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jillybean
Joined: 01 Jul 2011
Posts: 32
Location: JAPAN
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 Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 3:38 pm Post subject: Apartment rental in nara |
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| I just found out that I have to move and I was interested in relocating to Nara. But after a web search, it looks like there isn't too much available out there.....does anyone know of any place in Nara that rents to gaijin? besides leopalace. Would it be better for me to find a real estate agent? To be honest, this is the first apartment hunt that I've done by myself. I'm not really sure how to go about it here! |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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| yahoo.jp is the way to go. Screw LP and most the gaijin houses. http://cross.realestate.yahoo.co.jp/map?lc=06&p=nara can get you started. Type in what you want price wise, and size wise. How far from what station, or whatever is important to you, just type it in, and look. |
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jillybean
Joined: 01 Jul 2011
Posts: 32
Location: JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks!! My Japanese is terrible so it is a little tricky to navigate the site (am I an idiot? Is there a way to make it into English?) but this is just what I was looking for! |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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Take a Japanese (speaking) friend and visit a real estate agent in person after running an online search to get an idea of what is available and pricing.
I used Home Mate ホームマイト ( http://www.homemate.co.jp/ to run a search... no English I'm afraid but if you are brave and just have a play on these kinds of sites, you'll work it out  ). You can do it alone, but it is easier to get the ball rolling if a friend goes with you the first time you visit the agency so that you and the agent are be 100% certain that they know what you are looking for. After the first visit you should be able to do the rest on your own. |
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Inflames
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 486
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| Take a Japanese (speaking) friend and visit a real estate agent in person after running an online search to get an idea of what is available and pricing. |
Most ads on those sites are fake ads planted to get people into the office.
What I found to be good was to have a friend who knows a real estate agent refer me (and set up the appointment), then go through everything.
Don't forget UR (government housing). They don't discriminate and you don't need a guarantor. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:18 am Post subject: |
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| Inflames wrote: |
Most ads on those sites are fake ads planted to get people into the office.
What I found to be good was to have a friend who knows a real estate agent refer me (and set up the appointment), then go through everything. |
Don't know what sites you visited.
Me; I went to that same site, found an apartment, went into the agent after school one evening, saw the very same apartment 30mins later then got the apartment for a slightly better price than had been advertised online and moved in a few weeks later.
I was introduced to Home Mate by a JTE who had used them to find her apartment. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:22 am Post subject: |
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| jillybean wrote: |
| Thanks!! My Japanese is terrible so it is a little tricky to navigate the site (am I an idiot? Is there a way to make it into English?) but this is just what I was looking for! |
Copy the words you don't know, and paste them into jisho.org
It's fairly straight forward. As it's words like rent, or key money, not entire sentences. |
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jillybean
Joined: 01 Jul 2011
Posts: 32
Location: JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks again for your help. My friend is helping me go theough the site and there are tons of places!! Although it is depressing because I think (err KNOW) I have totally been over paying for the place I have now. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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| jillybean wrote: |
| Thanks again for your help. My friend is helping me go theough the site and there are tons of places!! Although it is depressing because I think (err KNOW) I have totally been over paying for the place I have now. |
No prob man. Yeah, I think a lot of companies screw the gaijin over. They make a deal with Leo Palace, and always seem to charge a bit more than normal LP prices.
Knew a guy that lived near me, I mean 5 min walk from me. He had a 1k LP special, while I have a 2ldk. His rent was 65,000 while mine is 80,000. While my fiance had a LP apt in the same area before as well. She paid 40,000. Hmmmmmmmmmm  |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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| rxk22 wrote: |
| Knew a guy that lived near me, I mean 5 min walk from me. He had a 1k LP special, while I have a 2ldk. His rent was 65,000 while mine is 80,000. While my fiance had a LP apt in the same area before as well. She paid 40,000. Hmmmmmmmmmm |
The only way to find out for certain whether he was being scammed is to compare with neighbors in the same block on the same payment plan. Many things affect the price of apartments including but not limited to distance to the nearest station, accessability, distance to convenience stores, shops and other aminities, the floor number, age of the building, the size of the apartment and rooms, etc. And of course Leopalace places are normally a bit more than private rentals because you are paying for convenience. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| rxk22 wrote: |
| Knew a guy that lived near me, I mean 5 min walk from me. He had a 1k LP special, while I have a 2ldk. His rent was 65,000 while mine is 80,000. While my fiance had a LP apt in the same area before as well. She paid 40,000. Hmmmmmmmmmm |
The only way to find out for certain whether he was being scammed is to compare with neighbors in the same block on the same payment plan. Many things affect the price of apartments including but not limited to distance to the nearest station, accessability, distance to convenience stores, shops and other aminities, the floor number, age of the building, the size of the apartment and rooms, etc. And of course Leopalace places are normally a bit more than private rentals because you are paying for convenience. |
Yeah, true. But you know what? I am going to look and see how much they are.
Edit, ok I found his old apt. It is listed as �59,000. So yeah. I think his company was taking a slice o' that. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| rxk22 wrote: |
Yeah, true. But you know what? I am going to look and see how much they are.
Edit, ok I found his old apt. It is listed as �59,000. So yeah. I think his company was taking a slice o' that. |
59,000... Is that the rent pricing for the correct rental plan?
And did you count the non-rent charges for things such as garbage collection, communial lighting, the weekly cleaner, support, parking, etc?
Those charges can easily add up. Mine totaled more than 3000 yen/month and I didn't have a car.
I'm not saying that companies don't jack up the prices of apartments; they do! But normally they add a pretty substantial amount... if I'm right in thinking you didn't allow for all the extra charges then the employer can't have added more than about 1000 yen (if anything at all). |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:41 am Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| rxk22 wrote: |
Yeah, true. But you know what? I am going to look and see how much they are.
Edit, ok I found his old apt. It is listed as �59,000. So yeah. I think his company was taking a slice o' that. |
59,000... Is that the rent pricing for the correct rental plan?
And did you count the non-rent charges for things such as garbage collection, communial lighting, the weekly cleaner, support, parking, etc?
Those charges can easily add up. Mine totaled more than 3000 yen/month and I didn't have a car.
I'm not saying that companies don't jack up the prices of apartments; they do! But normally they add a pretty substantial amount... if I'm right in thinking you didn't allow for all the extra charges then the employer can't have added more than about 1000 yen (if anything at all). |
Yeah that is with everything included. The flat rent is 53,000. I guess they only wanted to cheat him a little bit
So yeah TS be careful, and good luck  |
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Inflames
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 486
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| Inflames wrote: |
Most ads on those sites are fake ads planted to get people into the office.
What I found to be good was to have a friend who knows a real estate agent refer me (and set up the appointment), then go through everything. |
Don't know what sites you visited.
Me; I went to that same site, found an apartment, went into the agent after school one evening, saw the very same apartment 30mins later then got the apartment for a slightly better price than had been advertised online and moved in a few weeks later.
I was introduced to Home Mate by a JTE who had used them to find her apartment. |
I used homes.co.jp and chintai.net - those sites have listings from multiple different realtors (as opposed to a realtor's webpage, such as homemate).
It all depends on the agency - some are honest and others are liars. Some of the ads are so obviously fake - apartments in the same building but with dramatically different conditions (yet listed by the same agent).
To the OP: As others have stated, you can't just compare rents. Things like the floor or whether it's facing south can have a huge difference. In my building, I pay 4,000 yen more than someone on the 2nd or 3rd floor and 3,000 yen more than the person across the hall. Why? I'm on the 9th floor with great views in an apartment that faces south. My apartment seems a bit overpriced (by like 3,000 yen a month or so) but I also have huge ceilings. Some advice I'll give is that if you intend on staying somewhere for a while, pay the key money and don't go cheap. I had to move when I didn't have a lot of cash and I spent a year in a crap apartment. I moved to a nice new place and have been happy there ever since! If you pick a place you don't like, it'll cost you a ton of cash to move again. |
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jillybean
Joined: 01 Jul 2011
Posts: 32
Location: JAPAN
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:17 am Post subject: |
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| Umm why does it make a big difference if the apartment faces south? Sorry if the answer is obvious....my mind is a bit foggy today! |
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