Finding and Renting Rural Homes

12 comments

1. Numerous threads about why flipping is not common place, so won’t touch that.

   But.. if there’s an area you’re thinking about, go visit the area and around the larger / main stations find a fudo-san. And then ask them about rental properties.

2. There’s not really much reason for people to flip houses to rentals when most rural communities are experiencing a lot of depopulation

3. Out in the sticks, it’s usually sell. If something does go for rent, it’ll likely get picked up quick unless it’s a pile of crap.

   I only know of two people who rent houses out here, and both of us got our places through contacts, not the local market. Even at the ridonculously low rent rate I pay, you wouldn’t want to rent the place I am living as it’s so old and shite.

   As for why they don’t just turn em into rentals, it’s really simple. Houses require more maintenance and time than an apartment, any house you will touch is likely to be older than an apartment by several decades, and just like any fashion conscious culture, old sucks. The baths are tiny, the kitchens are junk, the tatami are old and smelly, and the whole place is hotter inside in summer than outside, and colder inside than outside in winter. So why would you rent that house for 5man/month when you could rent an ii-heyaneto apartment for the same and know it was probably built in the last decade, is semi sealed, and won’t be a pain to upkeep or heat/cool.

4. Don’t know where you’re looking but here in Yamanashi prefecture for you to make a “clean moving” to a rural area, as a foreigner, they have these meeting with the townsfolk (villagefolk?).

   Basically you just go there and talk a little with the people living there and they’ll judge if you’re ok to live there. Wild, right?
   But that’s because of something goes wrong they count on each other to solve the problem, so someone who doesn’t want to get involved in the community is unwelcome.

   But to answer your question, to move to a rural area you need to contact the town’s hall, they’ll have a migration department to help you out.

5. What are the so-called perks of renting a rural home I wonder?

6. There are properties everywhere in the countryside but the rents are so low it doesn’t make economic sense to pay an agent to list the property. Normally you talk to someone you know and they will have a friend or relative with a place you can stay.

   I know of one gigantic farmhouse, completely renovated and beautiful, and only about 17 minutes from a station that reaches Tokyo in a little over an hour. The rent is high enough to justify an agent to promote it, but it is not publicly listed because the owners need someone they can trust to maintain the garden and farm. A lot of properties are like this: not looking for a mere resident, more like a live-in property manager/security guard.

7. One key factor you seem to be overlooking: The Japanese population is **DECREASING by around half a million a year.**

   This means there is **A LOT** of houses each year which get left empty as the old die and the young move into big cities for education and/or work.

   The “Akiya” problem is getting worse and worse by the year and unless the home sits on a Prime location (Next to a train station or the like) then it usually isn’t worth the price/effort to try and flip it, since next year there will be even more empty houses and even less people looking for houses.

8. There are homes for rent but they’re often not posted on the internet. They send out notices in the town circular saying what apartments are available for rent in each neighborhood once a year. Otherwise it’s a lot of word of mouth work to find an apartment. If you want to move you ask coworkers if they know of anything and usually a lead pops up eventually. Not sure what the starting point would be for someone from completely out of town though. Most people who move out here move for work (teachers, doctors, etc) so their workplace helps them find an apartment. The towns are usually pretty desperate for young people to move in, so if you call the town hall they might be able to point you in the right direction

   (I live in a town of 3,500 in Hokkaido, so may be different if you’re interested in town not *quite* so rural)

9. Out of curiosity of what is out there in our area (innakaish) I check online and let me tell you, not even 10% of the rental properties are there… But you go to a real estate office and they will have plenty. The house behind mine was rented that way, and was never made available online. Same with the house selling 100 meters away. Our land was also not online, our builder found it in REINS, although the seller was desperate to sell.

   Sadly you will have to go and walk around. Most real estates from innaka do not have websites.

10. 1. Yes, most of these houses are only for purchase. rent demand for rural properties is extremely unpopular.

    2. A lot of these rural properties fall under the various farming laws and practices and have many strings attached that prevent “normal” people from buying them

11. Some of the regional akiya bank sites have rentals listed (ie Shinanomachi in Nagano). You might have better luck there.

12. Google 空家バンク for the city/town you’re interested in. City governments often run quasi-real estate agencies for empty houses. Lots of rentals and super cheap. And many places will subsidize repairs under certain conditions