Job Discussion Forums

[nawlinsgurl]

Any info good or bad?

[lajzar]

good - no guarantor, no deposit

bad - expensive as hell, small, cramped, key money disguised as an upfront move-out cleaning charge.

I was in one once. Once.

[azarashi sushi]

Leos Palace is very convenient if you move somewhere and suddenly need an apartment. They are all furnished and you just pay one payment every month/week/whatever which includes utilities. And as Lajzar points out there is no key money etc...

But you end up paying for this convenience. The rents are much higher than other apartments of the size and location. My feeling is that even though there is no initial key money/agent's fee charge, over the space of a year you would probably outlay the same money as if you rented a regular apartment and paid the key money and agent's fees etc.

But for a short term, Leos Palace is convenient.

[nawlinsgurl]

Thanks for your advice

[Filinadian]

Leo Palace is good for the one year just as azarashi sushi said. I asked one of my clients at work since he knew a lot about Real Estate and also about Leo Palace - and he told me that if I decide to stay for more than a year in Japan, that Leo Palace would be pretty pricey. So now I am living in an apartment owned by Leo Palace. The place is brand new, fully-furnished, it even comes with a cool TV intercom to see who is at the door before you answer it. I don't mind it at all, because the place is new, perfect for one person, but my kitchen is really small. I don't have room to put plates on the side to dry. I use separate drainer and place it on top of my microwave to dry my dishes. My washroom includes a drying fan for clothes, but I learned a hard lesson when I hung my clothes inside to dry. After my clothes finally finished, I noticed that there is this awful odour that was litterally etched on the surface of my white shirts. Now I don't do laundry until I know for sure that it won't be raining, so then I can hang my clothes outside - that way it won't have a foul odour. Although my friend mentioned that there are special washing soap for indoor drying. I guess I bought the wrong soap for my clothes, it is meant for outside drying.

Good luck with your choice. Again, azarashi sushi is correct. So it really depends on how long you plan to stay in Japan. I think that if I decide to stay for more than a year, then I will move out to a new apartment, maybe somewhere closer to my train station.

[Skrybe]

I was looking into LeoPalace myself, but I found the upfront costs to be pretty steep. If you want a better price, there are a couple of options. Mini Mini (www.minimini.jp) can get you an apartment where you pay 2 months deposit, but no key money, as long as you have a Japanese friend to help you talk with them. A co-worker of mine got a 3DK for 90,000 a month.

Or....

You could try posting up for a roommate. My housemate went to a website called Easy Roomates, and put up a post there. He got several responses quite quickly. At first I sort of mocked him, as he found a place that was too good to believe, but then the mocking stopped when I went to see it. The place was a little too inconvenient for him, travel-wise, but for myself it was perfect. The room is 40 (Yes...Forty) Mats, furnished, private toilet, kitchen, refrigerator, etc. The only shared thing is the shower, on the next floor down. The room has a private entrance, and it is only setting me back 50,000 a month. No key money, no deposit. It is a better place than I could have imagined.... and travel time? Turns out there is a bus stop 1 minute away from the place, and it only takes 6min to reach Akabane station. So my roomie was kind of cursing his earlier decision, though he has since decided to take the small room in the same building, for 35,000 a month, and haunt my kitchen to punsh me for my luck.

Oh, you might want to try www.intewhao.com, or www.borderless-tokyo.com.

[ajarn]

If you can afford to fork out the money - you get a discount if you are willing to pay upfront. Check out the website for more details - there are pictures of the type of apartments available as well. http://www.eg.leopalace21.com/

[einsenundnullen]

Lajzar's point about it being expensive is true as far as I can tell. It's also accurate that you get a discount if you make the outlay for a 12-month stay right off the bat, but I think it's still well over what it should be.

For example, a very small place, a 1K, they rate as an I or J on their scale due to location (this was in Himeji, not exactly the heart of Kansai, more like the edge). Their scale goes from A to Z, least desireable to most. Anyway, class I, according to the page linked below, costs 74,025 yen per month. That's the 12 month contract which is apparently 31% less than paying per month.

But, I was walking around Himeji once, and I saw a standard, run-of-the-mill real estate agent with a sign out front that advertised 1Ks as low as 40,000 a month, no key money or deposit. Agent's fee was 50%. I assume that meant 50% of one month's rent.

I've noticed a lot of "accepting tenant" signs on apartment buildings. And they're still building more.

Who here has gone through the process at a regular agent, MiniMini or whatever? Assuming you have a resident visa of some sort, a paper saying you're employed, a hanko, and maybe one or two other documents, how difficult is it to rent a place? Are there hidden costs beyond key money, deposit, and agent's fee?

Chris

LP rent chart - http://www.eg.leopalace21.com/service01_01.html
LP room search (Japanese) - http://www.leopalace21.com/service/roomsearch/

[lajzar]

For the record, I worked out that the rent *per square metre* of the 1K leo palace I had was twice that of the 2DK place I moved into a few months later in the same town.

Someone is obviously making a tidy profit there.

[einsenundnullen]

Lajzar,

I think that 70,000/month 1K was about 20 square meters.

Chris

[nawlinsgurl]

Thanks everyone for your info. I am desperate to move out of this Nova deal asap. So your advice will be put to good use!

[azarashi sushi]

Just curious Nawlinsgurl... Where in Shizuoka are you? What's the NOVA apartment like and how much do you pay for it?

[Mike L.]

You could do a search here about: co-op housing. It's the best rental option hands down in Japan.

-No key money.

-No renewal money.

-No real estate agents.

-No guarantor.

-No discrimination.

-Professional managment.

-Cheap super ussually right in the complex. Mine has a liquor shop and post office too!

-Many feature renovated units for new tennants.

-Rents ussually cheaper than private housing nearby.

-Contract is between you and the corporation not your employer. (Welcome to the 21st century).


Lots of paper work going in but this place has saved me a bundle in just under a year.

If your outside Tokyo there are lots of them.

You need your 1st month plus 3 months deposite to get in!

This link is unfortunately all in Japanese and you will need some Japanese person to help you out!

www.udc.go.jp

[einsenundnullen]

Mike,

I think I've seen posts from you before about this. Thanks for including a link. You mentioned that there's no discrimination. But, do you stand a better chance if you're married, etc? I think a friend has been looking into these apartments, and he stood a better chance because he's married (although neither he nor his wife are Japanese).

Thanks,
Chris

[Mike L.]

I'm single, iving in a unit for old people, hand rails in toilet etc but that didn't seem work against me.

I had all of their books, looked for location, price and size then went to the office and found one available.

After that it took 2 weeks to get it ready, this complex offeres rennovated units for new tennats.

I went to the complex office the lady gave me a key and said "Go have a look for yourself."

She seemed to have few doubts that I would take it. She was right.

I looked at and was impressed. All rennovated. Grass and a hedge out back (I'm on the 1st floor) and walls as thick as the Great Wall.

This complex was designed as a whole rather than the postage stamp format of most of Japan.

Makes a big difference in quality of life.

Co-op is also good because you can arrange housing seperate of your employer(s) and avoid all of the nonesense associated with private housing.