(Flipped house in Chiba city, east of Tokyo. Before and After)
* Foreigners can buy a property in Japan without having special qualification.
Who can put a price on akiya (abandoned houses,空き家) in Japan ? You can.
There are more than 8 million distressed or abandoned houses in Japan.If you want to flip these akiya (abandoned house) into a rental property, there are quite a few opportunities out there. Akiya in Japan is a big social issue as akiya can generate serious security issues like fire, weeds, pests and burglars. Investing in akiya in a sense solves social these issues.You can find the possibilities of getting a great deal very quickly at relatively small risk exposure. But you have to find a right property in a right location.
Here is how it works
In real estate business, you probably make your money when you buy a property not when you sell it. If you don’t buy the property at the right price and/or terms, then there won’t be any good profit when you sell it.The same phrase can be applied to your home.Even if your initial plan was to live in a property (your home that is) for a long time, life is full of unexpected ventures and you may have to sell it in the future.The real estate is contained in the relatively low liquidity dimensions compared with other financial assets such as stocks, bonds and the transaction costs are high.Thus you want to be very careful when you buy a property.This is true for investors to flip a property.
Usually house flipping in the US is referred as a short-term strategy i.e. buying and renovating a house and sell it at higher value in the short term. A flipper usually needs to get out in less than six months.However, in Japan, it is not a very common style.Today I am illustrating a Japanese style house flipping; flipping akiya (abandoned house, 空き家）into a rental property.You don’t have to stick to akiya for flipping but they are naturally very affordable to come by.One of our business partners is actively investing in akiya (abandoned house).Here’s a simple strategy we usually recommend for flipping akiya into a rental property.
Location
We usually locate a property in suburban areas of Tokyo where you can find a decent one for flipping.
You should be able to find an appropriate property in Kansai (western Japan) areas but we don’t cover those areas simply because it is too far to visit the sites.Read more