The process of buying a home in Japan can be extremely overwhelming and with so much material out there to digest, I understand why some people cut short their dreams just from information overload. At Yuki homes, we want our clients to feel confident in our services and let us handle the heavy lifting, while they focus on the fun part, becoming a homeowner in Japan!
Every week I speak to potential clients and while there often filled with genuine interest there’s usually a hint of skepticism, I repeatedly hear “This all seems too good to be true”. And I get it, Affordable homes (it’s not uncommon to see houses for under $20,000) and loads of rental potential in their dream destination.
That’s why we spoke with Ann, one of our clients, to walk you through her story and show you that the dream is real. And yes, it could be yours too.
Nick: Hi Ann, how are you?
Ann: Hi Nick.
Nick: We want to walk potential clients through how our process works and address the common concerns, like trust, that naturally come up.
Ann: So, we purchased our home in summer 2023, I was very concerned with sending you guys money at first. A lot of it does have to do with trust. But we met you guys in person and got to spend a couple weeks with you guys on our house search, All the money transactions were documented, and it was very smooth.
Nick: And how does getting the title work? Who did you send money to or through? Also, this is maybe too big of a question, but how do taxes work living in the US?
Ann: So, you guys walked us through the title process, it’s very similar to the US process and you guys met with the government official to help very our identity.
For the home purchase, I did a bank-to-bank wire transfer. Now for the management fees I now use wise.
And for the taxes, I'm currently working with a cpa to figure all this out haha. But you guys are handling paying our taxes in Japan which has made that part much easier.
Nick: Okay that sounds amazing, Yeah, I’m happy you guys found a good house with rental potential and in an amazing place to ski! Now do you guys rent your home on airbnb and/or any of the local rental sites? Or do you rent at all?
Ann: We do rent our home. We had been renting it privately as we were waiting for all the Japanese licensing to rent as a ryokan. We just got our license in sept/nov last year, so you guys now have it listed on Rakuten travel and a couple other sites.
Nick: Oh nice! How has it been going on Rakuten Travel? Would you say it’s a good investment even if you don’t really use the house all that much?
Ann: So far it has been a good investment. Since it is still our first year of being fully licensed, I think it has been a good investment. We still get to use our home. But Jacob tells us we will probably have to give him 3 months’ notice if we want to use our home now that it is licensed and bookings are starting to increase, so that is good.
Nick: Well, I think that’s everything, thanks for your time, Ann. I don’t want to keep you any longer. Talk to you soon !
Ann: No problem, talk to you soon nick!
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Our team
Meet the founders.
Derek has been working in the Airbnb space for the past 10+ years and recently purchased a home in Japan. He is excited to bring this investment opportunity to others in the States & abroad.
Nick has a passion for adventure and has always dreamed of owning a property in Japan. His dreams finally came true when Derek brought him in on a deal of a lifetime in Hokkaido, Japan - one of Nick's favorite places on Earth.