Japan Foreclosed Property 2015-2016 - Buy this 5th edition report!

Over the years, this ebook has been enhanced with additional research to offer a comprehensive appraisal of the Japanese foreclosed property market, as well as offering economic and industry analysis. The author travels to Japan regularly to keep abreast of the local market conditions, and has purchased several foreclosed properties, as well as bidding on others. Japan is one of the few markets offering high-yielding property investment opportunities. Contrary to the 'rural depopulation' scepticism, the urban centres are growing, and they have always been a magnet for expatriates in Asia. Japan is a place where expats, investors (big or small) can make highly profitable real estate investments. Japan is a large market, with a plethora of cheap properties up for tender by the courts. Few other Western nations offer such cheap property so close to major infrastructure. Japan is unique in this respect, and it offers such a different life experience, which also makes it special. There is a plethora of property is depopulating rural areas, however there are fortnightly tenders offering plenty of property in Japan's cities as well. I bought a dormitory 1hr from Tokyo for just $US30,000.
You can view foreclosed properties listed for as little as $US10,000 in Japan thanks to depopulation and a culture that is geared towards working for the state. I bought foreclosed properties in Japan and now I reveal all in our expanded 350+page report. The information you need to know, strategies to apply, where to get help, and the tools to use. We even help you avoid the tsunami and nuclear risks since I was a geologist/mining finance analyst in a past life. Check out the "feedback" in our blog for stories of success by customers of our previous reports.

Download Table of Contents here.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

New working visa provisions for Japan

For Westerners, getting a visa in Japan is a little easier in terms of the conditions of the visa. It is now possible to get a 5-year visa, with an automatic multiple re-entry....well I'm assuming that is only if you have a job, but I'm not sure about that. What I can tell you is before that many people struggled to even get a 3-year visa. I had no problem, but that might be because my first visas to Japan were sponsored by two of the largest corporations in Japan - Sumitomo Group and Mitsubishi Materials. I've spoken to Americans who've said that they were only ever given 1-year visas, and that they had to go to Immigration to update them each year.
The new system will be much appreciated. Read about the revision of policy in this Japan Times article.



I fully recommend taking the opportunity to work in Japan - the most popular areas are English teaching, finance and recruitment. It is relatively hard to get a business visa. You need to set up a business, prepare a business plan, etc. Sounds reasonable, but for some the process will be too onerous.




There are other ways to stay there including study, whether for an MBA or marshall arts (under a cultural visa). Otherwise you can simply stay there visa-free and exit the country every 90 days. Check out the list of countries to see which provisions apply to your country.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The threat of earthquakes in Tokyo, Japan

Here is some important information for people buying property in Tokyo; and in fact anyone buying property in Japan. This story highlights the risks of buying property in Japan. There is an expected risk of 10,000 fatalities for a central Tokyo magnitude 7 earthquake. The good news is that the earthquake risk is not equal; and whilst anyone can be lucky or unfortunate in a certain context (i.e. because you cannot choose your moment), you can of course improve your odds by buying in the right location. This is why I bought in Western Tokyo, and why I took it upon myself to write about the earthquake and tsunami risk in my eBook on Japanese foreclosed property.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Japan's property - cheapest in the world

According to a recent survey, Japan has the lowest housing prices in comparison to income. I encourage expatriates and Japanese people to look at the foreclosed property market because houses can be bought very cheaply through this route. I bought a 5br dormitory just 1hr train from Tokyo City Central in 2004 for just $US28,000. The nice aspect is that you can get these houses cheaply because:
1. Japanese people are so superstitious - they have this fear about ghosts and yakuza
2. Japanese people fear conflict with former tenants and landlords. I have found the contrary, that owners simply want to stay there to get cheap rent as long as they can.
3. The Japanese courts facilitate an easy buy by offering support to remove unruly landlords. I very much like the idea of buying through the courts.
4. There is a great deal of housing in Japan's depopulating rural areas. Japanese people will not commute as they love convenience....but would you buy a modern house for Y3mil just 50km from a major city? Use lateral thinking and you might even get a better buy close to an even bigger city like I did - yes Tokyo fringes for Y2.8mil ($US28,000).

Learn from our case studies on this blog!




Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Malaysia pursuing semi- retirement expatriate demand

There are signs that there is going awareness of SE Asian governments in going after the high net worth individuals looking at retirement. Consider that if you have a $US 1million - you can retire in a place like Australia. You will of course have to place those funds into a fixed interest Treasury investment; with eventually some discretion to invest some in 'fully developed' or fully valued property, i.e. not development property.

I have long sold the benefits of the Philippines for non-millionaires. The appeal of the Philippines is that:
1. You don't need much money
2. You don't need a long term visa - you can stay for 18 months without ever leaving the country; and then you can just fly over to Singapore for a weekend, and some straight back.
3. Its a cheap place to live.

The Philippine people are of course very happy to have you; and they are lovely people to a large extent. The problem though is that the cities are polluted and the rural areas are not terribly 'culturally' interesting, and way under-capitalised for the foreign expatriate with a penchant for fun and services. There are of course plenty of resorts offering some form of 'lifestyle'; though I'm sure many of you welcome a more 'cultured' setting than a beach resort. There are places which are better, i.e. Davao City, Cebu City, perhaps Baguio City or even San Fernando City in Pampanga or nearby Subic.

Some of you however might like Malaysia. The government has recently offered a program to appeal to retired persons and semi-retired persons. The appeal of the program is that:
1. Malaysia is pitching it somewhere between the West and developing countries like the Philippines.
2. Its a very attractive country with great food, culture, etc
3. The real estate market is not overly priced - though not cheap either

The problems with it is that conditions are more onerous than for the Philippines as you'd expect; and then you have to tolerate the Malaysian religious thought police. I prefer the secular thinking in the Philippines; but then I'm probably inclined to live in the West for the next 10 years until a place like the Philippines becomes more interesting.

Read more about Malaysia's My Second Home Programme. Malaysians of course speak Bahasa Malay, a similar language to Indonesia's. The good news I found is that there are plenty of Indians, Chinese or kids who can speak English anywhere in the country, so you need not have a problem.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

New editions of our property reports

Over the last 4 years I have prepared 4 editions of the Japan Foreclosed Property report; as well as preparing and updating similar reports for the Philippines and New Zealand. It is not my intention to continue this series of reports. Over that period I guess I have invested about 5 months of research into making the Japan editions for sales of around 300. That's $US6000. This is a stunning result for a first book, and it was not even my intent to actually write about property. Its just that I was in Japan for 3 months when I was considering writing an eBook, and of course recognising an opportunity for a very practical book. My ultimate intent was to write applied philosophy; which is the task I am embarking upon now. In the next few weeks I will launch a new website promoting these services.
As far as Japanese, NZ and Philippines property market is concerned, I will continue to support this site with feedback from readers (i.e. tagged 'Case Studies') prepared to offer such support. I will offer as much disclosure as you contributors want; and will ask you if you are happy with the content as posted for privacy and strategic reasons.
I will also post any topical stories I find. The feedback on these ebooks has been fantastic. Some people have rightly been critical of my spelling and grammatical errors; much better now after 4 editions. But aside from that, its almost been a zero complaints publication. So we are pleased with that. We have had heard some wonderful success stories with Japanese foreclosed property. We had a glowing appreciation from the Japanese Institute of Economics for our Philippines report. I did a lot of research for this 2-set book. The Philippines is a very hot market gives the disparity in West-East wages for the next 20 years; plus the 2% population growth and rapid urbanisation. Watch as new cities are built around Manila and regional airports are opened up to foreign (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) tourists. The Philippines already has among the most liberal immigration requirements in the world - you can stay there 18months before requiring to leave. More importantly, the Philippines government is starting to adopt some semblance of zoning as we see greater compliance with the law. So expect this to add to property prices; as well as result in more attractive development.
My biggest surprise with these books is probably the lack of interest of English teachers in buying Japanese foreclosed property. This is probably because most of them are 'lifestyle junkies' with no intent to stay in Japan, or maybe it speaks to their 'liberal' not-so-aspirational goals, or lack of savings. In any respect, I envisaged more of them buying foreclosed properties and turning their homes or offices into teaching schools. Most buyers have been expatriates in Asia or Japan; even fund managers and investment consultant-types.
Anyway, the opportunities in these countries are not over. I will continue to provide limited support for this and related blogs, however the property publishing is probably over unless I can farm the activity out to someone else. I know people who have become multi-millionaires buying foreclosed property, to the stage of buying entire residential apartment blocks and renting them off or selling them to students. I think I have listed such opportunities in this blog, i.e. A love hotel in Hokkaido comes to mind, decked out in 1970s decor. Very tacky! The Japanese student would probably love it.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Strategies for buying property close to stations

In my book on buying foreclosed property in Japan I raise a number of strategies for buying property in Japan. This story in the Japan Times highlights the application of one such strategy when buying property. The East Japan Railway Co is building a new railway station between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations. This type of 'infilling' will become more common, so its a good idea to identify the locations in which this is likely to occur and to buy property in those locations. The sites to look at are in areas where subways might be extended or new stations added. The principle guiding your decision-making will be:
1. Local minimum population density - look at neighbouring areas
2. Distance between train stations - look for anomalies
3. Explanation for anomalies - why is there no station there? Topographic anomaly so no settlement; perhaps a park, etc.
4. Growing population density - historical evidence that the area is growing in population. High rise developments, new stores like HokkaHokkaTai and McDonalds, etc are good signs to look for, but you can also look at Japan's very good population statistics. They offer you monthly changes in demographics.
5. Space for growth - stations need to be supported by near-station development. It is harder to develop a station if the railway company cannot build some type of shopping precinct to service it.

This approach can work on outer city lines or inner city lines. Of course, our intent is to be close, but not too close to such a development. We want to live close to amenities, the railway station. There is a big periphery around a likely site, and this raises your prospects of buying such a property as a foreclosure. You will find it hard to get such a property in Kanagawa, but not in Saitama. If we are going with this model, we are buying the foreclosed property to 'hold' as a rental property as we want to profit from anticipated future development. After a proposed new station is announced, you can expect property prices to double...as your property, which might be 7km from a railway station, might now be 3km away. Clearly we do best if we buy close to an existing line, but not too close.

This strategy can be applied to both land leases and freehold properties, as long as you are able to get an extension on your land lease. Read more about the nature of this development, as it will give you an idea of the dynamics of this approach.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Muslim rebels deserve fair consideration

Living in the Philippines, you often here expatriates say that there is no risk living on the southern island of Mindanao. There are even those self-righteous souls who live in some of the more dangerous parts of the island. The reality however is that 'self-righteousness' can be very risky as human qualities go.
In this article, an Australian, Warren Rodwell, 53yo, is the latest person to be held captive by some Muslim rebel group. He is probably an expat of no consequence to anyone but those who know and love him. To the abductors he is worth just P1 million ($20,000).
In a certain context, we might argue that it is highly unfair or unethical for these Muslim rebels to resort to such measures. The reality however is that Rodwell's (Australian) government has effectively sanctioned the terrorists. We might ask what is an appropriate measure for a group of people to do when they are marginalised by their political system. Muslim people of Mindanao lived an autonomous, independent life on the southern island of Mindanao for centuries until the Spanish-American influence sought to resettle people from the more densely-populated northern & central islands to the south. This culminated, under democracy, in the marginalisation of the Islamic people, and their consequent disempowerment and loss of identity under "Catholic" policy. That's democracy you say! Well, this is just one of the problems with democracy. Extortion! Statutory law makes it possible for governments to use democracy for the purposes of extortion. Now whilst extortion is allowed under arbitrary statutory law, there is a common law tradition of extortion being illegal. Sadly, a fairly good tradition of common law has been trumped by arbitrary statute law in the West, and thus the Philippines.
Democracy is a system of extortion which imposes upon people the values of the majority on the basis of some arbitrary jurisdictional boundary. At this time, the boundary was sanctioned by the power of the Spanish, and sanctioned I guess you could argue by politically-allign Spanish colonists and the Catholic-supported Philippine government of the north. The Americans had a part in the resettlement as well, with the US-inspired Homestead Act, which saw large estates broken into 20-hectare losts for resettlers.
I personally think every effort should be made to negotiate a fair settlement with these people, with full recognition and empathy for their right to autonomy, and possibly sovereignty, given the existence of an independent Muslim state nearby. Personally, I'd prefer to see the Philippines become a federation of states, or a pan-ASEAN nation established along the likes of Europe with a common currency. Maybe this is the future, but the breaking down of trade barriers is likely to see this happen anyway.
I return to my original point. Filipinos are generally the most affable people. If they resort to extortion - its generally for good reason. In this case, whether we discuss the NPA or Muslim extremists, it is fair to say they are fighting extortion with extortion. Their marginalisation under democracy has been an act of extortion far grander in scale than anything they have perpetrated. For this reason, I hope the authorities give them due regard in these peace negotiations. I do not however expect it.

I will be the first to concede that there are Muslim terrorists with illegitimate interests in the world. The reality is that most of them are illiterate. I am not. These particular Muslims have a legitimate grievance against the Philippines (and arguably the American and Australian) governments for initiating, or otherwise sanctioning or tacitly endorsing the acts of their military forces.
Read more of my posts and you will readily see that democracy is not the only alternative to autocratic tyranny; its just a proxy for a representative's extortion. There is not a single form of democracy. Representative democracy is not really a form of democracy; its an extortion racket. You want democracy; then the only legitimate form for a nation-state is a 'meritocratic' democracy, where reason is the standard of value.

Major cities of Japan

資料:各都市の推計人口(ホームページ) Japan's major cities:
札幌市 Sapporo 仙台市 Sendai さいたま市 Saitama 千葉市 Chiba
東京都区部 Tokyo-23 横浜市 Yokohama 川崎市 Kawasaki 新潟市 Niigata 静岡市 Shizuoka 浜松市 Hamamatsu 名古屋市 Nagoya 京都市 Kyoto 大阪市 Osaka 堺市 Sakai 神戸市 Kobe 広島市 Hiroshima 北九州市 Kitakyushu 福岡市 Fukuoka

Cities and towns of Tokyo

競売物件購入 keibai buttsuken kounyu 千代田区 Chiyoda-ku 八王子市 Hachioji-shi 羽村市 Hamura-shi 中央区 Chuo-ku 立川市 Tachikawa-shi あきる野市 Akiruno-shi 港区 Minato-ku 武蔵野市 Musashino-shi 西東京市 Nishitokyo-shi 新宿区 Shinjuku-ku 三鷹市 Mitaka-shi 文京区 Bunkyo-ku 青梅市 Ome-shi 郡部 Towns and villages 台東区 Taito-ku 府中市 Fuchu-shi 瑞穂町 Mizuho-machi
墨田区 Sumida-ku 昭島市 Akishima-shi 日の出町 Hinode-machi 江東区 Koto-ku 調布市 Chofu-shi 檜原村 Hinohara-mura 品川区 Shinagawa-ku 町田市 Machida-shi 奥多摩町 Okutama-machi 目黒区 Meguro-ku 小金井市 Koganei-shi 大田区 Ota-ku 小平市 Kodaira-shi 島部 Islands 世田谷区 Setagaya-ku 日野市 Hino-shi 大島町 Oshima-machi 渋谷区 Shibuya-ku 東村山市 Higashimurayama-shi 利島村 Toshima-mura
中野区 Nakano-ku 国分寺市 Kokubunji-shi 新島村 Niijima-mura 杉並区 Suginami-ku 国立市 Kunitachi-shi 神津島村 Kouzushima-mura 豊島区 Toshima-ku 福生市 Fussa-shi 三宅村 Miyake-mura 北区 Kita-ku 狛江市 Komae-shi 御蔵島村 Mikurajima-mura 荒川区 Arakawa-ku 東大和市 Higashiyamato-shi 八丈町 Hachijo-machi 板橋区 Itabashi-ku 清瀬市 Kiyose-shi 青ケ島村 Aogashima-mura 練馬区 Nerima-ku 東久留米市 Higashikurume-shi 小笠原村 Ogasawara-mura 足立区 Adachi-ku 武蔵村山市 Musashimurayama-shi 葛飾区 Katsushika-ku 多摩市 Tama-shi 江戸川区 Edogawa-ku 稲城市 Inagi-shi

Cities & Towns of Saitama

競売物件購入 keibai buttsuken kounyu 西区 Nishi-ku 北区 Kita-ku 大宮区 Omiya-ku 見沼区 Minuma-ku 中央区 Chuo-ku 桜区 Sakura-ku 浦和区 Urawa-ku 南区 Minami-ku 緑区 Midori-ku Cities (-shi) さいたま市 Saitama-shi 川越市 Kawagoe-shi 熊谷市 Kumagaya-shi 川口市 Kawaguchi-shi 行田市 Gyoda-shi 秩父市 Chichibu-shi 所沢市 Tokorozawa-shi 飯能市 Hanno-shi 加須市 Kazo-shi 本庄市 Honjo-shi 東松山市 Higashi-Matsuyama-shi 岩槻市 Iwatski-shi 春日部市 Kasukabe-shi 狭山市 Sayama-shi 羽生市 Hanyu-shi 鴻巣市 Kounosu-shi 深谷市 Fukaya-shi 上尾市 Ageo-shi 草加市 Souka-shi 越谷市 Koshigaya-shi 蕨 市 Warabi-shi 戸田市 Toda-shi 入間市 Iruma-shi 鳩ケ谷市 Hatogaya-shi 朝霞市 Asaka-shi 志木市 Shiki-shi 和光市 Wako-shi 新座市 Niiza-shi 桶川市 Okegawa-shi 久喜市 Kuki-shi 北本市 Kitamoto-shi 八潮市 Yasio-shi 富士見市 Fujimi-shi 上福岡市 Kami-fukuoka-shi 三郷市 Misato-shi 蓮田市 Hasuda-shi 坂戸市 Sakado-shi 幸手市 Satte-shi 鶴ケ島市 Tsurogashima-shi 日高市 Hidaka-shi 吉川市 Yoshikawa-shi 北足立郡 Districts (-gun) 伊奈町 Ina-machi or ko 吹上町 Fukiage-machi 大井町 Oi-machi 三芳町 Miyoshi-machi 毛呂山町 Moroyama-machi 越生町 Ogose-machi 名栗村 Naguri-mura

Cities &Towns of Kanagawa

競売物件購入 keibai buttsuken kounyu 県計 市部計 郡部計 横浜市 鶴見区 神奈川区 西区 中区 南区 港南区 保土ヶ谷区 旭区 磯子区 金沢区 港北区 緑区 青葉区 都筑区 戸塚区 栄区 泉区 瀬谷区 川崎市 川崎区 幸区 中原区 高津区 宮前区 多摩区 麻生区 横須賀市 平塚市 鎌倉市 藤沢市 小田原市 茅ヶ崎市 逗子市 相模原市 三浦市 秦野市 厚木市 大和市 伊勢原市 海老名市 座間市 南足柄市 綾瀬市 三浦郡葉山町 高座郡寒川町 中郡 大磯町 二宮町 足柄上郡 中井町 大井町 松田町 山北町 開成町 足柄下郡 箱根町 真鶴町 湯河原町 愛甲郡 愛川町 清川村

Cities & Towns of Chiba

競売物件購入 keibai buttsuken kounyu 県計 市計 郡計 千葉市 中央区 花見川区 稲毛区 若葉区 緑区 美浜区 銚子市 市川市 船橋市 館山市 木更津市 松戸市 野田市 佐原市 茂原市 成田市 佐倉市 東金市 八日市場市 旭市 習志野市 柏市 勝浦市 市原市 流山市 八千代市 我孫子市 鴨川市 鎌ヶ谷市 君津市 富津市 浦安市 四街道市 袖ケ浦市 八街市 印西市 白井市 富里市

Cities & Towns of Osaka

競売物件購入 keibai buttsuken kounyu 総 数 府 保 健 所 計 池 田 池田市 豊能町  箕面市  能勢町  豊中豊中市  吹 田 吹田市 茨木摂津市  茨木市 島本町 枚方枚方市  寝屋川 寝屋川市 守口 守口市  門真市 四條畷 四條畷市 交野市  大東市 八 尾 八尾市  柏原市  藤井寺 松原市  羽曳野市 藤井寺市 富田林 大阪狭山市 富田林市 河内長野市 河南町  太子町  千早赤阪村 和泉和泉市  泉大津市 高石市  忠岡町  岸和田 岸和田市 貝塚市  泉佐野 泉佐野市 熊取町 田尻町  泉南市  阪南市  岬町 大 阪 市 堺市 高槻市 東大阪市  

Cities & Towns of Hiroshima

競売物件購入 keibai buttsuken kounyu 県計 広島市 広島市中区 広島市東区 広島市南区 広島市西区 広島市安佐南区 広島市安佐北区 広島市安芸区 広島市佐伯区 呉市 竹原市 三原市 尾道市 福山市 府中市 三次市 庄原市 大竹市 東広島市 廿日市市 安芸高田市 江田島市 府中町 海田町 熊野町 坂町 安芸太田町 北広島町 大崎上島町 世羅町 神石高原町