Job Discussion Forums

[wayne432]

I was curious of what people thought of Leo Palace or other similar places?

Would it be worth it paying for 6-12 months and staying in the apartments? How are the apartments by the way? Are the apartments worth it or would it be more worthwhile to head over to a real estate office and search around for regular rentals?

I know about guarantors, key money, and such... In a 6-12 month rental, could a LP apt be cheaper than a general rental? I was also curious about quality, because you can't really trust any pictures online for any rentals.

Well, any info/help anyone could provide would be welcome. Thanks.

[kahilm]

I lived in one in Nishitokyo-shi for about 8 or 9 months. It was a relatively new building so the room was clean when I moved in. It was about a 15 minute walk to the nearest station which was in turn about 30-40 minutes away from the fun parts of Tokyo.

It was small. Very short hallway when you opened the door, the main room was about 10 feet by 12 feet. Small closet and loft for a bed. No balcony, just a pole outside of the window to hang laundry from. Kitchen was basically in the hallway, I was lucky because I had 2 electric burners on my stove. Washing machine, tiny dorm room style fridge. My place had a toilet separate from the shower/bath. TV and microwave were in the place when I moved in, too.

I guess it's livable if you don't plan to stay for more than a year or two and you don't spend much time at home and you don't plan on having any parties or anything (the walls are paper thin, by the way).

A few of my coworkers lived in LeoPalace places as well. One was exactly the same as mine and in a just as inconvenient location. The other two were smaller in older buildings and they complained of rats and cockroaches, but they were both close to a station (2 minute walk) and only a 12 minute ride to Shinjuku.

I think you would save money compared to a place where you have to pay key money, deposit, realtor fee, first months rent/last months rent, and whatever else in advance if you're only looking to stay for 6-12 months. It also depends on where you're looking to live. Big city area or more inaka-ish?

I always pass apartment/condo shops on the road with their advertisements for places that have reasonable monthly rent and no deposit or key money fees, but I always wonder what the catch is... just to throw that in there.

[seklarwia]

If you check out youtube you can see many apartment tour vids made by ALTs some of which are in Leopalace places. Since most of them are ALTs they live in the smaller pads shown on the Leopalace website.

To be honest, the video tours of the new places were pretty similar in the videos to the pics on their site so I don't think theres too much false avertising there.

I guess it all depends on what you are used to. Many of the ALTs doing the tours are quite young so were probably students until not to long ago, so they don't tend to find the smaller Leopalace places too bad.

I saw a video tour of one just like Kahilm described, and I thought it looked kinda fun, especially the loft space bed But then I'm the person who runs to grab the top bunks when staying in hostels, or on sleeper trains...

If you are older though and used to having an amount of living space, then you might find the smaller Leopalace pads claustrophobic or highly inconvienient. And if you are not twentysomething, you might not appreciate a loft closet as a bed space.

But I do agree, if you are decide to stay for more than a year or 2, then Leopalace places are not really proper homes, so you would probaly wish to move on to bigger and better. I think Leopalace isn't such a bad thing in the beginning especially if you are new to Japan and don't know anyone yet, or the language. Once you have settled into living and working in Japan and understand how things work a little better, then you can go and have a less stressful time finding a place to live knowing that even after a long day of seeing ads for places and then being refused because you are gaijin then viewing apartments and not liking them there isn't the pressure to accept something you really do not like just so that you have a roof to sleep under.

[Glenski]

My first piece of advice is get used to the idea that most apartments here (even in LeoPalace) are tiny with low ceilings.

As for any comparison, here are 3 points to consider:

1) Can you actually afford to pay for 6-12 months up front?

2) Moving out of LP will usually require a cleaning/service fee.

3) LP comes fully furnished with phone/Internet hooked up, I believe. Nice and convenient. Other apartments will almost always come with absolutely nothing in them -- no fridge, washing machine, stove, curtains, bedding, kitchen utensils, or light fixtures. Furnishing a place can be done fairly cheaply with secondhand shop or recycle shop materials and 100-yen store stuff, but it's a royal pain, IMO.

[ill lo9ic]

does leo palace not have a monthly payment plan?

[seklarwia]

You can pay monthly. You just get a considerable discount if you pay 6 months up front and a larger one still if you pay 12 months up front.

[Grasshopper]

Just to let you know, I stayed in a Leo Palace for 6 months, and my experience was excellent. I would definitely stay in one again.

It was arranged through my company, so I don't know about exact payment plans, but I talked to some people in the Leo Palace office about a year ago, and they were really helpful in explaining things to me--of course, I've forgotten it all now, but it sounded quite simple.

I like it because it has everything you need, and some extras, including high speed internet and a microwave.

G

[Sef]

I also lived in a Leo Palace and loved it but I'd advise checking the location. See, they're quite flimsy buildings. My first night in Japan I was lying in my sleeping loft thinking, 'Ooh, an earthquake! Oh, and another one... and another. That can't be right. Hang on a minute...'

I don't think my place stopped shaking the whole time I was there thanks to the busy road it was on and at least twice a week I was woken in the middle of the night by a bike gang going past. Still, it was clean and roach-free

[johncanada24]

Ive stayed at 2 different LeoPalaces and for the most part the units were very clean and had everything you needed to start living comfortably.
There was only one problem with Leo Palace and it had alot to do with the area I was in since I wa sort of living in the countryside. The internet was slower than dialup even though they advertised their connection as high speed! Becareful, in some areas, 1 ADSL connection may be split by many tenants causing a bottle neck on your speed.

I was getting max download speeds of 8KB per second trying to update windows(it took a week) and called in for tech support. They of course told me I couldnt do anything about my speed and suggested I get my own seperate connection. Then in order to do that, I had to get permission to install all the equipment needed for the connection ( holes,wires, etc) and that was a whole other problem.

If a high speed internet connection is a must and you cant function with dial up bandwith rates, I recommend calling the Internet tech support and inquire what connection is in the unit or area and how many people are sharing it. With Hikari its usually not a problem youll tend to get that speed in Leopalaces close to the city or towns.

Either than that, The apartments are great, clean and convenient for new arrivees!

[MTR]

I am new to Japan and rented a Leopalace apartment because my company were willing to arrange it for me. I thought finding my own place would be too stressful due to my current pathetic lack of Japanese language skill (I am trying).

The place is small (about 26 square meters) but had almost everything needed already in place when I moved in such as a TV, full sized fridge/freezer, microwave and a four burner electric stove. As mentioned in previous posts it also comes internet ready but the speed can be really poor due to the shared nature of the connection. The building is very new and seems solid enough although the sound proofing hasn't impressed me much.

Location is good. quite central but a little off the main road so there is no traffic noise. There is a fumigation/cleaning fee on leaving. I don't have my documents to hand but I think its around 15,000 yen here.

Being a novice to life in Japan I have no experience to draw a comparison from but for what it's worth I am very happy with my accommodation.

[seklarwia]

I've been really lucky with my Leopalace place. It's new and clean and its a tiny block with only about 12 units (I think... probably should count one of these days) most of which are filled with older tenants or businessmen who are out 6am-10pm, so I don't have any internet speed issues.

I live less than 5 mins from my local JR stop (not that I really use it living only 10 mins from my school) and 15 mins from the shinkansen into Tokyo/Nagano city (2mins if I take the JR train from my stop, but that's just lazy).

I live near all amineties required for living, live just off the main roads so there is no noise and about 15m right infront of my door is a beatiful temple.

I do envy that you have four burners though. I only have 2.

[Glenski]

[MTR]

Deepest apologies...... I have just used my stove for the first time and realised it only has two burners.
Not that its a problem considering I have clearly lived here for over one month without taking the time to look at it never mind cook. Lots of nice cheap places to eat nearby. Sorry for making you feel unnecessarily jealous Seklarwia!