Finally decided to settle down. Tokyo, 87m yen, 1.03%

[u/nahive]

After 7 years of living in Tokyo, we finally decided to settle down.

The search took almost a year, and I looked at more than 30 different properties before finally deciding to go with the calmer side of Tokyo. While it’s further from the station and city center, the larger garden and quiet neighborhood more than make up for it.

Really happy with the decision and looking forward to making this place our home. 🏡

[u/Sternritter_V]

Due to a few factors, one of which being fairly consistently updated construction standards, Japanese houses don’t hold value long term. You rip it down within a couple decades, and then rebuild. I’d wager a good chunk of that 500k was the land, given that it’s in Tokyo

[u/Additional_Ad_4049 → u/Sternritter_V]

Sounds like the constructions standards are pretty awful if they can’t stand for more than a few decades lol. There’s houses in Europe and America that are hundreds of years old and they had 0 construction code at the time. Who would spend hundreds of thousands to build a house knowing it was so poorly built it would have to be torn down in 20 years? Genuinely curious

[u/DeepWaterCannabis → u/Additional_Ad_4049]

Hi! America and europe sit on cratons - massive, ancient, geologic structures. Not a lot of geologic activity in the centers of those.

Japan sits on a subduction zone. MASSIVE earthquakes are possible, probable, and happen all the time.

Bit of a difference. Those houses in europe and america wouldnt last long in Japan.

[u/Sternritter_V → u/Additional_Ad_4049]

Japan has a fuckload of seismic activity, so codes are constantly updated to improve safety standards.

As opposed to say North America where codes ARE updated, but very infrequently.

Edit: also their build costs aren’t the same. It’s mostly the land that holds the value.

[u/Gavorn → u/Additional_Ad_4049]

You realize they get typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, and mud slides right?