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Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

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Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#121

Post by inerte »

sgc wrote: post #81
mettamage wrote: post #52

So wait, there are places where there are houses being given away (e.g. US, Japan and Italy as far as I know) and I'm a person that has the ability to work remotely. Am I missing something? Is this my ticket to cheap housing and a more stress free life? At what point am I going to be scammed and/or disappointed?

Where are houses being given away in Italy? I would love to know of the program.

I upvoted you, expecting that OP might deliver with the relevant article, but decided to do a search of my own and found some stuff.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free%20italy%20houses like the first few articles are about free or 1 Euro houses. Seems to be true!

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#122

Post by 13of40 »

ArtWomb wrote: post #2

This is cool. Would not know where to begin with gut renovation in Japan, though. And some of these look quite weathered. In US for example, you can typically sub-contract parts of the renovation to get decent pricing. One team for the basement flooring. One for waterproofing / sump pump installation. And then perhaps install drywall / paint DIY. Of course this is aided by close availability to Home Depot, Lowes, and…

Slightly off topic, but I was in rural Portugal recently, and my impression was that about one in three buildings was in some state of ruin, from otherwise delightful little cottages with holes in their roofs and empty windows, to remains of ancient walls just clinging together by the sheer will of their graffiti. (This isn't to pick on Portugal either - I've seen it in several different parts of Europe.)

For the less damaged ones, I don't really understand why it's not economical to throw a new roof on them to make them habitable. In the US, when a house rots it rots, because it's going to be made out of wood and gypsum and insulation that can't come back from exposure to the elements, but the buildings I was seeing were all stone. Is there some special failure mode that's harder to see in them, like black mold in the cracks or structural instability that makes them unrepairable, or is just lack of demand?

A good example is this building: https://goo.gl/maps/7uzuvfrUQHD2 This is right next to the national palace in one of the wealthiest regions of the country, and instead of fixing it up and putting it on Air BnB as "The Cottage by the Palace" you can see from google that it's abandoned and the roof has slowly been caving in for the last ten years.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#123

Post by stevenwoo »

sgc wrote: post #81
mettamage wrote: post #52

So wait, there are places where there are houses being given away (e.g. US, Japan and Italy as far as I know) and I'm a person that has the ability to work remotely. Am I missing something? Is this my ticket to cheap housing and a more stress free life? At what point am I going to be scammed and/or disappointed?

Where are houses being given away in Italy? I would love to know of the program.

This made the news last year (you have to renovate and make a tourist trap or some economic positive): https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/18/italy-is-giving-away-over-10... That was an update on an older program that was pretty popular: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/world/europe/sicilian-tow...

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#124

Post by onetimemanytime »

TheGRS wrote: post #28
onetimemanytime wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insane, every 22 years house goes to zero value. Probably adding relatively little money can extend the life to 40-50 or so. If I'm 30 and buy a house, makes no sense to need to tear it down when I'm 52.

Its just thinking of your house as a depreciating asset instead of an appreciating one. Much like a car. I actually can't imagine wanting to live in the same house for more than 10 years.

>>I actually can't imagine wanting to live in the same house for more than 10 years.

"Wanting" is kindy tricky. How much money do you have? You can live in a new house every year...or hotel. But not all have that luxury, that's why I made that comment. You buy a house and you know shelter is almost solved (taxes+maintenance do cost but...)

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#125

Post by [deleted] »

delinka wrote: post #93
ransom1538 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detroit: If you have a credit card and a want to own an apartment building, it is the place to be. Just needs some elbow grease. There MUST BE opportunity at $5 USD per square foot -- but it is hard to visualize. https://www.point2homes.com/US/Multi-Family-For-Sale/MI/Detr... [I think you can talk this guy down to $10k].

In what looks like a terrible neighborhood, right across the street from a funeral home. I think gaining tenants will be a challenge.

[deleted]

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#126

Post by make3 »

mettamage wrote: post #52

So wait, there are places where there are houses being given away (e.g. US, Japan and Italy as far as I know) and I'm a person that has the ability to work remotely. Am I missing something? Is this my ticket to cheap housing and a more stress free life? At what point am I going to be scammed and/or disappointed?

these houses should probably go to extremely low income people, not a software engineer

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#127

Post by antidaily »

SirLJ wrote: post #89
lostgame wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha. The idea of using Detroit for TWD, or even perhaps it's own spinoff series, is pretty gold, tbh.

It's not about the location, but about the tax credits...

Gov Snyder (with house) got rid of tax credits.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#128

Post by [deleted] »

ransom1538 wrote: post #42
bobthepanda wrote: post #27

The US saw similar efforts in Detroit and other Rust Belt cities. That mostly just resulted in asset flippers hoarding houses and letting them fall into further disrepair. I wonder what steps Japan is taking to mitigate that possibility.

Detroit: If you have a credit card and a want to own an apartment building, it is the place to be. Just needs some elbow grease. There MUST BE opportunity at $5 USD per square foot -- but it is hard to visualize. https://www.point2homes.com/US/Multi-Family-For-Sale/MI/Detr... [I think you can talk this guy down to $10k].

[deleted]

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#129

Post by golemiprague »

bobthepanda wrote: post #27

The US saw similar efforts in Detroit and other Rust Belt cities. That mostly just resulted in asset flippers hoarding houses and letting them fall into further disrepair. I wonder what steps Japan is taking to mitigate that possibility.

In Japan it is very common to destroy a house and build a new one on the land, construction is fast and zoning is very lax. A lot of old houses are sold for destruction and when I say old I mean 50 years, it is the normal way in Japan. The problem with those houses that the government offer is their location, it is usually remote places where there is no chance for gentrification like in Detroit which is still almost a million people city.

There is also a cultural difference, Japanese just keep their environment neat and clean, you need to see Japanese homeless tents to understand. In Japan mostly everybody are from the same culture and adhere to those unwritten rules. Homogenous society has certain advantages over diversity in contrast to what is hammered into our head continuously in the west for certain political reasons.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#130

Post by zarkov99 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #76
coldtea wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only a property in Detroit in the deserted areas could mean frequent meetings with muggings, violence, etc. In Japan it will just be a regular house.

I have lived in crappy neighborhoods[1][2]. Violence is not likely to be an issue as long as you don't inject yourselves into your neighbors' business it's really not the big deal the upper classes make it out to be with all their hand wringing. Violent crime doesn't really happen that often per capita (i.e. odds are it will never happen to you). Not getting involved with drugs is like 90% of the battle. If you do ge…

You are out of your mind.
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