After about 10 days in hotel, we finally moved into our beautiful
5-bedroom house. For the time being the house is being shared by three
of us, so there’s plenty of space left unoccupied - a rare luxury in
Japan, I guess.
As everyone knows, Japanse real estate system is quite unique (I’m using the term “unique” in a bad way, you know). You pay 2 months’ worth of rent in advance for security deposit (Shi-ggee-gging). Well, that’s understandable. Then you pay yet another 2 months’ rent for, guess what - nothing much. It’s a "thank you money" or “the money you traditionally pay to the landlord when you rent a house.” (Rei-gging). On top of that, realtors usually get 1 month’s rent for a commission, and you should pay the rent for the initial month before you move in. So, you usually end up paying 6 months’ rent upon signing the lease contract. If your monthly rent is $2,000 (which is not totally unusual in Japan), then you normally pay $12,000 upon move-in. In Japan, you don’t want to move often, unless you want to get broke.
Whenever someone or some company successfully leverages the IT to get rid of inefficiencies or “bubble” out of tradition industry, there can be a good business opportunity. Will there be a web 2.0 company in Japan that will make the whole apartment-renting process more efficient, like these guys in the US are attempting to do? Or, will the Japanse real estate system remain “traditional”, just like other Japanse industries including the media industry?
As everyone knows, Japanse real estate system is quite unique (I’m using the term “unique” in a bad way, you know). You pay 2 months’ worth of rent in advance for security deposit (Shi-ggee-gging). Well, that’s understandable. Then you pay yet another 2 months’ rent for, guess what - nothing much. It’s a "thank you money" or “the money you traditionally pay to the landlord when you rent a house.” (Rei-gging). On top of that, realtors usually get 1 month’s rent for a commission, and you should pay the rent for the initial month before you move in. So, you usually end up paying 6 months’ rent upon signing the lease contract. If your monthly rent is $2,000 (which is not totally unusual in Japan), then you normally pay $12,000 upon move-in. In Japan, you don’t want to move often, unless you want to get broke.
Whenever someone or some company successfully leverages the IT to get rid of inefficiencies or “bubble” out of tradition industry, there can be a good business opportunity. Will there be a web 2.0 company in Japan that will make the whole apartment-renting process more efficient, like these guys in the US are attempting to do? Or, will the Japanse real estate system remain “traditional”, just like other Japanse industries including the media industry?
