Just wanted to share my experience here.
I got approved for an apartment while outside of the country (in Canada). All done through email, aside from a simple phone call from the guarantor company in English.
I found an apartment that I liked on Suumo, and I was put in touch with one of the branches from Able (エイブル)
Able’s commission fee is only 55% of 1-month of rent, which is cheaper compared to the 100% that other agencies charge.
Details about apartment:
– 8-minute walk from Akihabara
– 3.5 years old
– Reinforced Concrete
– 2nd floor
– 18.82m2
– Equipped with bidet, air conditioner, video doorbell, separate toilet and shower+bath, hardwood flooring, and overall the furnishings were modern
– Initial fee was 310k Yen ($2,166 USD) including 1st month of rent. The Monthly Rent thereafter is 90k Yen ($640 USD) per month
– Standard 2-year contract. (Even though my WHV is for 1 year, that didn’t matter)
– Able to cancel early. There are no additional fees if cancelling at 1 year (i.e how long the WHV lasts), or 1-month rent if before then.
This property was also only available through Able. It wasn’t on the database that all realtors have access to, as I used a different agency too and it didn’t show up in it.
All they needed was:
– Name
– Foreign Address
– Foreign Phone Number
– Birthday
– Foreign Employer’s Address
– Foreign Employer’s Company Name
– Yearly Income (in US dollars was fine)
– How long I worked there (in my case, 1.5 years)
– An emergency contact from your country. Specifically, name, address, phone number, birthday, and relationship (for example, “father” or “mother”)
And the following documents:
– Foreign Employment Agreement (in my case, it’s from the US and it’s 100% in English). I used the term “海外の雇用契約書” (foreign employment agreement), and they accepted it in place of a 内定通知書 (a Japanese job offer letter).
– Picture of Japanese visa in passport
– Picture of ID page in passport
The steps were:
1. Submit documents and info above
2. Documents are reviewed for approval. Took 2 days.
3. Have a really easy call with the guarantor company. Same for the emergency contact. Waited for 1 day to get their call, and the call was only 10 minutes. (They basically want you to recite what you put on your application. They called my foreign phone number. For the emergency contact, all they did was confirm name, birthday, and to agree to be an emergency contact)
4. Get approved, sign the lease agreement, send initial fees
5. Pick up keys at their branch then move in
6. Within 30 days after moving in, provide an emergency contact who resides in Japan
At the beginning of Step 4, the listing was taken down on Able’s own site within the same day, and after 2 days, on Suumo as well.
So at least for Able, I suppose they keep their Suumo listings more or less up to date.