This blog will document my progress as I work to buy my first (real) investment property in Japan.
My goal is to buy a multifamily rental property in Japan. While anyone can pay cash to buy property in Japan, that is not the way more sophisticated real estate investors operate. Most real estate investment involves some leverage, and then by extension, a great “return on equity” than that investor would achieve by paying cash. My goal is to find a significant multi-unit building (3+ units, could be 10+ units), and to secure a loan from a Japanese bank to finance the purchase. My intention is that this purchase will be the beginning of a portfolio of rental income property in Japan.
While I hope to document the basic steps to buy investment property in Japan, this is not my first real estate transaction. I have bought, remodeled, and sold a personal residence in the United States. I then bought a second property in the US, lived it for several years, and am now renting it to tenants (and am learning how to deal with property management companies).
I have since bought a personal residence in Japan, was able to get a loan for that purchase (even before I was a permanent resident, which is somewhat rare). I separately bought, remodeled, and sold a “owner change” condominium rental unit in Japan – but as I paid cash for that, it was much simpler than my current plan (and tied up a lot of cash). That wasn’t an ideal investment (perhaps I’ll tell that story here some other time).
While I have completed several deals, I am close enough to the beginning of my story, that my notes and progress can still be useful for complete beginners.
It just so happens I am also a partner in a “real estate related business” (it’s not a typical real estate agency) located in Japan (we help clients find English-speaking real estate agents in Osaka). While my involvement in that business has greatly increased my knowledge of the Japanese real estate market, it has not necessarily made it easy (at all) to complete this purchase.
It has been so hard to get this projects off the ground. That is what inspired me to write about it.
Separately; I have been studying US-based real estate investment, including reading books about buying multifamily property. Those books are almost all written by Americans, and focus on US-based investment property. It is my belief that the principles of real estate investing are universal; most of what is true about buying rental property in western countries will apply to buying property for investment in Japan (what is true in one market is basically true in the next, and for the same reasons). I have read almost all of the recent books about real estate in Japan written in English; all of which are pretty general, and none of those books are particularly focused on multifamily investing. So far, I can confirm that much of what I have learned in US-based books about income-generating property applies to real estate in this country as well.
While the stories of established investors are helpful, we often appreciate watching new investor navigate their early decisions. Should I fail (zero chance that is going to happen, I will get this done, I will get this done), perhaps I’ll be able to share some reasons why. If I am successful (bet on it), I’m sure I can help provide some specific details that will help other investors. I can also share some of the surprises, which is again – where I am at at the time of this first post.
The time to get started is now. With this blog. And with my career as a (international) real estate investor.