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Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

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Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#71

Post by FrontierPsych »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #35
jpdaigle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it would be interesting, because you'd expect materials to cost roughly the same wherever you are in the country (modulo shipping costs), and cost of labor to account for much of the city to city difference. A former landlord of mine, whose house I was renting in Palo Alto at the time (2021), shared that they were planning to kick off a major renovation that would total around 800K$ all-in. That's an absolutely…

Older tradespeople are retiring and younger participation in the trades has not kept up (for a variety of reasons). Labor improvement costs will only go up if you or unpaid help (friends) are unable to do the work. Higher level thesis is structural demographics in general compressing productive worker cohort. https://www.google.com/search?q=skilled+trades+shortage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fsWN9lxVs https://w…

I have been talking to people in the construction/trades industry for a long, long time. I sell them stuff.

At least for the last w20 years I've been talking with them, owners cannot find employees. It's the biggest complaint that I hear.

I talk to construction company owners all the time and journeymen make $100,000+ per year. Not at all the companies, not the shitty owners, but if you look, you will find that money.

This is way better than an average university education in all but a few majors like computer science.

Not only that, but as you apprentice and learn the trade, you get paid, unlike university where you pay.

When I went to university, you could get any degree, it didn't matter, because tuition was $600 per year. Get an English degree or art degree. You could pay your tuition and books and fees working a summer job.

Now, if you go to university, anything other than a computer science degree is a waste of money and time, more or less. Most of the STEM field majors suck - you don't get squat for a biology degree or chemistry degree, or so I hear. Only computer science is a sure thing. Oh, there might be a few weird degrees you can make massive money in, like petrochemical engineering or whatever, but jobs are far and few between, and there's no a massive market for those type of degree, unlike computer science.

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#72

Post by [deleted] »

rtpg wrote: post #40
wheresmycraisin wrote: post #8

We'd love to but the immigration policies are very unfriendly.

Do you have a college degree or 10 years professional experience? Congratulations, after finding a job you can move here. And on top of that your visa is not tied to your employer so there’s no visa risk if you find a better job on the spot ([0]) There’s some immigration stuff that’s tougher, but based off everything I’ve heard from dealing with Anglo countries or the EU, most people on this website would have zero p…

[deleted]

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#73

Post by nikau »

FrontierPsych wrote: post #71
toomuchtodo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Older tradespeople are retiring and younger participation in the trades has not kept up (for a variety of reasons). Labor improvement costs will only go up if you or unpaid help (friends) are unable to do the work. Higher level thesis is structural demographics in general compressing productive worker cohort. https://www.google.com/search?q=skilled+trades+shortage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fsWN9lxVs https://w…

I have been talking to people in the construction/trades industry for a long, long time. I sell them stuff. At least for the last w20 years I've been talking with them, owners cannot find employees. It's the biggest complaint that I hear. I talk to construction company owners all the time and journeymen make $100,000+ per year. Not at all the companies, not the shitty owners, but if you look, you will find that money…

> This is way better than an average university education in all but a few majors like computer science.

Quality of life is way lower however, most tradies bodies are in pain once in their 40s

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#74

Post by rtpg »

bradlys wrote: post #58
rtpg wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, “easily” based on what people who do it say. But getting citizenship requires [0] renouncing other citizenships. There’s a permanent resident status which is I think is closest to a green card. You can’t vote but you don’t have to work or otherwise justify your existence. You can temporarily leave the country for several years if you intend to return (apparently this is pretty loose so “several” = 10) There was…

The answer is no. No, it isn’t easy and no you will not get citizenship. Japan is notoriously difficult (impossible) to become a real citizen in.

I don’t know why you would say it’s impossible. 10k people do it a year, it’s a well documented process. The biggest hurdle is probably the language? Since most people can exist in Japan without a full grasp of the language in more ways than other countries

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#75

Post by [deleted] »

jutrewag wrote: post #44
0xbadc0de5 wrote: post #28

Important to note that, unlike in many other countries, housing in Japan is a depreciating asset, like a car. Their value goes to zero over time. This is somewhat contrary to what many of us are accustomed to, where houses are appreciating (or at least stable) assets which maintain or grow in value.

This doesn’t make any sense to me. Why wouldn’t a really poor family buy it when it’s really close to zero then, especially if it’s a perfectly habitable house.

[deleted]

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#76

Post by nibbleshifter »

midoridensha wrote: post #67
nibbleshifter wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A while back I looked at how I would score on their "points based" immigration calculator thing. It wasn't good at all. I suspect they will have to have a strong rethink of their immigration policies in the next 10-20 years.

>A while back I looked at how I would score on their "points based" immigration calculator thing. >It wasn't good at all. So I take it you don't have a college degree or work in the software field like most people here. It's true: if you have no skills and work as a barista or janitor, Japan isn't very interested in having you immigrate here. If you're a skilled tech professional, however, it's the easiest country in…

I have a degree and 10+ years in tech.

I redid it today, and now have 85 points.

Amusingly, I just did some back of the envelope maths and worked out I could probably bump that to over 120 points in 2 years if I set my mind to it.

As for "easiest", no.

I've moved a lot, there's many countries that are far easier :)

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#77

Post by red-iron-pine »

FrontierPsych wrote: post #71
toomuchtodo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Older tradespeople are retiring and younger participation in the trades has not kept up (for a variety of reasons). Labor improvement costs will only go up if you or unpaid help (friends) are unable to do the work. Higher level thesis is structural demographics in general compressing productive worker cohort. https://www.google.com/search?q=skilled+trades+shortage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fsWN9lxVs https://w…

I have been talking to people in the construction/trades industry for a long, long time. I sell them stuff. At least for the last w20 years I've been talking with them, owners cannot find employees. It's the biggest complaint that I hear. I talk to construction company owners all the time and journeymen make $100,000+ per year. Not at all the companies, not the shitty owners, but if you look, you will find that money…

I have known electricians making well over $100k, and a carpenter who does the same.

Both work 6 days a week, long days, and often physically demanding work. The electrician is at least union and has protections through them; he pulls data center gigs on his off days.

This is also around Northern VA, where $100k salary is fairly unimpressive; it's not SF or Vancouver, but housing ain't cheap and $100k ain't what it used to be.

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#78

Post by red-iron-pine »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #39
jpdaigle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it would be interesting, because you'd expect materials to cost roughly the same wherever you are in the country (modulo shipping costs), and cost of labor to account for much of the city to city difference. A former landlord of mine, whose house I was renting in Palo Alto at the time (2021), shared that they were planning to kick off a major renovation that would total around 800K$ all-in. That's an absolutely…

Any high COL will have expensive trades people. Maybe when demand quiets down or more people start chasing money in the trades will prices come down, but it is $800K ATM because that's what it takes to get on the list. I was quoted $150K for a full kitchen renovation in Seattle. Ugh.

That's what prices in the US should have been like, but housing and food was kept artificially low for decades due to use of migrant labor. The US market could stomach stagnating wages because illegals did all of the work for at or below minimum wage.

Now there is a shortage of trades and COVID + "build the wall" anti-immigration pushes meant there are no migrants, so you're paying regular price for 1st world labor.

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#79

Post by seanmcdirmid »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #78
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any high COL will have expensive trades people. Maybe when demand quiets down or more people start chasing money in the trades will prices come down, but it is $800K ATM because that's what it takes to get on the list. I was quoted $150K for a full kitchen renovation in Seattle. Ugh.

That's what prices in the US should have been like, but housing and food was kept artificially low for decades due to use of migrant labor. The US market could stomach stagnating wages because illegals did all of the work for at or below minimum wage. Now there is a shortage of trades and COVID + "build the wall" anti-immigration pushes meant there are no migrants, so you're paying regular price for 1st world labor.

> but housing and food was kept artificially low for decades due to use of migrant labor.

Food maybe, but housing? It has been rising since the last huge housing bust in the 90s, with only a blip downturn after 2008. Migrant labor is great because they want to do those jobs at all, and it isn't really about wages, poorer Americans just seem to be content to complain about immigrants while watching FoxNews with no ambition to do those jobs, richer Americans are the ones employing those migrants in the construction and agriculture (as well as Trump-style hospitality) industries while at the same time using illegal immigration as a wedge issue.

Re: Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?

#80

Post by red-iron-pine »

jutrewag wrote: post #50
galaxytachyon wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how true it is but an Asian friend told me the race that an Asian hates the most is another Asian... Looking at the immigration policies of China and Japan, I think he might be right.

Yeah but all that can change in the span of a generation. The old die and things change quickly.

It can -- maybe. So far don't see that happening.
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