold all the cards and you don’t. So if you suspect that they are doing this, and you have time to look around, just find another agency.
On the other hand, Ad money is often half of the revenue they get. So if you have money, and willing to pay more to get the house you want, find way to tell them that.
AD money can range from 0.5 to 3 times the monthly rent. If they get 200% AD money, and still charge you 100% Brokerage fee, that’s a greedy mthfkr right there. You can actually negotiate it, given that you know the amount of AD money they will get.
Important: it is necessary to understand that there are people out there will scam you every chance they get, but there are also people who just trying to make ends meet. 50% of the revenue (AD + Brokerage) will go to the agency, 50% to the agent, factoring tax, rent, insurance, etc., there is not much left. In addtion with the nature of the sales job, 0 salary, 100% comission based, unstable income stream. If you find out that they are doing something dodgy, don’t make a scene there, just leave and use another agency.
* Tips for you guys:
1. It is infinietly faster for you and for the agent to find a house if you can come to the office, or join an online meeting (zoom, google, team, etc.). The agent will not have to guess what house you like/fit your budget, call the managing company to confirm availability, send the information to you just to get turned down. So set out 1-2 hours of your day to find the house with them (on-site, or online), you can go house tour and register for the house at the exact same day. Then only thing left is to sign the contract and take the key a few days later.
2. Usually 2-weeks to 1 month before moving date would be ideal. Vacant house come and go all the time, and they usually be filled fast. So don’t be stressing about finding a house 2-3 months prior.
3. It takes 5 second to send a message “busy, get back later”, if you still want to work with the agent, or “not interested, bye” when you don’t want to work with them anymore. Just don’t leave the agent hanging, or ghosting them, it does not do anyone any good. Please, it’s infuriating, confusing, and unproductive T.T
4. Do your own research about the area you want to live in, the general idea of the kind of house you can get with your budget, it will speed up the process much faster.
In conclusion, I have been on both side, have been ripped off, and dealt with bad clients. I write this just to hope that this process can be done as smoothl and transparent as possible, where both side feel good when everything is done. Even if thing don’t work out, please be civil and move on. That’s all.
Cheers.
3 comments
real pro tip: never pay more than 50% of rent for the agency fee aka 仲介手数料
it is protected by law that agencies can only charge you 50% **unless** they get your consent. This is usually done by glossing over the fee.
Just point at it and say I’d like this to be 50%.
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bonus: there are plenty of places that do no key money / no reikin. just spend a little time looking.
double bonus: you probably dont need an agent
There is no way for a client to know that the AD is. And you’re not supposed to show them as well.
And the way the system is, it does give agents incentive to exclusively show properties with AD. It sucks but it is what it is. Imagine doing all the paperwork, taking customers to view many rentals, dealing with asshole landlords especially in the context of foreigners, and then only getting 10,000 yen out of a couple days work from a cheapskate big 不動産. It’s a terrible industry to work for especially if your clients are foreigners.
I realized #2 when I got told no foreigners for one place and took it to a different agent and showed him that it was the type of place I wanted. The agent was like ok let me see what I can do, and he got the owner to rent to me.
In detail first guy was just like”He’s a foreigner”, second guy was like”He’s a foreigner working at a reputable company been in Japan for 8 years speaks fluent Japanese all around great guy”.