00:00:04: I'm Brett Lee, CEO and co-founder of Akihub.

00:00:07: I am here with Shumatsu Posts my Co-Founder.

00:00:10: You guys might recognize us from YouTube.

00:00:14: Why are we not a real estate agency?

00:00:16: And our goal is to push properties on people.

00:00:19: Our goal in hope is that if we reach enough people who actually love Japan, like hopefully everyone here in this room.

00:00:25: That we can foster a really strong community of educated and culturally informed people And together We can harness the market forces of supply-and-demand.

00:00:34: and in ten to twenty years many regions Of japan and thousands of houses that would otherwise not be with us are and we played A small part In making that happen.

00:00:43: so Akihub is a community platform with lots of tools and resources, services.

00:00:48: We built the network of three hundred real estate brokerages property managers renovation companies that are friendly to foreign owners which is kind of a caveat you have to watch out for here.

00:00:59: So how's it going?

00:01:00: As Ziv mentioned we launched February tenth of twenty-twenty five And we attended the first Japan Real Estate Summit in April, and we had thirty-five hundred members.

00:01:09: It was a big time for us—we grew really fast —and then in October... ...we grew to thirteen thousand members!

00:01:15: That's when were here at The Last Summit.

00:01:17: Today….

00:01:18: …we're currently at thirty two thousand members.

00:01:20: so we have nine Xs in our one year time being here.

00:01:24: So it is pretty great With that growth on our platform.

00:01:27: there has been a lot of growth from our team.

00:01:29: We actually just got new office and Kamata and Otaku.

00:01:34: We're on the tenth floor and we are building it out.

00:01:36: It's kind of work in progress, like a seventy percent there but were going to start doing some in-person stuff.

00:01:40: that will be pretty fun.

00:01:42: And uh...the best part is only twenty eight minutes from airport.

00:01:45: so you have lot members who flyin'.

00:01:47: they want see us in person.

00:01:48: But now..we can actually meet everyone in person.

00:01:58: So hopefully I'll see ya guys at And we are hiring still.

00:02:05: Currently the team is around twelve, but we want to be about twenty by the end of Q three.

00:02:09: so if you're interested at all in working and Japanese real estate not just on a real-estate side with helping foreigners educated learn about Japanese real state You can go to Akihab.com slash careers.

00:02:21: We have some our team members here today Can talk with them.

00:02:24: see whether they like it or not.

00:02:26: If don't then work with us But maybe do like him.

00:02:28: Maybe consider that.

00:02:31: So plan for today's talk.

00:02:32: I love data And Shu loves stories, so you're going to get both.

00:02:36: I'll start right with the key thing of The Talk which is everyone loves free stuff and we see this a lot With people that are interested in real estate In Japan.

00:02:46: Everyone loves cats and Shu's gonna tell ya all about cats After This.

00:02:50: But All Free Things Are Not Created Equal.

00:02:54: There really three types Of Free things.

00:02:57: There are things That Are Truly Free Like Information & Knowledge We Can Give You Here Today.

00:03:03: They're things that are free, asterisk with conditions.

00:03:06: So some of those conditions might be with purchase or you got to do something and get something for it.

00:03:12: And then there's another type of fee that costs a fortune later if don't watch out For it.

00:03:17: The first thing we'll talk about is truly free Like membership.

00:03:21: on our platform You can go to Akihab.com.

00:03:24: Click one of these buttons.

00:03:26: Give us information what your interested in and why you want to potentially buy house And then you'll get access to hundreds of free articles and guides on everything from specific location insights, to a specific property.

00:03:40: To what's a shogi door?

00:03:41: Like how does that even work?

00:03:42: Why are tatami rooms

00:03:43: here?".

00:03:44: Something important I want to call out is none-of this.

00:03:47: like AI generated slot We actually have a full-time professional writer on staff, Sam from the back of the room.

00:03:53: Raise your hands, Sam?

00:03:54: So he's our director at Publications and he spends pretty much every day nights and weekends just researching every question that everyone in the community has and writing really good human created articles and guides for everyone so they can be informed before making big decisions about buying house in Japan.

00:04:12: Since everybody loves free stuff one thing is once you create an account if we go to data reports We're going to be giving away everyone the free gift.

00:04:21: number one, which is our twenty-twenty six Q One market overview.

00:04:24: So this is a lot of proprietary data that normally we would only use internally so we can make better decisions for our members and own investments.

00:04:33: but were gonna go over some those things.

00:04:35: today We have pre-fracture level pricing breakdowns, the property criteria discount curves.

00:04:40: So like which things can you change about what your looking for in a house to get massive discounts?

00:04:45: Days on market data right now for Q one and lot of other metrics.

00:04:49: but today I want give you little preview at conference again.

00:04:52: it's completely free.

00:04:53: once create your account go look.

00:04:55: all that data And i do have to be given a bit of data disclaimer Which is our data comes from thirty-two thousand members, three hundred partners and you can interpret the data however you like because it's freely available.

00:05:06: but this is our interpretation of the data.

00:05:08: It's how we see the data.

00:05:10: its what we use to make decisions for our members in ourselves.

00:05:13: so it's not necessarily right or wrong.

00:05:15: You could interpret that as well But This Is Just How We Do So.

00:05:19: One Of The First Questions I Asked Myself Whenever We Compile All Data Is What Changed?

00:05:24: So we had the Q three twenty-twenty five market overview.

00:05:27: What's the biggest change in q one?

00:05:30: Does anyone have any ideas what it might've been?

00:05:32: there is a lot of volatility in the world and whatnot.

00:05:34: so yeah, One of the biggest changes was prices which Is actually good if you want to buy house because everything nationally The median price not average medium price dropped by twelve percent.

00:05:46: so properties that were hundred grand You can get for eighty now.

00:05:50: And with That big drop do you think more people bought houses or people were not buying houses.

00:05:56: I think some of you might guess that a lot of people started buying houses, the market priced itself correctly and a lot volume came through.

00:06:05: so if we look at Tokyo jumped from forty to sixty four percent sell-through rate.

00:06:09: Chiba, Saitama pretty much anywhere thats adjacent to major metropolitan area went thru roof properties where averaging around thirty days before this in those same areas Forty-five days is the average in the entire country, but around those areas twenty three day.

00:06:27: So a property lists and it's gone in two weeks And that's the the average sales to sell through rate for these areas.

00:06:34: So Properties that you're interested in are moving really fast.

00:06:37: so one of the key things Is if you find a house?

00:06:40: You like move fast because The market is moving incredibly fast in Q One and its accelerating To the back into q ones oq too.

00:06:48: I'm assuming It's going to be even faster.

00:06:52: interesting pieces of data as well that we found is the overlooked and undervalued properties.

00:06:59: So for the exact same age or property, location size in square footage are square meters and condition.

00:07:07: if you go with an older style layout seventy percent discounts in some scenarios.

00:07:12: so If You Want a Two LDK get A Three DK so That Means Instead Of A Living Dining Kitchen Space You Just Have Three Bedrooms And A Dining kitchen space.

00:07:21: use one of the other rooms as a living room, like be creative with it.

00:07:25: Knock down a wall do whatever you want to but you can get a seventy percent discount and this is across all prefectures.

00:07:32: This just right now in market highly under values and under prices.

00:07:37: three DK's four DKs because pricing really thought out for domestic markets And the domestic buyer currently wants new layout on modern amenities.

00:07:46: these properties are equally, sometimes the same builder.

00:07:49: They're built in the same neighborhood but just because of layout you'll be able to get a seventy percent discount.

00:07:54: so when your searching might want look at some other layouts that kind old style.

00:08:02: So one thing is truly free information.

00:08:05: let's talk about things with condition and first condition is purchase Our platform, we have tons and tons of tools and resources.

00:08:13: And it is a subscription platform.

00:08:15: so you do pay monthly membership or annual membership in order to access all the tools but We give free updates for everyone who subscribes indefinitely.

00:08:24: So keep getting more value as we add features regardless if subscribed one year ago Or subscribe today.

00:08:33: An example of this is when we first launched back in February, our search wasn't really a search as much.

00:08:38: it was a personalized property feed.

00:08:41: So it's kind like Tinder where you go through bunch properties and look at different ones based on your preferences to swipe left or right.

00:08:49: instead matching with EGGER you match that house.

00:08:52: that worked really, really well for people who were just getting started and didn't know anything about the areas.

00:08:58: They weren't as educated because there wasn't a place to be educated right?

00:09:02: People knew maybe Tokyo or Kyoto sometimes Osaka but now they have become educated.

00:09:11: so we built two more powerful search tools no additional cost.

00:09:16: this is free with purchase our map search and are quick-search.

00:09:21: And they're for different entry levels of knowledge, if you just looking at a prefecture in general or Quick Search is really good to get.

00:09:28: feel the market like what does generally look on type house that your'e looking for?

00:09:33: Our Map Search is kind honing once you do know more about areas.

00:09:38: So our map search has a lot of features.

00:09:40: One of the ones that I like is you can build your own property radar, so look at things like price per square meter or age and floor area... ...or even define custom algorithm for how value a property when looking for investment or personal vacation use And then color code properties on maps to know which one are outliers.

00:10:00: You will find those valuable properties easier.

00:10:03: We also added things like the train map so that no matter where you're looking, You can find how close they are to your train.

00:10:09: And of course look at all these properties in list views and see details about them.

00:10:15: The newest feature we just added is a heatmap.

00:10:17: So let's say you do have a specific criteria looking for property between ninety five thousand and one hundred thirty-five thousand built after nineteen eighty one.

00:10:25: And maybe eighty square meters or bigger, You can run the heat map in look at the entire map of Japan see where those pockets properties are that match the criteria what your searching again for investment or vacation.

00:10:37: so you notice.

00:10:38: okay may be if we go west Tokyo there is more properties to meet that criteria or further into Chiba South.

00:10:45: This is a really, really helpful feature that we've been seeing massive usage for because a lot of people still don't quite know all the different regions and areas.

00:10:53: So this is good way to just find maybe an unknown town or like small off-shoot from Tokyo you might have never visited.

00:11:02: but now that see where the inventory.

00:11:08: So we really wanted to build these three tools so you can find your place in Japan, your way regardless of your education level and how much You do know about all the different areas of japan.

00:11:15: That's one Of the first things that We really want it to expand for free For all our members as we keep growing Our platform.

00:11:22: but search isn't enough.

00:11:23: after you search And you find a house there is A lot other information you need.

00:11:26: One of The Other Things We Built Was an Affordability Calculator.

00:11:30: So, instead of saying how much you want to look for it.

00:11:34: You say what is your total budget and it will back into.

00:11:37: How can actually afford?

00:11:38: There's a lot other taxes that are involved when buying the house.

00:11:41: so this'll save.

00:11:42: if have hundred thousand dollar budget probably wanna be shopping at top end at eighty five thousand because all the taxism fees in things might not considering they're gonna come up.

00:11:53: We also added the full price estimated calculator, which is how we're able to do that.

00:11:56: Which is every single possible tax fee service insurance property management everything you could think of as all there.

00:12:02: so You can get really detailed on How much this?

00:12:05: Really gonna cost me versus just looking at the listing price on properties.

00:12:09: But that's still not enough.

00:12:10: So we did more free updates and we added after The last summit we had a lot of feedback That people are like we love those calculators.

00:12:17: they great.

00:12:18: But what about after I buy the house?

00:12:21: So we built an annual ownership cost calculator and this goes into a lot of things.

00:12:25: so there's property details, location in climate because you might have to pay for snow removal.

00:12:30: The usage.

00:12:31: how often are you actually?

00:12:32: they're with type of property manager do You Have?

00:12:33: What Are the insurances that you got?

00:12:35: all these fields There's like twenty other Fields as well That you can fill out With it.

00:12:39: And then We give you An optimistic A realistic and a cautious Overview of what are the actual annual and monthly fees look like after you buy a house?

00:12:49: So this is one Of The things that A lot of people don't think of particularly when they have their budget in mind where They're Like.

00:12:54: I Have a hundred Thousand Dollars.

00:12:55: I want to get a House In Japan.

00:12:56: great You did it now.

00:12:58: What do you have other money for?

00:13:00: the Monthly the Annual Things That you're Gonna, Have Including Things like Furnishing your House?

00:13:04: Did you like a Lot of People forget that the House Is Empty?

00:13:07: but i really Don't Get Remember That or the most houses in japan?

00:13:11: They don't come with Their Conditions.

00:13:12: you have to put your own air conditions in, right?

00:13:15: So these are things that we want make sure everyone bakes into their own underwriting regardless of what type or property they're buying.

00:13:21: But still wasn't enough.

00:13:23: so it did more free updates which is for investors.

00:13:26: A lot of investors... We have an investment program where we source a lot off-market properties ourselves and run them through different property managers renovation companies get all the numbers ahead at times exactly when investing but some people wanna do with themselves totally fine.

00:13:41: So we built a rental cash flow simulator.

00:13:43: This simulator has around one hundred and twenty fields that you go through from the purchasing conditions, building details to income expenses everything.

00:13:50: You can actually take property on our site and run it thru this calculator And then gives your really detailed view of your cashflow yield calculations, expences when your payback period is what your cash flow in monthly annual upto fifty years.

00:14:04: if u want calculate at way its completely dynamic control every thing yourself but have some preset things.

00:14:11: So after all the updates and free data, feedback that we got.

00:14:17: We built another tool!

00:14:19: And this one's not free.

00:14:20: so again it is kind of free with purchase but every subscriber existing or new subscribers anyone who subscribes today or tomorrow in a year from now they're going to get three free credits for these tools.

00:14:32: And it's really important to call out, this is a tool that could not exist until now because the amount of data required to actually build a tool like this.

00:14:40: That's going give you accurate insights and we called property intelligence.

00:14:45: so what it does is?

00:14:46: It looks at the entire market an then it also narrows in on its specific property that your interested in To Give You A Full Rundown Of.

00:14:55: Is This Property A Good Buy Or Not?

00:14:56: What'S The Market Value Really For This Property?

00:15:00: How does it rank compared to other properties?

00:15:02: What's the range that you should be looking at, and then what is quality of data used for these decisions?

00:15:07: because not all data are created equal.

00:15:10: Then shows us all the comps cause we actually can have historic sold-and active market comp on land values AND property values And gives this full assessment on.

00:15:20: Is This a Goodbye?

00:15:21: At least a good place to start whenever your browsing.

00:15:24: So a lot of times you might want to just browse, save ten or twenty properties and then run intelligence To see which ones are actually good deals.

00:15:32: And we have price history now Which is something that's not on like if your from the states Or other countries You got Zillow things Like everyone has used to seeing.

00:15:40: what Is this property?

00:15:42: That data doesn't exist in Japan But it does know.

00:15:46: One really important thing to call out The reason why were able do This.

00:15:50: We didn't originally when first started.

00:15:53: Data is incredibly bifurcated all over.

00:15:57: So if you go and see a property listing, you might see it on twenty different sites.

00:16:02: You see at once on nifty nine times on yahoo ten times on sumo sixteen times on lifeful homes And ten time or seven times one at home.

00:16:09: It's the same property But it might be twenty different agents that are listing that same property.

00:16:14: so If you try to build an intelligence tool That says what's the value of this property?

00:16:18: It's like oh there's thirty houses that look just Like This One That Are Price At This Rate.

00:16:21: It doesn't work if you can't deduplicate all of the housing data in Japan.

00:16:26: That's what we built our platform to do so that when you look at properties, every single version of the property they're looking at regardless how agents want a list.

00:16:35: So let's talk about free with condition and this condition is no purchase necessary.

00:16:40: So Japan it easy to visit but its much harder actually live-in.

00:16:44: We wanted create something for those who have felt difference here.

00:16:51: wanted you to make more of a like, instead of a week of temples and sushi photos.

00:16:55: One this for people that are asking could I actually live here?

00:16:58: Would i still love it once the novelty wears

00:17:00: off?".

00:17:01: And we created this book called The Live Like A Local Handbook.

00:17:04: It goes through all phases from before you arrive in Japan.

00:17:08: if want really lived like local.

00:17:09: see try on for size what feels To the first twenty four hours, The First Week.

00:17:14: The first couple months and then gives you a lot of templates And references and checklists to go through as You live here.

00:17:19: so it's A really good personal guide for trying to Live like local.

00:17:23: normally we sell For ninety seven dollars with digital copy but today We're going to be giving It away for free everyone Here.

00:17:29: all you have to do is sign up for your Friacchia account and Then send us a picture Of you hear at the summit With one our team members and you get a Free Copy of the book?

00:17:37: We also Have a physical copy that we are selling Today And it's fifteen thousand yen, so purchase is necessary.

00:17:44: However we only have thirty copies and I think there are a lot more than thirty of you here.

00:17:49: What were going to do was if take photo with one our team members after buying the book You're gonna get an annual subscription for free.

00:17:58: It normally costs three hundred dollars That membership comes three property intelligence credits, so you can immediately get started and a basic property inquiry which is the service where we reach out to agents on your behalf.

00:18:09: And find out about specific property if you're ready to move forward.

00:18:12: So in total that's around twelve thousand dollars worth of stuff We are going give away for free.

00:18:16: Whoever wants to buy this book You will be locked-in.

00:18:18: There were three team members back there That you could hold up a copy from Sam.

00:18:24: He'll go into bar room with some books If interested doing it.

00:18:29: One final free gift.

00:18:31: So we have thirty-two thousand members, but hundreds of thousands of members reach out to us literally every day.

00:18:36: It's an onslaught of questions and they're not buying... most of them are not buying on the next like even one or two years.

00:18:43: They are dreaming!

00:18:44: Their exploring and their putting together a five to ten year plan And for those people Akihab might be little bit too much.

00:18:49: it is for people that ready make happen But not everyone is ready.

00:18:53: take first step and don't need full ecosystem.

00:18:57: So, a lot of property sites in Japan are not built for foreigners.

00:19:00: And the foreigner-friendly site is often locked behind a paywall even for things like basic search and we noticed that lots of sites recently popping up.

00:19:10: That at best our subpar experience.

00:19:14: they're just complete scams.

00:19:16: They don't try to help people purchase their house Just trying to draw attention.

00:19:20: there's cheaper free houses In japan.

00:19:23: Those sites and stuff there.

00:19:25: from what I can tell they're not even based in Japan.

00:19:27: They don't have any operations here, they don't keep their data updated... ...they list properties that aren't even for sale!

00:19:32: They just look really good online.

00:19:34: so try to convince people oh you get a free house with an old temple.

00:19:38: it looks great but those arent' real listings.

00:19:41: And taking advantage of the people who do love japan want explore and dream a little.. ..but theyre not ready yet.

00:19:46: And charge access often more than we even charged our full platform.

00:19:51: We've taken this personally because our goal is to be the true front door for Japanese real estate and Bad actors impact all of us, everyone in the Japanese real-estate community.

00:20:02: So we've had just too many members come to us that have been scammed or they even lost money And they thought there were buying a house.

00:20:09: They weren't.

00:20:11: so There has to be a way To fight this.

00:20:13: going back to our mission at the beginning Of talk like why?

00:20:15: We're here is really try to solve and are a small way, but part of the Akiha problem.

00:20:20: We really want these properties to still exist.

00:20:22: they're beautiful we love them...we love Japan.

00:20:25: So our plan for The Dreamers in order to dream safely They need a tool that has one job property search no fake listings No homes you can't buy no leasehold traps where You Can Buy The House But You Actually Don't Even Own The Land And You Don't Find Out Until After.

00:20:41: so We Created A New Site Called Akiya Hunter Where You Can Discover Japan's Vacant Homes In English.

00:20:45: One Hundred Percent For Free.

00:20:47: It's our entire map search tool from Akiah Hub, all the same data.

00:20:52: All of those ways that you can use your property radar and see all these properties.

00:20:55: You get a full listings in English with all their original sources and it is one hundred percent free.

00:21:00: We don't need to pay anything at-all.

00:21:02: if we just sign up today then access

00:21:04: it.".

00:21:05: That was good kind of free knowledge for updates, free purchase, no purchase necessary.

00:21:10: now something truly freespace dreamers who are like five or ten years away actually buying.

00:21:15: but As we said, everyone loves free stuff and cats.

00:21:20: And not all free things are created equal.

00:21:22: so there's one more kind of free thing that you've got to talk about.

00:21:25: It shows up in the headlines then it can quietly become the most expensive decision ever made.

00:21:30: She is going show exactly what trying a free house looks like.

00:21:50: Oh, all

00:22:21: right.

00:22:24: You guys want something better?

00:22:25: Better free stuff?

00:22:27: Yeah?

00:22:28: Yes!

00:22:28: Because I can promise you... ...I have better stuff than Brett just gave away.

00:22:40: It's a free house.

00:22:41: So one of you in this room might walk away with the freehouse today In Japan.

00:22:49: How is that?

00:22:50: But there may be a big catch so let me explain it to ya.

00:22:53: Alright, so raise your hand.

00:22:58: Be honest if you want a free house in Japan Okay this is good A lot more than I thought it was gonna be okay All right.

00:23:10: So a freehouse that i'm talking about today It's not This guy and so I did...I bought a Free House In Fujisawa Last year About a Year ago And uh That short form video Kind of went viral I think on YouTube.

00:23:24: three point five million views.

00:23:27: Oh yeah, Emil.

00:23:28: We went together.

00:23:28: yes Yes So this house Was free the structure was free so I wasn't lying but it's called Furiyatsuki Tochi means land with old slash freehouse Okay?

00:23:49: So i did pay for the land.

00:23:51: so its like a little bit misleading and There are lot of people on the internet who do this Have to admit I was one of them, but you know.

00:24:00: It wasn't entirely lying.

00:24:02: But today i'm not talking about one of these houses.

00:24:05: i'm talking About a free house both land and the structure through full ownership on The cat island.

00:24:17: Yes that went viral On my channel And those freehouses in japan actually do exist.

00:24:23: there are quite A few of them?

00:24:25: and i'm gonna give You a story One of them that I saw and also one point.

00:24:31: two million people watch this video as well.

00:24:35: Did you have?

00:24:36: has anyone watched his video?

00:24:38: Yeah, okay a few review.

00:24:39: Thank You thank you Okay.

00:24:42: So this one the last time we checked he got one point to million views on my YouTube channel.

00:24:47: It's uh The most washed video too this day And i only published it two months ago.

00:24:52: so that tells me one thing everyone loves free houses and more importantly Cats, yeah probably.

00:25:00: So it was really on the cat island.

00:25:04: so let me tell you where this free house is.

00:25:08: Okay, so setonai-kai Seto Inland Sea between Honshu This is Okayama Ken and then that's Kagawa Ken And there is a tiny Island called Sanagi To which You have to take either a ferry A boat or maybe a jet ski.

00:25:28: Okay, so I decided to take a private boat.

00:25:30: I hired Fujiwara-san and Took me about took us forty forty five minutes To get there.

00:25:37: it's a beautiful ride.

00:25:38: i recommend It if you have the time?

00:25:41: To Get There And this is in.

00:25:43: it took Me About Thirty Minutes once i got on The Island to find This House.

00:25:48: So this was the free house that Was Offered to me and it looks decent right.

00:25:54: yeah its not too bad.

00:25:55: and he wasn't tilted like the one that I got in Fujisawa.

00:25:59: It really wasn't tilted.

00:26:01: So, Sanagi Island The population used to be over a thousand A few decades ago.

00:26:08: Now it's less than fifty.

00:26:11: The number of... economy?

00:26:13: Nearly zero.

00:26:14: so i went to a cafe and did spend some money but was only place on island That I know about makes money.

00:26:21: so economy is almost nothing.

00:26:24: There are alot cats They say about a hundred cats, so twice as many humans live in there.

00:26:34: And they're empty homes everywhere on the island.

00:26:38: So when you hear the word Akia Right?

00:26:42: You probably picture abandoned houses right because that's what you see on the internet.

00:26:48: But Akia literally means empty Homes In Japanese.

00:26:52: okay vacant.

00:26:53: so it could be Vacant for A day or a decade.

00:26:59: Okay, so that could be an Akiya and sometimes That means truly abandoned like this.

00:27:06: So I saw abandoned Akiyas everywhere on this island.

00:27:10: now i was Like okay?

00:27:12: This is not looking good But the inside of The actual house the free House that Was given Or offered to me what's pretty decent.

00:27:23: so bathroom obviously very outdated.

00:27:26: All the rooms were outdated, but I've seen worse.

00:27:29: This is not too bad and it wasn't tilted okay?

00:27:32: And a stunning C view.

00:27:35: so let's talk about the price tag.

00:27:38: You might be like which year you just said It's a free house.

00:27:41: or are you talking about the pricestack?

00:27:43: well

00:27:43: what freehouse a free actually means in this case?

00:27:49: Okay So the true cost of a free House.

00:27:54: So if you were to renovate something like this i'd say minimum.

00:27:58: It's going to cost you five million yen.

00:28:00: So that is what he was like, thirty-five thousand dollars?

00:28:04: To upwards of thirty million yen.

00:28:06: so either gut job or demolish it and build a new house right?

00:28:13: So abandon not just vacant homes.

00:28:16: Japanese homes often require really intensive renovations And also comes with some taxes annual property taxes, and if you have a property management You know you want to hire that person as well.

00:28:31: So even the land and structure might be free.

00:28:35: there will be some taxes.

00:28:40: Okay All right.

00:28:42: so why are these?

00:28:44: Why aren't they're free houses all over Japan?

00:28:47: There's some reasons but The most common reason is inheritance.

00:28:51: alright, so in Japan aging population declining population So a lot of what happens is that some people who used to live on the island in their house, they had kids.

00:29:04: And the kids went to Osaka Tokyo those major cities and the owners' parents passed away.

00:29:11: Their siblings are outside of that area have no plans coming back so just leave it empty.

00:29:20: They don't want to do anything but still pay property taxes.

00:29:25: What we should sell?

00:29:27: No, there's no way we can sell it.

00:29:28: Let's give it away for

00:29:30: free.".

00:29:31: So that happens quite a bit and usually those houses are vacant for many years.

00:29:38: And when that happens you're gonna start to see issues with roofs plumbing electrical everything For this house.

00:29:49: You know...you can't drive there.

00:29:50: so he makes is much harder To get there to the island but you can't actually go there, drive there.

00:30:02: So no car road.

00:30:03: it's on an Island.

00:30:04: so good luck with that!

00:30:08: This isn' a house It is project.

00:30:13: Does anybody still want this freehouse?

00:30:18: Ok let me continue The island problem.

00:30:22: Like I said You have take a ferry and reason why decided to hire private boat Is only two times in day that you could take a ferry.

00:30:31: And I couldn't make it work, so I'd spend much more money to hire private boat.

00:30:38: but if you wanna go cheap there are ferry services that go out twice today and clearly obviously there's no hardware stores on the island.

00:30:49: if you wanted do any renovations right?

00:30:52: So every tool material costs you more because the ferry fee is their end of time.

00:30:59: And the contractors, there's no professional contractor on the island obviously.

00:31:04: So you would have to bring someone from either Main Island or Shikoku.

00:31:11: A typical three million yen renovation might be a double.

00:31:19: What people who watch my videos?

00:31:22: what they watched is vacant house for zero yen traditional Japanese house Tatami rooms, one bathroom in a toilet and a stunning sea view that you saw.

00:31:37: Also government subsidized to attract new residents.

00:31:41: so if you can't pull it off maybe my work but is still big hurdle to go.

00:31:49: So as you see freeze never free.

00:31:52: even though I explain all of these points i got some really interesting comments on YouTube.

00:32:02: Is there a good Wi-Fi?

00:32:04: Because I'm moving there tomorrow.

00:32:06: True story, yeah!

00:32:37: This will not work for most of you.

00:32:40: Ninety-nine point ninety nine percent are the people, but there's one guy who might be able to make it work maybe and that guy is this guy.

00:32:52: so I did a video on this guy as well recently And his name is Hitori de Dekirman DIY aka HitorIDIY.

00:33:01: It has got pretty big following.

00:33:03: Last time we checked two hundred seventy nine thousand Subscribers on YouTube, and this is the kind of stuff that he does.

00:33:09: It's really entertaining.

00:33:10: I highly recommend you to subscribe To him.

00:33:13: so who is here?

00:33:14: He's a Japanese man in his late late thirties.

00:33:18: He has a family Think it's got three or four kids but he works solo.

00:33:23: And he also.

00:33:24: he buys dirt cheap almost free houses Really really distressed houses fixes them alone and rents amount two locals And his average purchase price of a house is eight hundred thousand yen, which is fifty five hundred dollars.

00:33:41: So

00:33:41: like

00:33:42: almost free right and he's averaged return Hundred percent plus easy.

00:33:49: so what makes him different?

00:33:53: He does ninety nine percent the laborer himself and He has a full-time job.

00:33:58: this is not his full time job even though he does pretty well.

00:34:01: He actually owns and runs a lacquering business.

00:34:05: No contractor no crew Just him.

00:34:11: So his economics, let me go... This is the first deal that he did.

00:34:20: so He bought a house.

00:34:21: He got a house for three hundred thousand yen which is nineteen hundred dollars.

00:34:25: You can't even buy cheap used car for that materials.

00:34:29: She spent seven hundred thousand Yen Which is forty four thousand dollars?

00:34:33: Fourty-four hundred dollars sorry again very very cheap.

00:34:38: labor costs that he spent on other people is zero, time two plus years and evenings.

00:34:46: Weekends and evenings so total all in three million.

00:34:50: uh... three hundred thousand plus seven hundred thousands of one million yen which is about sixty-three hundred dollars today for renovated house.

00:34:58: but if you work to hire this out easily it could cost fifteen million yen So a little less than a hundred grand?

00:35:07: As you can see the sweat equity is this business model, okay?

00:35:12: So if you remove that DIY.

00:35:14: This will not work.

00:35:18: Okay.

00:35:18: so the formula is this If You can say yes to all these conditions...this might work for you!

00:35:26: Let's go over The five Conditions One-You have the skill To do the Work Yourself.

00:35:33: Two-You Have time to Do the Work yourself Between two and Five years of Time to invest.

00:35:39: Three you live in Japan already, so you can be on site during the renovation.

00:35:46: Four.

00:35:47: You have to cast for material and special contractors.

00:35:50: And five you actually want this lifestyle?

00:35:54: This is a different life style yeah.

00:35:57: So if you decide to do DIY You're gonna live very differently.

00:36:00: people will look at you differently.

00:36:02: It's kind of like getting attached your own face.

00:36:04: maybe I wouldn't know but i'm guessing that's a very very different lifestyle.

00:36:10: Okay, so who should not do this?

00:36:13: So investors expecting rental income from year one or even your two.

00:36:20: Remote workers wanting a unique work home office retirees looking for low hassle cheap vacation home anyone without construction and project management skills Anyone wanted to live in the house within the first two years And anyone with out two to three plus years of patience.

00:36:44: Okay, so Assuming that's all of you in the room right DC want this free house.

00:36:56: We'll talk.

00:36:58: So what?

00:37:00: What do smart buyers do instead.

00:37:02: Oh sorry There was one line or they're already but

00:37:06: sure just don't you know You won't have that much time for Q&A.

00:37:09: okay Let me I have just few more a few more slides.

00:37:14: They make sure the location works first before looking on a house.

00:37:19: Search for a vacant house, not an abandoned one.

00:37:22: Spend little more upfront to save a lot more later right?

00:37:27: So usually better quality home with light rental is almost always better than bad-quality homes with big rentals and partner with local renovation company.

00:37:39: Don't DIY And focus on lifestyle you want.

00:37:44: Don't just buy because it's free or cheap.

00:37:47: Okay, so the real lesson here is that every deal has a hidden price right?

00:37:53: So low-price High time and low time equals high price.

00:38:00: Low risk usually means lower of low return And Japan's free houses are just in most extreme version Of this truth.

00:38:11: okay like I said Like Brett said Everyone loves free stuff And cats, right?

00:38:20: Next time you see a free house in Japan.

00:38:23: I hope you think of me.

00:38:27: Thank You shoo and oh sorry Sorry sir

00:38:30: couple more yeah there and what we learned today about free Is that not all three things are created equal.

00:38:38: so i hope you remember That.

00:38:40: thank you very much.

00:38:46: This is a lesson for me.

00:38:47: I've learned fifteen years here and still interrupt people, Japanese pace of talking.

00:38:52: that takes some getting used to... We can do very quick questions then we'll be off-to-launch but before you go there's something on the screen with us so bear it in few more minutes.

00:39:04: Yes

00:39:09: question?

00:39:14: In

00:39:15: your presentation,

00:39:17: you showed

00:39:17: a comparison between

00:39:18: Q three and q one.

00:39:20: I was curious why You chose to do that in showing instead of showing.

00:39:23: q four Didn't run.

00:39:26: We have the data but we didn't run it Okay?

00:39:29: We could um particularly in uh q-four.

00:39:34: The market Was weird like It's actually really where A lot Of stuff is going on around the world as you can imagine And the markets shuttered a little bit.

00:39:41: did Stuff?

00:39:41: It didn't look right in the data, so we did kind of run it and I said you know We should probably wait for things to settle down.

00:39:47: And then the Q one.

00:39:48: everything tracks really well makes sense.

00:39:50: You could see the big difference without like a COVID type event where it's just

00:39:54: ruins all the data.

00:39:55: Do you think that new government changeover might have had something to do with that too?

00:39:59: Because we know there are lots of people hesitating as soon they started talking about limits on foreign purchases and stuff.

00:40:05: Absolutely,

00:40:06: yeah I mean... The big announcements or updates for changes which is really nothing.

00:40:11: but changes happened in

00:40:12: January.

00:40:13: So everyone towards Q-Four last year was waiting.

00:40:16: They were like oh what would be going to do?

00:40:17: What will happen?

00:40:18: Will they ban foreigners from buying houses?

00:40:20: They didn't.

00:40:21: But everyone was worried, so it also changed a lot of the dynamic there.

00:40:24: And market

00:40:25: just kind

00:40:26: of is waiting to react.

00:40:27: and then Q one.

00:40:28: they came back strong

00:40:29: as you can

00:40:29: see.

00:40:31: Alright for any questions all the way over there?

00:40:34: Okay So we'll walk that way.

00:40:36: sorry One by one.

00:40:40: Hello I want introduce myself Just briefly real fast shoe.

00:40:44: i'd contacted You last year on social media.

00:40:47: your reply To me.

00:40:49: My apartment building Was shut down immediately.

00:40:52: I had to go into a settlement, contract settlement with the new owner.

00:40:57: And in twenty units i got most money of anyone and whole building... ...and im only foreigner there!

00:41:08: They listened to me....I named my price.

00:41:11: they said name your price.

00:41:13: I named it.

00:41:14: My wife said don't ask for that.

00:41:17: Okay, I'm gonna be here today and tomorrow if you wish to approach me about this.

00:41:22: I'm happy To talk about it.

00:41:23: like i have a nondisclosure agreement?

00:41:26: I can't tell You how much I got.

00:41:28: shoot real quick

00:41:30: on

00:41:31: On your.

00:41:31: on Your property you just described.

00:41:33: could you move in If you had bought It?

00:41:37: Could you?

00:41:38: did you need any kind of permit?

00:41:41: was there running water?

00:41:42: Was their electricity?

00:41:44: if I bought that for free Could I bring a blanket and occupy the property?

00:41:51: Or do, Do i need to contact the government or local government To ask if im allowed to occupy that property immediately.

00:42:00: So thats my question How much did you pay for land?

00:42:04: You said you bought the land For that too And could you day one Occupy it or make improvements for electric or water, toilet and plumbing before you could occupy it.

00:42:18: Thank You!

00:42:34: Yeah If you close today, it's yours.

00:42:49: Yes

00:43:04: they were asking if the service is where, oh yeah.

00:43:08: Is there an advantage to join Akihab for foreigners who own properties have lived here but want to be informed and get answers to questions?

00:43:14: To stay up-to-date?

00:43:15: I think i know.

00:43:21: see if there's more, because we talk about a lot of the paid stuff as well.

00:43:29: But If you just want to be part of community that is trying help make change here absolutely join.

00:43:35: We have discussion posts like You can all Talk To Each Other on The Platform As Well which happens A Lot A Lot Of People Ask Questions And Help Answer Stuff Because They've Actually Experienced It Versus Someone Just Researching Online How Something Works.

00:43:46: So Absolutely Join If You Want To Be Part Of The Community.