Hello,
I recently got a job in Tokyo and planning on moving there after summer.
My partner is Japanese and we are currently looking into housing in Tokyo. She lived her life in Japan until 20s so there is no problem with language or communication but it is also her first time finding a house on her own.
We are using Japanese real estate platforms to find / favorite-ing houses but unsure about how to submit docs / sign without us being their physically.
Has anyone done this before from abroad? what are some cautions that you can share with us?
Thank you for your time.
5 comments
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**Finding a residence in Tokyo from US**
Hello,
I recently got a job in Tokyo and planning on moving there after summer.
My partner is Japanese and we are currently looking into housing in Tokyo. She lived her life in Japan until 20s so there is no problem with language or communication but it is also her first time finding a house on her own.
We are using Japanese real estate platforms to find / favorite-ing houses but unsure about how to submit docs / sign without us being their physically.
Has anyone done this before from abroad? what are some cautions that you can share with us?
Thank you for your time.
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Are you looking to buy or to rent? Either way, it’s a way better move to come to Japan and stay in a serviced apartment or something while working with an agent to find a permanent place to live.
Prepare 5-6 months of rent is what I would suggest. Lot’s of places require that much money to move in.
My wife and I recently got a house while outside of Japan, but one of us did have to fly out to get everything signed, and check the place out. So I was paying for a house in the US and a place in Tokyo for a bit.
We used [house.goo.ne.jp](https://house.goo.ne.jp) and [suumo.jp](https://suumo.jp) and just started sending e-mails to places we were interested in till someone responded.
I will say this however, we both already had Japanese bank accounts, and phones and whatnot. We also knew all the housing conventions because we had lived in Tokyo for a while (3LDK vs 3K etc. as well as how big a jo is).
I would be surprised if your job didn’t have a location service, you’re going to need to talk to someone there to either be a guarantor or pay a guarantor fee.
You CAN try a 1LDK “[Leopalace](https://en.leopalace21.com/)” place for a year, but I wouldn’t recommend them long term. They tend to be a bit pricey for what you get, but they are pretty decent starter apartments if you don’t have a ton of resources in Japan already. [UR Housing](http://ur-housing.com/) is also a thing, again, you can get a little more for your money, but the types of apartments offered are very much a certain flavor that you may not like after a year or so, but again, a good starter apartment while you guys sort things out in Japan.
Most folks here likely were in some program as English teachers (Jet, Interact, etc.) and that’s how they got their initial leg up in Japan.
Personally I wasn’t able to finalize anything from abroad— we stayed in an AirBnB for the first couple weeks.