I’ve been apartment hunting for a while now. I’ve learned a lot during the process. I missed the busy season, so practically all good rooms are already gone. I don’t want to compromise and choose from scraps, I’m okay with waiting and living at my current place for now.
I’m thinking that instead of checking suumo all the time, better idea would be choosing mansions by myself and waiting until a room is vacant. I heard that you can contact management company and they’ll update you when a tenant is planning to leave. So, what I’m asking is there any good and reliable website to look for mansions in my desired area with rent info? I’m in Osaka
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When I’m interested in a specific mansion, I just google the name and it’ll show results on real estate website, often with a few apartment available. You can sometimes find the price of previous apartments.
You can find (and thus copy paste) the name of a specific mansion on google maps.
Try also asking the RE agent closest to the mansion you are interested in. They might now months in advance which apartment could be up for release.
I did something similar to this during my apartment search last year. The 2 easiest routes are:
1. Look up various management company / apartment “brand” websites (like Comforia, Park Axis etc.) and search directly from there. This is also where you can use the advice to contact the management company directly
2. There are mansion databases out there like Mansion Review. I wouldn’t read too much into the review scores (a lot of people who leave reviews are buyers, or prospective buyers, which might have little relevance to someone looking to rent for 1 year) but if you sort by “newest building” or “most reviews” it at least gives you a sense of what newer / popular mansions are in that area, along with rent prices and availability. you can also use this to pick out mansions that you can then search for their website / management company.
https://www.mansion-note.com/
Contains rent info (select 賃貸 as your condition), reviews by tenants, etc.
> I’m thinking that instead of checking suumo all the time
You can setup an email alert on Suumo to let you know when rentals that meet your criteria appear. This doesn’t let you filter on specific mansions, but it means you don’t have to check Suumo.
i had some luck with lifull homes, you can set the filters for only mansion or whatever…
Someone left a good link below. However, there are actual databases, but you need a real estate license to access them. To be honest, it’s not much better than suumo.
Best thing you can do (depending on your Japanese level) is find a good agency and set them loose on it. I’ve used Japanese agencies for my last 3 rentals, and can usually find a place in a month or 2. The agency can also grease the wheels if the rental company/owner is feeling some type of way about foreigners.
Source: fiancé works in the field.
Only a few apartment buildings are owned by a single company. Usually a building has a management company for running the common spaces of the building and many separate owners, and these owners use multiple property management companies or real estate agencies to recruit tenants. Looking up a building will help you find the management company, but the management company cannot tell you who owns an apartment or when it is available. That is confidential.
The best thing to do is set a real estate agent to the task of monitoring the building. They have access to the first wave of information, before things are listed online. About 3% of properties are listed online exclusively and do not make it to the system that agents use.
I haven’t moved too many times. But I actually found it better during the off season. Less options, but also less competition. Busy season is a bit too hectic in my opinion.