Hello Steven. I found your video by happy accident. To cut a long story short, I made it my mission to visit the second house in Kamiichi when I finally got back to Japan in April. I decided to bite the bullet and have signed the purchase contract. (To be finalized in December when I return.) Absolutely beautiful location and the house is beautiful, albeit needing a tonne of work. It will be my labour of love and a VERY long-term project! Thank you for the inspiration! :)
Hi Anita, great to hear from you again! Yes it will be a long-term project & labour of love of course, but you have Kakimori-san in the neighbourhood who will be very helpful. I am not sure if you will be able to share your renovation story somewhere, but looking forward to your journey regardless.
Having bought/renovated/rented/sold property for over fifty years, I can opine the following advice. Location is 90% of the decision to buy or not. The rest can be repaired or replaced. A poor location can never be improved. Next is to *never* pay what is asked. Make a list of the defects to show the seller along with your offer by writing instead of by phone or in person. (Gives them time to mull it over) Visit the property at night and on weekends, and if possible just talk to the neighbors. (they can often surprise you!) Finally, don't remodel in a way that best suits YOU, but rather is oriented towards a tenant. No expensive items (carpet, counters, fixtures, etc...) There's a lot, lot more, but that's a good start. Mosquitos!!!!! *YIKES!!!*
Dear Lord if I saved up 10K it would be hard not to spend 3.5k of it on a Japan vacation real quick. Then I wouldn't have money for the house! Owning a house in Japan seems like a dream though.
Problem is Japan doesn't let foreigners stay in the country very long. Even if you could feasibly stay for 6 months a year as I believe you can if you buy property in Japan. It isn't realistic unless one could stay all year every year. Then you'd need to find a job in Japan which is definitely not easy for most outsiders or gaijin. I'm sure a lot more people would buy these and move to Japan if they were allowed to stay and work regardless. I know I would but I'm a tradesman in the USA so utterly unrealistic.
@@user-gz4ve8mw9l I do have Butcher skills, my biggest hurdle would be getting my Japanese and Kanji to the level needed for whatever processing facility I would work at. But I can see myself working in Japan. I am trying to broaden my skills currently so I can have more options for work anywhere. I am going for 80 days here in February till May and I plan on getting my hands dirty somewhere along the way, I would love to go to Japan and cut real Wagyu.
@@user-gz4ve8mw9l find job in japan is not hard it depends on your language skills many foreigner can't speak japanese and can't communicate with workpartner,that's only reason, not because of foreigner many south east asian and east asian working in japan,because they can speak japanese
the first one has A LOT of potential. honestly that's the type of machiya i'd be looking for as a restoration project. i totally agree w/ your assessment of the second house. glad you're doing visits again Machiya-sama!
The second house would make a great passion project for someone just starting out who wants to be close to nature imo. It might need work but the price is great, and it has decent train station nearby.
Restoring such a house would cost more than building a new modern house though. It's very like old, unatended houses like these are full of mold and rotten wood.
I grew up in Aomori prefecture (foreigner). It's a dream to find this channel; words can't describe how badly I want to move back, and finding an older home to restore I feel would be a cherry on top. Stressful, but getting to know your home, the town, and its locals. I honestly can't think of a finer dream.
I have traveled the countryside of Japan in end of autumn/beginning of winter (as a foreigner). I often stayed in old houses that have been restored and can now be rented as guest houses (they are cold in winter). As a foreigner I recommend to maybe try those guest houses before buying and see if it fits. In that one town I met an architect who also restores houses. He gave me a small tour and I was surprised at all the empty houses. Lots of people move to cities for there is hardly work to find in the countryside.
Seeing what you can buy in Japan for 4k actually makes me violently enraged at how absolutly screwed up the housing market is in Canada and how its impossible for first time home buyers to find anything that wont indebt them the rest of their lives.
Well, these houses are basically glorofied sheds. If you are used to a modern house, this sure is prettier, but you'll be very uncomfortable in this drafty building. The housing market in the US is based on maximising bankers profitts. You should be angry.
Akiyas are often cheap to buy, but those are then very expensive to renovate and you have to live in a very rural area, where you likely won't have a job. Just imagine you could buy a house in Canada for 4k. But you need at least 50k (if your really lucky and also can do a lot by yourself) to renovate it and also a couple of thousands to pay the taxes and fees, etc. Now you still have a relatively cheap house, for 60-80k. Great! But the house is in a village with an hour long drive to the next bigger town where you get work, if you're not picky, or got really lucky. Many houses in Japan are abandoned for a reason.
Hi Steven...please be careful, both of these houses have some obvious challenges as others have commented. You will need to hire a very proactive team to find all the issues and plan for them. Do the planning so unexpected things are limited. When you do decide on your next one make sure to put everything you need in the contract to cover all the things that happened in your first project, especially requiring the continuous prosecution of the work, no splitting time with other projects that the contractor might have. Let me know if I can help you in any way.
Hi John, thanks for the heads up. No worries I am not buying the houses. A thorough inspection will be needed as you said. Really tempting to have a private project starting soon though...
With the way these old japanese houses are built they are sturdy and you'd be talented if you could take one down yourself. there are no nails, which warp and rust, bend in the heat and cold over time, but interlocking grooves like a very complicated kind of lego.. more like a Jenga tower that won't fall over. The only thing I would do any work on is insulation, because they can get cold and hard to heat
Hello, are you living in Japan? I’m Canadian and I bought a 70-year old house in southern Shikoku, Japan in 2015. My house was not as cheap as these Akiya, but much cheaper than a house in Canada of course. I’m finishing up renovations in preparation to sell. I’m in a city with a population of 250~300k.
I think I would personally ovoid both of them especially the second one. where there is give in the floor especially a wooden structure best leave alone, you can tighten a floor but difficult to do the whole structure. I would also reconsider living by the river, looks nice but you could have serious damp issues especially if the land lies low to the river ie rising damp for most of the year. As for the Japanese knotweed it's there for a reason 'moisture' another good reason why I would avoid those houses. The best method is the old fashioned way of finding a location by compass diameter and work out traveling time within 1/2hr from transport. That way you will get to see how many things it can offer within the circles radius. good luck.
A couple years ago I was looking at properties in Japan on Zillow, and it was blowing my mind how many apartments I could find for $100 - $300 a month I was so taken aback my it that I kept telling myself "this can't be right. That can't be true, my math must be wrong." And after checking my math probably a dozen times over the course of the search, I wasn't. But being a foreigner, I've heard it can be a bit of a hassle getting a property over there lol
It's IMPOSSIBLE if you don't have a Japanese friend. Even if you are able to pay the written price with no negotiations (they let you negotiate if listed as negotiable) or even if you pay extra. I don't know why since they are houses not apartments so you cannot disturb others with "foreign noises" or something haha. Ofc it would help if you wore a nice suit, learnt formal conversational Japanese, don't act like a monkey and show plenty of respect, they are more likely to work with you in that case.
Okay I see there’s a comment possibly but it is not showing up so i am sorry if I am repeating information but I would like to give my insight. I am traveling Japan right now and have been studying Japan for almost a year. This is no where close to being fluent but everyone that I have come into contact with or have talked to has been really nice and even have helped me more than what I ask for. So I believe that the people who are having a hard time finding jobs or housing is just because they don’t speak any japanese. I believe if you are at least N3 or N2 level you will not have a problem finding housing or jobs because you will be able to talk to everyone like you are Japanese. Sorry for the long post but I really wanted this to be known.
The first house is an ideal property for some DIY project. The bones of of the house looks good and all it needs is some sprucing up and some new stains for all the timber structures in the house. And that yellow green train was a beauty at the end of the vlog. Thanks for sharing my friend, glad you're posting again!
Thank you Nick! Both houses are quite nice and I'm sure they will both become interesting renovation projects. Glad you liked the end of the video as well.
I think it's sad that so many good houses have been abandoned. I recognize the issues that are caused by weather for buildings in Japan, but not all of them are fifteen-year buildings. Thank you for the video. :+ )
I lived in Japan for 12 years. I lived in or near the countryside, so they were more traditional style homes, not the mass produced suburban type from the postwar period. They can be expected to last. Or at the worst, the framework or roof tiles will last, and the stucco over bamboo walls can be easily redone. One could remodel a house for about $60,000 US equivalent to a modern western style. I've seen a 400 year old home for sale (you will never have large twisted old growth open beams like that today) for about $100,000. I too was saddened by the way modern Japanese turn their backs on the old ways and traditional (more rural or island) towns. They want to live and work in Tokyo or one of the other 12 designated major cities. Public transportation and highways in Japan (including ferry boats) are generally very good, so even living an hour out of town is not that big a deal. Owning a car is not as necessary as in the US. I didn't own a car before getting married in Japan, and I drove only about once a month afterward, to visit the in laws with the grandchildren. Also, there is currently no solution for the declining birthrate as more young women enter the workforce, couples marry later, and have fewer children. By 2030, it is estimated that one third of all homes in Japan will be vacant or abandoned. Even in Tokyo, about 10% of homes are currently vacant or abandoned. Good news for renters and home buyers. And future college students. Even 20 years ago it was estimated that there would be a place for every aspiring college student (if they were not picky). There was no longer a need to be as competitive as in the past. Japanese TV shows featured how tough it was to enter national universities in S Korea, with children studying until 11 at night. Nowadays it's Chinese students who are going to incredible lengths to enter good universities.
I think both houses have the potential to become something really nice... it's unfortunate that the neighbourhood was so dead. I'm sure more nicely renovated shops/houses would attract more people to do the same, but then it's kind of a first egg or first chicken question...
Those houses have potential. But they do need tons of work, probably about 50,000 USD to really update to modern standards for structure, amenities, and safety. The first house has probably sunk or settled over the decades due to groundwater being drawn out, allowing the soil to compact behind it.
Thanks so much for another exceptionally well-done video. I hope to sell my properties here in America and retire to Japan sometime in the future. Having visited 39 countries, I find the Japanese culture and country to be by far the most amazing. I hope to retire to a small village and just spend my time helping everyone with their daily life.
@@zoan23456 We bought summer house in Japan also , we have a lot of friends there, we spent time over there every year. we still love it. We want to sell it because we getting old to travel anymore.
The second house would be a dream for me. I live in canada with my sons and pay that much in rent every four months 😢 I would leave this family's ancestor shrine up forever. I feel sad for the little old lady who used to live there I wonder what happened to her
I watched this entire video for nor real reason other than I've always been fascinated with Japan and the every day life of the Japanese people. I love America home architecture and seeing how Japanese people lay out their homes is interesting.
They look fantastic for what they’re asking. You could move right into them if you weren’t concerned about how outdated the interior was. You couldn’t buy a house that was on the verge of collapse for that price in the U.S.
If I move to Japan, I prefer to choose Shizuoka or Kanazawa prefecture to live. It's a small but beautiful city. Hope you are exploring more Machiya houses in those two towns or prefectures. LOL. Thank you for your videos!! Hope you doing well.
Hi Eric, I don't get to visit Shizuoka at all, but I'm sure there'll be more videos on Kanazawa & surrounding area in the future. Thanks for your comment!
Yes, I'm in Oregon and I was struck by how familiar the weather is, haha. I already know we have pretty similar climates but always different to see it in videos.
The first one certainly seems to be a better deal, but I’d personally buy the second one. The way I see it, being surrounded by vacant houses means you have a good bit of privacy, nothing’s stopping you from just doing a bit of maintenance on the exteriors on your own if that pristine look is what you’re looking for, and if nothing else the land value alone on riverfront property in my country is higher, so if you look at it as you buying the plot with the intention of building your own holiday home or rental property it’s not that bad (from the perspective of someone in a country where riverfront property is highly sought after, I don’t know what Japan’s stance is.)
I must admit the first home you viewed showed Great Potential I noticed the foundation was very low compared to must homes here in the US!! I love the open floor plan concept and the river seems to be a hugh plus for me!! I would prefer to live in the rural area versus the Big City 🏙️!! I believe most people moved out of the area/town because they choose the city life and what a Shame that is because this town could become a real gem 💎 if it had some Great Investors!! I truly enjoyed watching this video 🙏🏽 and Thanks for Sharing🧡🤍🎇🤍🧡
It's a long drive from there to kyoto. Be careful in the rain. Some of the properties, if nicely renovated could make nice Air B&B for tourists. You could have rental bicycles for guests to use. Sadly I think the $4000 property would be better to be demolished. Then build a foundation a few feet higher, and rebuild the house on top saving much of the traditional materials.
Good thing I'm never offered to look at old houses, whenever I'm in Japan.. I would buy one (especially the 2nd looked lovely) in a heartbeat, and then spend too much on a contractor and architect to have it restored "Showa meets Ghibli".
I am 80 years old and have visited Japan four times for extended periods. I love your culture, history and life style. I would have loved to have purchased a Kyomachia and lived in it. Loved seeing your home.
Mr.Steven , I must say that I am very much grateful to you for your fine video with balanced assessments covering vital facts. That smart river and the very beautiful picturesque environment of the 2 nd house is so wonderful. I, too, have some fear over the foundation of it. So, There's no doubt that wherever you go in japan, you find beauty. Even that kamiichi Railway station, an end station, so fine. Thanks a lot. You're doing a great job on behalf of many of us.
Thank you for the kind words! Both houses now have a new owner and hopefully in a few years I will have an opportunity to follow up on the how they have been transformed :)
God, it seems like these houses are MASSIVE for such a small price tag. I mean they would probably take a couple ten thousand of dollars to REALLY fix up and make it really nice. But once you did it would be a REALLY beautiful home.
I think the town is the issue. The station was so quiet. Need more people to move (back) into the area before you will see any capital gains. Of the two properties, I would choose the second one near the river. It might even be possible to buy the neighbouring houses and expand your plans!
2nd house would be amazing if renovated, the entrance and outside are beautiful and the house as a whole on the outside would be beautiful if spruced up. The layout of the house, slightly bellow ground level, allows for any kind of interior design without breaking the aesthetic of the house on the outside.
@@yami2227 Not before I do lol Imagine the winter with everything white and the garden I would build would be massive. As a builder it wouldn’t take me long I’d do it mostly myself. I’m dying inside
The 2nd house is definitely more special than the 1st one. I just hope the surrounding is more lively... maybe on a sunny day the atmosphere will feel completely different.
@@GoodOldHousesJapan the atmosphere is perfect but the water damage is there, it would take a lot of work but definitely a hidden gem. Also too bad that there are too many other abandoned houses around
The reality is way different, live here in Japan for 4-5 years and you’ll quickly understand that’s it’s all smoke and mirrors. Unless your partner is a born western Japanese national that is fluent in Japanese or you Japanese is brilliant. There’s more issues then you could ever imagine. Also renovating a place like this will easily set you back 50-80,000 USD if you want to make it truly livable western wise.
Every place has it's issues. Right now the west is going through a fight for identity between self hating communists and those who just want their rights respected with the government upholding it's side of the civic agreement. My rose tinted glasses around Japan disappeared once I saw into it's legal system through media and cross referencing it to reality. The American legal system has it's issues but it is the one I would rather be held to. Far too many people don't understand the rights they have and the rights you wouldn't have elsewhere.
I know I'm reading the comments here and laughing my ass off to these peoples delusions. I lived in Japan for 10 years and will probably retire there in 5-10 years. Nevertheless, they have no idea what they are getting into buying one of these "barns" out in the middle of nowhere Japan.
Being from the USA I love the atmosphere of the Japanese houses very fascinating lots of history. 10k is not much and I would easily spend that much for a house in Japan in decent condition. Good video I subscribed.
I think having a nice house with a patio would be fun to live at. I enjoy watching rain, so having a nice place to sit and watch it would benefit me a lot. In fact, i love rain so much that I'm currently sick from going out in near freezing rain. Don't do that. 4:49 The Ultraman font!
I'm always blown away by the politeness and consideration the Japanese have for each other. The spotless streets, not a spec of trash anywhere in sight. I'm embarrassed by our loud, trash everywhere, culture here in America. Part of me also imagines going to Japan, getting drunk and loud, and throwing my trash everywhere.
I don't know where you live in the US, but my town is spotless and people are polite. If you're imagining yourself getting drunk and throwing things around, perhaps you are part of the problem.
The first house reminded me of 'Memoirs of a Geisha' type house, the attic, even the view! This is great. Thank you for bringing attention to these subjects.
Successful people don't become that way overnight. What most people see at a glance- wealth, a great career, purpose-is the result of hard work and hustle over time. I pray that anyone who reads this will be successful in life and this new year shall get you closer to your goals and open more opportunities to you
Thanks for the honest tour. In reply to the 4.5 stars, it is most likely these reviews were generated by a bias party invested in the property. Same reason Yelp here in the U.S. is an unreliable source for honest reviews. You seen it first hand and can come away with a more accurate assessment of the property. In my opinion, it didn't look terrible, but needed some rehab.
Not everybody are seeking a modern hotel experince. That is my guess for the high score. If you are looking for a true traditional experience this is a good place, so people who like that give it a high score. In the end star reviews are inadequate. Different people are looking for different things and those differences can only be taken into consideration with a more in depth description than you will get with a lonely number score.
Hi Katt, that is true. Still, the place was leaking and honestly a bit dirty here and there... traditional or modern is one thing but cleanness & safety of the place to me is first priority... that is why I find it a bit odd that so many people were satisfied with their stay. Maybe because the price was cheap enough to justify for the drawbacks?
いやいやー、ユーチューブは本当に最高ですねー。都市計画のマニアックの私は、伊勢に住んでた頃から「いつか、延び延びにぽつねんと一戸建てをリフォームしてー」とずっと思い込んでいたのですが、好良屋さんを見つけて可能性が急に閃きました。片言の日本語ですが、英語でも後ほど御社ホームページを通して連絡させて頂きます。Thanks for the realistic and practical content!
Just dropped by to say all the posters in the train station got me curious and I did end up watching Wolf Children. No regrets. Will probably go back to it a couple of times.
It's sad to see such a beautiful Japanese town dying despite being well connected via railway, road connectivity. Japanese population is aging that can be reason.
For that price, just do it, get it , a small remodel, better insulation, better heating, new bathroom, and done. Very good investment, the land and the woods structure is worth more than the prices asked.Do it.TH
Amazing video👌🏼 . I'm surprised by the condition of the first house and how it did not have any leaks. I'm also sad for the town seeing many houses overgrown with vines I didn't know Japan had towns this empty in the countryside.
Yes the first house is in good hands now and I might be able to film the BEFORE and AFTER when it's done :) but also yes the dead quiet town is a bit depressing
they definitely need renovate, but damn 4k for an house it's almost free ! in france just a small empty lot with just grasses is like 30k and even very very old house are 80k / 100k minimum
these houses are so beautiful, they give off a calm sensation, a good isolation from the noise. My dream would be to get a job that can be done from everywhere and just live in an house like this.
Looking at the quality of the guest house, and the location, I think fixing the nearby Machiya up into a rental for travelers might be a good investment. If it works out, you can always buy some of the overgrown units nearby and fix them up for rentals. The first one is nice, lots of potential. I think I would buy them both for that good price.
Low traffic roadside would be not so loud. What about floods. Is price fixed or get for 7500. That's long house. Kominca for 3500. Maybe 3300. Water pool on step. Trim bush brighten light. Dig trench to clear water from house. Prop up floors on stone block. Wait until other houses sell as scrap. Buy. Clear. Make eel bbq pond restaurant.
hello I just came across this video in this channel don't mean to be neurotic but let's be honest this RU-vidr is quite handsome. 😘 Now that is done I know Japan is having a huge issue with population because people are dying more than they are having births. That's why there's so many cheap older homes, because the children or grandchildren that inherit them do not want to pay high property taxes on a second home. I like millions of other Americans would totally love to move to Japan and live in a smaller rural town . But if they're not going to make it easy to get citizenship or permanent residents I don't see the purpose and buying a home there
I enjoyed your video very much, I wouldn’t worry about the first house being too low, it’s doesn’t look like the foundations have sunk and this would never happen to the whole building. The second house was nice but I think perhaps it’s a little close to the river, especially if as you say that river regularly floods. The guest gets good reviews because people are just glad of a bed for the night and they recognise it’s barley hanging on and so they are reluctant to say anything negative.
Ohh! I am looking for something like this for under $10K. Old samurai house or olden days house. I know there are cons to buying such old houses, but I am still interested. The Machiya house looks better than other rental Japanese apartments I have seen on RU-vid. I will try keeping as much of it as untouched as possible, just wipe the walls & floors clean. The tatami is well preserved. It would be a pity to renovate to modern furnishings. I just need to know 1) Whether anyone died in there 2) What is the reason that the house is empty, what happened.//Wow... Kamiichi is so 1980s.
Yes I agree Kamiichi is very 1980s...or 70s 60s. No one died in these houses. The owners just cannot take care of the houses anymore as they don't live in town anymore. The houses are slowly deteriorating without being taken care of for 10+ years. Such a shame but really nothing we can do with less and less population in Japan.
Thank you so much for the clip. It’s motivative. Actually I’m living Toyama now. I was thinking of buy a second but I’m afraid of many things. Thanks to the clip, I will think more about my plan.
Those are great investment opportunities if you need to do some money laundry. How does it work? Lets say you have 100k undeclared usd (that you want to launder) and 50k declared usd. You purchase that house for 10k (using your declared 50k), and start doing big reparations. Most labour and materials can be purchased without any receipt, and thats where you use your undeclared 100.000 and some of your extra declared 40k. The idea is to mix dirty money with clean money in this process. From my experience, most labour can be paid with dirty money. At the end of the day you will end up with a potential 150.000 usd house, that for the state you only invested 40k. If you sell the house, you will end up with 150k clean money. This is quite a common practice all over the world. Its not illegal nor strange to sell something you repaired for much money than the cost needed to repair it. Using this to laundry some money is illegal tho :D
The first house visited seems to me to be in much better condition than the second house. The 2nd house seemed to have suffered some water damage, also it not being connected to the sewage system is definitely a red flag, unless one doesn’t mind an outhouse indoors. From my perspective.
Thanks for showing off this area!! I killed a man here back in the 70s and fled to Russia, really wonderful area in Japan that not many have payed attention to.
I wonder if it would be worth "jacking up" the building that is close to the ground. I wonder if there are tradesmen who have the skills to do that there. Jacking up a home "one level" to make a house larger and even moving houses around town, or even barging them to locations far away is a common practice on the coast of BC Canada. I was also left to wonder. One house you mentioned was not connected to the Sewer. I take this to mean its on a private septic system? Lorne.
So, off the train, a little walk and there you are? It sounds nice to get to the country. Look, these house weren't made under the greatest planning. If you plant a tree, know that from its center to the end of its branches it still has 50% more roots to go. You should build on a solid foundation. You need rock or cement down in the ground! Sanitation says you should build at least 100 feet, about 30 meters from a river. They knew to get the mosquito netting out. People in Japan are getting older. I'm sure there are many houses, but everyone, especially the young, need things to do!
my brother did this, there are alot of issues like if it has land you need to go through the agriculture law. also you need to be a citizen or permanent resident or at least have a living visa to pull this off be careful of a co. that tells you otherwise.you usually have to invest alot and many of these places look okay on the outside but on the inside its a nightmare. having said all that it may not be super cheap but its good price and japan is an amazing country i have been there many times. if you already have connection I think its worth it
If the place you had planned to stay overnight was a 4.5 star lodging, I would like (maybe not?) to see what the reviewers consider a one or two star place! I am curious what sort of industries the main income of the residents comes from.
10,000 it is basically free.. I am in chicago... I am looking at homes that are 350,000$... 30 years to pay them of.. monthly payment with other things, around 3,000$
