Well, shucks...

Finding land, working a small plot or anything else countryside related
dayunbao
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Well, shucks...

Post by dayunbao »

I just had a conversation with my girlfriend about the akiya we looked at when I was in Japan. When I mentioned how her attitude towards the house had changed after visiting it, she very politely apologized for making me think that she no longer saw it as some dark, dirty place that she'd never live in (it's actually neither dark or dirty). So, no progress has been made on that front, after all.

This house is listed on an akiya bank, which, as I understand it, is not a real estate agency. The akiya bank simply refers interested parties to the person selling it, right? So I don't have to get a real estate agent involved just to ask some questions? Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can find out some information about this house (since my girlfriend refuses to be involved)?

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gonbechan
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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by gonbechan »

You can contact the municipality involved. There will be a phone number or an email contact on the local akiya page.

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Re: Well, shucks...

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Well, I don't speak enough Japanese to be able to manage that myself yet. That's the major problem.

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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by gonbechan »

dayunbao wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 2:35 pm
Well, I don't speak enough Japanese to be able to manage that myself yet. That's the major problem.
Try sending them an email in English, you might be pleasantly surprised.

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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by Ibaraki llama »

What kind of house is your girlfriend keen on? If it's a new one, like the majority of Japanese prefer, you might have to compromise a bit on the akiya. I know you've mentioned that you want to live mortgage free, but with the right place and a bit of money you can do a place up quite nicely - modernise the interior and lighten it up with additional windows and skylights, and it would still likely be cheaper than buying land and building a new house on it.

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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by Tora »

All the recent media attention being given to making over older houses really helped get my wife on the bandwagon. Visiting some stylish cafes, lodgings and friends’ houses also helped. Dropping a nonchalant comment about a nice point you liked that would make her/our life better too is also a sales technique. The hard sell from a loved one can backfire big time! Got some serious crash and burn stories to to back that one up but they are multiple beer endeavors.

Despite convincing my wife of the merits of an older renovated house to the level that I am now working on said renovation, I apparently didn’t succeed in convincing her to the point that she wants to give her time, effort and significant “secret” savings freely and willingly.... Doing most of it myself is both rewarding and exhausting! But, it’s stressful trying to discuss and make important decisions with she’s giving me the blank-faced binky blink of someone who hasn’t even tried to figure out what’s actually happening. What I’m trying to say is make sure she’s and on board and hung ho as you unless you’re ready and willing to go it alone. I think it’d be much easier and enjoyable that way.

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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by Ibaraki llama »

Tora wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:07 pm
What I’m trying to say is make sure she’s and on board and hung ho as you unless you’re ready and willing to go it alone. I think it’d be much easier and enjoyable that way.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. My wife took a bit of persuading - I focused on the lifestyle aspects of having a big garden that I knew she liked from our time abroad. Now she’s fully on board. I’m having a bit of the opposite problem in that she doesn’t want me to do much DIY. I’ve had to compromise on things that she wants like a unit bath (easier to clean), but these things add up in price.

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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by dayunbao »

Zaimondos wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 9:52 pm
What kind of house is your girlfriend keen on?
I know she likes tiny houses. There's a guy who has a YouTube channel devoted to them, and we've watched several of his shows. I like tiny houses, too, but the place I'm interested in is basically a tiny house. We've talked about buying a piece of land and putting something like a container house on it, but why bother when we could get a house that's already been built, is bigger, and probably cheaper?
Tora wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:07 pm
Doing most of it myself is both rewarding and exhausting! But, it’s stressful trying to discuss and make important decisions with she’s giving me the blank-faced binky blink of someone who hasn’t even tried to figure out what’s actually happening. What I’m trying to say is make sure she’s and on board and hung ho as you unless you’re ready and willing to go it alone. I think it’d be much easier and enjoyable that way.
That's the direction this whole thing is heading, if nothing changes. I agree that everything would be easier and more enjoyable if she were onboard.

I don't think the place needs much renovation, but that's one of the things I'm trying learn about the house. If it does need a lot of work, I won't buy it. I also won't buy it unless I can get it for the price I want.

I'll try sending an email in English, and go from there.

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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by Ibaraki llama »

That’s the tiny house channel with the New Zealand guy, right? I watch a lot of his videos. If we move back to Australia I think I’d like to get a tiny house on a large block somewhere out in the country.

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Re: Well, shucks...

Post by dayunbao »

Zaimondos wrote:
Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:56 am
That’s the tiny house channel with the New Zealand guy, right? I watch a lot of his videos. If we move back to Australia I think I’d like to get a tiny house on a large block somewhere out in the country.
That's the one. Lots of cute, cool houses on his channel. Most don't seem too expensive, either. I'm not sure how much building a tiny house in Japan would be, though. Since there's a fledgling tiny house industry in the US, Europe, Oz, and NZ, but not in Japan, it seems like there'd be additional expenses in Japan. For example, you'd have to import a yurt from the US, and so the overall cost would be higher in Japan than in America.

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