Hello! I believe variations of this have been asked many times but I haven’t found a post about this specific approach so I was curious if anyone else has experience in it.
I am an American(no visa/residency) that spends a lot of time in Japan since my girlfriend is Japanese and I just enjoy being there. I spent about 5 months there in 2023. Mid last year I started looking into the idea of buying a house to live in when I am there and rent out (i.e. Airbnb, Booking etc) when I am not.
My understanding is that I cannot get a normal mortgage since I am not a resident. However, I have spoken to real estate agents and a bank about this and found that if I incorporate a company then I can get a specific type of loan (3rd option listed [here](https://www.shinsei-if.com/lp/en/)) and I can use that to help finance the real estate purchase. The rates aren’t quite as good as a mortgage but they are still better than American rates at least.
I also spoke to a company that would assist me in the creation of a [company](https://krestonproworks.com/) for this purpose. Through these discussions I’ve learned that I can essentially operate the property as a hotel with the appropriate licenses so it wouldn’t be limited by the usual 180 day limit enforced on typical Airbnb listings. I’d also be able to get a Business management visa if I wanted to stay in Japan on a more permanent basis, but since my girlfriend is moving to the US this year I don’t think I would necessarily take advantage of that.
Everything would be above board; I know it would require a management company and that my property selection would be limited by specific zoning requirements to stay out of small residential neighborhoods. Also it would need to be an entire building/home as opposed to apartments. I hope to get something in Nakano or Taito unless I were to find a great deal in a more desirable area. The goal would of course be to have a high occupancy rate and it looks like somewhere like Nakano works well in that regard while the purchase price can be ~$350,00 hopefully
I am not looking to get rich or anything but I am excited about the idea of owning a company like this to maybe supplement my current income. The real estate agents say it could be a great investment but they are of course motivated to make the sale, lol. I still have open questions about taxes and such to the companies I am talking to but communication/email is slow and I wanted to hear about any personal anecdotes that people may have.
All of this to say, I was curious if anyone had an idea on how profitable running a small hotel business like that could be and if there are any gotchas that I might not expect?
by Dinobot14