Snowed Out, Sold Anyway: How Tim & Allie Bought a Concrete House in Teine Sight Unseen
Tim and Allie wanted Otaru. They ended up with a designer concrete house in Teine – negotiated ¥1M off, closed from Colorado in 66 days, and renovated it into a ryokan-licensed ski rental. They bought it without ever stepping inside.
How It Started
Tim and Allie are Colorado skiers with a Hokkaido habit – the kind of couple who plan trips around Niseko powder and listen to every episode of the Buying a House in Japan podcast. Their goal: a short-term rental in Japan they could also use themselves. Their target was Otaru. They looked at the blue house near the train station. They looked at a newer build. Our team's honest feedback killed both – and pointed them at something better.
The Property
A three-story concrete house in Teine-ku, Sapporo – solid construction, a red LIXIL kitchen, a tatami room, and a terraced garden with two cherry trees. The neighborhood sold itself: a quiet dead-end street, a bus stop outside the gate, an onsen five minutes away, Costco in twenty, and Teine ski resort up the road. Asking price: ¥34,800,000.
The Negotiation
The virtual tour surfaced surprises: no heat on the first floor, no heating ever installed on the third, a broken shower door, a cooktop past its prime. Tim sent Yoshi the punch list. Yoshi went to work – deploying the time-honored “husband vs. wife” tactic, telling the seller's agent the husband was keen but the wife had reservations about the heating (sorry, Allie), and hinting that other properties were in play.
The next morning, the seller came down ¥1,000,000. Final price: ¥33,800,000 – about $225K. As Derek put it after seeing the place: “That's a million dollar home in the US.” Allie forgave Yoshi. Mostly.
Closing Sight Unseen
Tim and Allie flew to Japan in late January to see the house in person. Hokkaido had other plans: the same epic snowfall they'd come to ski cancelled their Tokyo–Sapporo flight, and the scheduled visit never happened. They skied Niseko instead, flew home, and closed on the house on March 18 – 66 days after the price was agreed – having never stepped inside. Derek and Nick drove by and filmed the exterior for them, snowbanks burying the porch.
“You gave us the confidence to give it a try – seemed like a perfect spot to make it happen.” – Tim
The Renovation
Roughly $100K of work, spec'd by interior designer Hana Matsunaga and managed end-to-end by YukiHomes: full HVAC (which meant drilling through concrete), kitchen and tatami refresh, new electrical, fire-code upgrades for the ryokan license, a reworked terraced garden – and the fun stuff. An outdoor barrel sauna. A third-floor loft game room with a foosball table. When the progress photos landed, Tim's review was simple: “Wow – looking SO good.”
What's Next
Instead of a minpaku license capped at 180 nights, Tim and Allie went the ryokan route – meaning the house can rent up to 365 days a year. YukiHomes handles the licensing, the listing, and full STR management, plus taxes, utilities, and insurance while they're back in Colorado. Target: live for the 2026–27 ski season.
They still haven't seen their house in person. It's going to be quite the first visit.
