I will be a municipal JET in Yamagata-ken (the first after 2 years of no ALT). My supervisor has been looking for housing and has sent me a few options now. Unfortunately, all of those options have been taken, and the one he has sent me to view since then has a lot more upfront costs. The rent is super reasonable for being a relatively new 1LDK (around 61k), but the upfront costs total around 310k, which is a pretty big chunk of change.
What have other people had to pay upfront for their housing? I understand that this will depend based on location, but it would be nice to have an idea about what is normal. Also, I know that some municipal ALTs get some kind of subsidized housing, but I have no idea if that’s appropriate to bring up myself or not.
Edit: I realize I didn’t really state that I’m not sure whether these up front costs cover any rent or not yet. If it includes a month’s rent, then I feel a lot better about the cost. I’ve already requested clarification regarding that, but I thought it worth mentioning here.
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This upfront cost sound normal to me. Some people get subsidies, but if it’s not offered to you it’s probably not available. When I was a JET we started with a subsidy then after a year and a half there were budget cuts and they got rid of it. It is what it is. I know a lot of people expect JET to be a free ride to Japan and it many ways it is, but you are relocating for a job and that’s going to cost money out of your pocket like any other job would.
I’ve seen it routinely suggested for folks to have $2,000/¥200k to $5,000/¥500k (depending on placement) ready to go pre-departure in order to cover relocation and “start up” costs, so this doesn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary to me. My guess is that, if it were subsidized, they’d have let you know that upfront, especially if they are helping you find accommodation.
hey I’m also in Yamagata-ken! unfortunately my situation sounds very different from yours, I do have a predecessor and according to her, the apartment is subsidized and less than 10000¥ with no up-front costs (except buying the furniture from the predecessor). I don’t know how I’d go about bringing up the subsidizing either, but I can at least confirm it’s happening in some parts of Yamagata. good luck, I hope you get everything figured out soon!
As someone who just went through the process of searching for housing in Yamagata for my upcoming job, I can tell you that most fairly normal apartments will cost you around 300000+ yen in start-up fees. But you can use sites like Suumo to find apartments with no key money or no deposits. Also, look at apartments that are 15-20 years old and maybe smaller than you think you want, and the prices drop off a bit. You can try looking directly at realtor websites too. If you’re out on the coast, Yama-ichi was the cheapest realtor (no hidden fees, low realtor fees) that I found. If you need any help with it, shoot me a message.
Yeah, sounds about right. I paid around ¥200k upfront to the real estate agent when I first arrived. It was the first 1.5 months of rent, key money, insurance, and some other fees I don’t remember. Moving is unfortunately very expensive.
Im looking at Y220000 but that covers rent for August and September. The crappy part is that I don’t get paid until September 26th. I have $1500 put aside, but I’m going to need $2500 beyond what I need for housing to get me by.
I’ve decided I’m just going to take some money out of my line of credit and pay it back in September.
I had to pay around ¥200’000 as soon as I arrived, then I had to furnish the place entirely. It was very, very expensive.
It’s one of those ESID things if your CO helps or will cover it and have you pay them back; but these huge start up costs are normal.
I think I spent around 127k upfront so yours is a bit high
Damn that’s crazy, I paid zero upfront costs and my rent is 18k :0
Sounds normal to me. Upfront costs around that is normal. If you wait to long it will be taken .
I’d assume 3-4 thousand upfront costs when moving in. I think the JET FAQ also has that. Save money before you decide to do jet. And if worse comes to worse credit card (or borrow money from family far cheaper). You’ll make enough to pay it off quick if you aren’t stupid with your money.