Curtner Real Estate

Expat housing Tokyo means informal way of taking house on rent. A surprising feature of Japanese houses is that they are assumed to have a limited lifespan, and are normally torn down and rebuilt after a few decades. For an expatriate to rent a house in Tokyo/Japan, the easiest way and the one that offers the widest choice is to visit real estate agency located in the desired locality and go through the detail of houses available for rent. The details usually include the layout of the house and the rental amount for this house. If a person is interested in a particular house, the agent organises a visit to the property after confirming from the landlord. Usually, a guarantor is required who will promise to pay the rent in case of any problem arises. An expatriate cannot rent a house on his/her own in Tokyo. If a person decides to go through a broker, he/she should take enough time to look at lots of places since the first ones shown may not be appropriate for user but may be beneficial to the broker.

A tenant has to pay a damage deposit and a non- refundable amount known as “key money” before he/she takes over the house. The broker also has to be paid a month’s rent as fee. Until the renter actually signs the agreement for a property there’s no fees for using a real estate agent. The renter must be aware of the substantial move-in fees that a new housing property in Tokyo normally incurs (as described earlier in this paragraph). If the renter gets a local person to help and deal with the landlord and/or agency, it becomes a great help.
The landlord and the tenant have to undergo a rental agreement which is normally for one year. This agreement has to be revised every year and a fee is paid by the tenant equivalent to an additional month’s rent. However, in other cities this agreement is simply considered as the minimum duration of stay for the tenants and also, the rent may not change for many years. The renter should try and wait for the appropriate property before signing any agreement.  Japanese apartments and houses are intended to be smaller in size so that they can have an attractive glamour at storage space and the bathrooms before signing on any rental agreement.

To own a car in Japan is expensive. Actually, it happened to be more expensive than renting a Tokyo apartment. The reason is not about the cost of the car itself but for different reasons such as the mandatory bi-annual inspections, mandatory insurance, automobile tax and parking space fee in Tokyo’s large cities. Yes, parking space problem in Central Tokyo costs about 35,000 yen up to 100,000 yen per month at the town center. This is more expensive than availing a house in some other countries. However, in the outskirts of Tokyo, parking space is more affordable of only about 1,000 yen a month. Likewise, renting a Tokyo apartment outside of Central Tokyo is also affordable.

Parking Space is luxury in Tokyo
In Tokyo, parking space is an added luxury to many people with limited parking space or no space at all. There are only 2 ways of parking vehicles in Central Tokyo. First, is the standard way of parking vehicles, that is parking a car at any space available and second, parking with the use of a special machine or the “lift system”. The first seems very difficult now, due to scarcity of space. Generally, families in Japan owned small lots with an area of only 70 square meters, more or less or of about 800 square feet. Famous architect like Martin Van Der Linden of Van Der Architects says, when people ask him to design a building complex for profit, the first thing that comes into his mind is not about the building, but the parking which generally, would be earning greater that the proposed building. Thus, it makes more sense to build a parking tower than building a residential unit.
The Parking Tower
The parking tower is designed where it is built below the penthouse.  To make this possible a very expensive technology is required using a “lift system” where the cars are transported to fixed parking spots. The penthouse shall occupy the first floor, the second floor and the roof top. On the first floor, the living room, kitchen and small music-study area is located, on the second floor will be the bedroom and the bathroom while at the roof top will be utilized for other purposes including a space for billboards.