I have a friend who lives in Japan, and when he was home here in the States of the Summer we hung out. Over a few drinks we got to talking about real estate in Japan. I was like “There’s such good deals to be had, and you should buy one of these houses for sale instead of renting.” But the reality is always different on the ground. Thing is he lives and works in Tokyo, and they don’t have ANY affordable or abandoned homes for sale unlike the Japanese countryside where people have been leaving behind beautiful homes in search of jobs in the city.
I’m telling this anecdotal story because Business Insider has this article out about a Canadian dad who who bought an old home in Japan for $23,000 for his family while they were living in Bali, Indonesia with his family. As you can guess, this isn’t a typical family that has set down roots in a nice Canadian town with a picket fence and two cats in the window. This family are adventures, and that’s exactly what buying a home in a foreign country turns out to be – an adventure. Trust me, I love me some adventure, but moving across the world to a country I don’t speak the language and buying a house is a little too adventurous for me when in our local real estate market here in Upstate New York houses are sold for cash only one day after hitting the market!
How to buy one of those cheap, abandoned houses in Japan, according to a Canadian dad of 2 who did it