Hi. I know there has been quite a lot of posts asking for advice on monthly housing. After some research on my end I found little information that’s relevant to my need (or so I thought, as I knew very little about actually living in Japan).
I have an exchange program at Waseda University, which is conveniently located in Shinjuku. I initially considered their dorm offerings, but with the uncertainties of Covid, the housing options offered by the school are likely going to change quite a lot (1 person/room vs 2/room, etc)
So I am currently looking through outside housing options that is monthly renewable and come with furnitures. I understand those can be much more expensive compared to a more traditional 2-year deal that’s more common in Japan, and as a lot of people on this subreddit has pointed out, furnitures on those properties are generally flimsy. However I also don’t want to deal with the awkward hustle of buying all the necessary furniture (even if I use coin laundries I’ll still need beds, chair, desk, fridge, microwave to say the least) for 10 months and had to either sell them or paying the garbage collect service to come and pick them up. So it seems like I’ll have to deal with those that’s included in some of those pre-furnished housing.
My budget is roughly 150000 yen per month with everything included (utilities, wifi, etc), barring maybe the key-change, gift money, and deposit. Is the monthly apartment really the best option for me? Or is there some other better options that I don’t really know of? I found the monthly offerings on website such as Fontana and residenceTokyo to be much more expensive than those offered by realestateJapan, is it because the first two offers furniture and the latter one don’t?
Any advice helps, thank you in advance!
1 comment
Waseda dorms are too expensive and not worth the price. You can get a studio right next to campus for a much better price. Some companies/dorms are just expensive for no logical reason. I’ve seen companies offering the same exact services for different prices. Just find a good real estate company that has a presence in the area. Some areas are dominated by certain companies so look for recurring names of real estate companies when you go on realestatejapan, for example.
I went with Sakura Rent for housing which is in Kyoto. It’s the only company that has apartments in the area I want, plus it’s reputable with nice reviews on reddit and google. It’s like leopalace but better. Sakura rent does not list its apartments on realestatejapan but it’s in the same price range or even cheaper despite having the same amenities so definitely widen your search to find the best company. Also email them and pay attention to how they respond to you and communicate with you. If they’re not helpful from the beginning, it’s not a good sign. With the budget you have, you’ve got a lot of options. But if you’re satisfied with a dorm, then i don’t see why you should drop all of that money on rent and utilities. I wouldn’t pay more than 100k for a studio in shinjuku. I would spend the rest on fun experiences but that’s just me.
Good luck and I hope the right apartment finds you