| Living
In Japan |
| Restoring
A Home In The Japanese Countryside |
| In a previous
article I described how to purchase a used house from the courts in Japan.
But how do you restore and repair a house that may be fifty to 200 years
old? As with any house in need of repair you have to ask yourself can
you foot the bill or do you need a loan. Who will do the repairs? The first
thing to remember is that there are always options.
Getting a loan
as a foreigner in Japan is not easy. Banks will not even talk to you unless
you have permanent residence (Eijuuken) or citizenship.So if you
do not have either of these it would be difficult to have massive work
done on the house unless you had a nice sized savings. How much money you
have may ultimately determine where you go to have the work done. Large
well known companies are expensive and want payment up front or in two
installments.If you cannot afford that there are further options. |
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You can do
as much of the work as you can yourself, even painting makes a difference
in the final cost.
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You can also
talk to local carpenters or small local home repair companies. Chances
are that if you are a foreigner and you bought a house in a rural area
the local companies have gotten wind of you hand will pay you a visit looking
for work. This can work to your advantage. Tell them what you want done
and what you can afford. My scheme is $200.000 or $2,000 a job, which can
include multiple repairs. |
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| So far I have
only worked with small companies but if you get your hands on a freelance
carpenter I am sure you can go cheaper.
I have had
roof work done and entire rooms rebuilt on the $2000 plan and I am pleased
with the results. There are two ways to go when it comes to restoring a
Japanese farmhouse.
You can restore
in the true since of the word by making it look the way it did originally
or you can be pragmatic and make it look the way your wallet can handle,
which may include adding a few modernities.
The latter
way is cheaper in the short and long run.For example, my house had four
"tattami"
or reed mat rooms and I am eliminating them one by one opting for wood
flooring until I am left with one or two. |
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Offshore
Resources Gallery
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| In the end
I always remind myself that the reason I bought a seventy year old Japanese
farmhouse was precisely because I did not see myself being able to nor
wanting to spend $400,000 dollars on a new house not even including the
land.
My place cost
under $7,000 including the 155.7 square meter lot.
To contact
Ahmad Click Here
To see Ahmad's
article about buying real estate in Asia Click
Here
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