Japan House: First Fixes and First Visit Planning

 Before the end of the year, I need to give an update on this side project.

I've received quotes for all of the initial rounds of repairs needed on the house and asked that they be handled soon, before the end of January, according to the property management company. It's taken a bit of time to get to this point, but that's mostly because I'm working with a property management company to handle this stuff remotely.

In February, I'm going to Osaka for a couple of weeks. I've booked a hotel for exactly one night, the night I arrive at Kansai. After that, I'm going full StruggleBus and living in my vacation house for a couple of weeks. During the day (6:30am to 2:30pm), working my day job; in the afternoons and evenings, shopping and setting up the house for future visits.

My first full day in Osaka will start with picking up my rental car, then driving to Daito to finally see the house with my own eyes. To walk through it. To just enjoy the novelty of owning a completely blank slate vacation sanctuary.

Then I'll need to go shopping immediately.

Things that I will need to buy on Day One are...

• Futon/bedding for 2

• Towels + toilet paper + soap + toothbrush/toothpaste

• Fridge + microwave + kettle

• Dish soap/sponge + 2 place settings + trash bags

• Small table + 2 chairs (or floor chairs)

• Hand soap + basic cleaner + broom

After that, I'll figure it out once I've had a chance to completely map and model the house.

I'm really looking forward to it!

The car that I'm renting is very specifically a Daihatsu Roomy. My property manager confirmed that their Room will fit in the garage.

Japan House: Power to the People

Power and gas have been connected (Osaka Gas Company) and the property manager has checked out the house to give me a report. It’s going to be just a little more work than I thought to make the place livable as a vacation home.

Prime concerns are that some electrical outlets and lights aren’t working. I’ve asked to have an electrician check the place out and make repairs as needed.

The faucet in the tub leaks. I’ve asked to have that replaced.

The wallpaper in the kitchen and living room are garbage. I’ve asked for a quote to replace that with similarly colored wallpaper. I’ll probably change it later but for now I don’t want to have the house looking like total ass.

For now, everything else is a deferred concern.

Order of priority:

1. Get the house electrically sorted.
2. Fix the leaking tub valves.
3. Clean up the REALLY bad walls with fresh paper.
4. Visit and make plans for a mild renovation.

Japan House: International Payment Success!

 My efforts at getting good at Japanese have paid off; I was able to successfully squirt my monthly property management payment over to the real estate/property management company's (just PEC from now on) bank account yesterday afternoon.  WISE and the bank accepted the payment, and this morning, the PEC sent me confirmation that they had received the funds.

Woot! One more win on the "Dumb shit American buys an abandoned house--sight unseen--in Japan as a vacation home!"

I'm told that gas, electricity, and water service will be connected up tomorrow. I should also obtain confirmation of the property's condition, and then start plotting repairs and upgrades.

I'm super excited.

Japan House: International Payment Fun

It's been a few weeks since the property management contract was signed. In theory, it took effect on November 1, 2025. There are, however, complications.

In particular, making payments is turning out to be an enormous pain directly in the ass. Previously mentioned, vacation property management is a new line of business for the real estate company I'm working with. The current difficulty is trying to get them paid.

We've settled on WISE as the transfer vehicle. For a small, WISE will let me transfer money from my WISE account directly to the Real Estate Company's bank account in Japanes Yen. I've used this before to buy and import kei cars, and even to buy a house in Daito City. WISE works awesome...when it works.

So far, I've had some issues getting the payment to go through. There's a disconnect between what WISE needs (Account Holder Name) and the information that I've received from the real estate company. Working through this issue has been a bit tedious.

• There's timezone wonkiness.  12:00 PM here is 5:50 AM (+1 Day) in Osaka.
• The real estate company is closed for a couple of days this week. Any email I've sent asking for clarification isn't being answered until they return to the office.
• The questions that I've asked will require some research on their side as well as mine, further adding to the delay cycle time.

In the meantime, I've been breaking down the information I have using some translation tools (and my own meager skills in Japanese) to try a couple of different recipient name combinations, in the hope that one of them will work without being rejected.

Again, I have to remind myself that this isn't a race, I need to be patient.

Japan House: Property Management Contracts

Things take time and work in a certain way. I have to remind myself of that. The speed at which I want to push forward on getting things going for my joint in Daito does not match reality in some cases. Lining up property management has been one of those things.

It's set up now, by the way. 

Japan House: Remote [Property] Management

TL;DR

Everything takes longer than you expect or want when you're communicating over email in a language that you're, at best, a first-year student of. 

• Relax, take a breath.
• Don't reply immediately if you don't have to; consider it for a moment first.
• The process works in its own time. Just go with it.

To make my life easier, I asked my real estate agent in Japan for a recommendation for a vacation property manager. They connected me with my current property manager, Tokunaga-san, from SR Real Estate.

Japan House: Insurance!

TL;DR

Fire and Earthquake insurance for the vacation home in Daito is approximately $35 per month. (For the next five years, per the exchange rate on 2025.09.29)

This is a pleasant surprise! I have phone app subscriptions that cost more per month. (I really need to review my subscriptions again.)