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Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

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Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#201

Post by fbinthrow »

pm90 wrote: post #192
iandanforth wrote: post #180

The more interesting thing about this is that it is part of a new type of economics, contraction economics. The global trend toward birth rates below replenishment means that first-world countries are maintaining their population growth through immigration. As some countries embrace restrictions on immigration, and ultimately all countries plateau in their population growth (projected to be around 2100) it means that…

Well, this is all assuming that humanity will not expand out of Earth. If that does happen, we might actually have a perpetually expanding populace and economy. Fun times.

You just accidentally summarized why growth obsessed global capitalists are completely delusional.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#202

Post by umeshunni »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #59
civilian wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are houses being given away in the US? I imagine that you need to be a Japanese citizen to get a free house.

Detroit. It's not free anymore but it's still dirt cheap.

I didn't believe you, but then I looked online and I saw that you were right! Here's a perfectly reasonable house in Detroit for about 4000 USD

https://www.redfin.com/MI/Detroit/15285-Manning-St-48205/hom...

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#203

Post by gcb0 »

labster wrote: post #195
zik wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Earthquakes are commonplace in Japan. You don't want an older house which may be structurally compromised.

People pay half a million dollars for 60 year old homes all the time in California, just as bad of an earthquake zone, yet these houses aren't worth half a million yen. Culture is a much bigger factor here -- I've never heard the phrase "used house" in the US. What I do hear is mid-century modern, arts and crafts, ranch-style.

CA quakes range under M7. while japan over M8 is relatively common.

also japan have snow and hot+humid summers. CA is mostly dry warm weather year around. timber will decay much, much faster in the former. if japan had low quality housing materials like used in CA, the houses would need to be redone every 10 years or less.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#204

Post by ska »

TheGRS wrote: post #161
ska wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Houses are depreciating assets. It's the land that has value most places.

Japan seems to be the exception actually, in the US houses certainly are appreciating assets, market crashes and such notwithstanding.

Usually the land they are on is appreciating. The houses themselves depreciate.

Sometimes the distinction doesn't matter - but here one of the things we are talking about people knocking down serviceable houses to build new ones. This approach can sometimes even be compelling if land prices rise to a degree completely out of character with the homes originally built on them. See, for example, SF bay and Vancouver.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#205

Post by PunchTornado »

freetime2 wrote: post #187
pj_mukh wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? When you work from home, you wanna leave home often, where do you go if you're in the middle of nowhere? I work from home in the middle of a dense city, pay a premium for it! You leave home and there are about 100 places (cafes, theatres, museums, parks etc.) I can go to that are walking distance. Is that possible in say rural…

I work remotely from "rural" Japan. I am surrounded by rice fields and mountains, but also only a 10 minute drive or 20 minute bike/bus ride to the city center where there is shopping and night life. From there it's a couple hours to Tokyo by bullet train, which I visit a handful of times a year. There are old or abandoned houses nearby that can be had for very little money. I love being in the mountains. I get outdo…

sounds like a dream. what am I doing in this small room in London? I'd like to do it...

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#206

Post by ska »

ska wrote: post #25
masklinn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This sounds great but you have to factor in that up to very recently Has that changed? I assume you get the actual property, not just the house sitting on it. The land is what japan generally values.

Houses are depreciating assets. It's the land that has value most places.

I seem to have been unclear, when I said "houses are depreciating assets" I meant the structure itself. This is almost always true.

However, the land it is on may well be rising in value enough to counteract the depreciation - so your house + land may well be worth more in 10 years, even though the house itself is probably worth less.

Make more sense?

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#207

Post by JumpCrisscross »

fbinthrow wrote: post #201
pm90 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, this is all assuming that humanity will not expand out of Earth. If that does happen, we might actually have a perpetually expanding populace and economy. Fun times.

You just accidentally summarized why growth obsessed global capitalists are completely delusional.

> growth obsessed global capitalists are completely delusional

Infinite growth and finite material resources are perfectly compatible. Case in point: Fortnite.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#208

Post by dforrestwilson »

komali2 wrote: post #101
titanix2 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you're missing that foreigners are not the target of these deals. Also it's not terribly complicated to get a visa to come here: you basically need at least a bachelor degree and to find a job. Given how the job market is starving for employees, it is not really hard. I know a half-dozen people of my country and my age that did it.

> Given how the job market is starving for employees Japanese companies in general have an abhorrent work culture. Let me hand wave cultural relativism for a second - sure, fine, it works great for the Japanese, or whatever, historical and cultural significance, fine. But I think I can make health arguments against it, let alone moral/value ones. I wish they'd explore Visas for remote workers - partner and I are very…

I started working for a Japanese tech investment company with this mindset. It's now outdated.

I was shocked to discover that Japanese employment law has changed dramatically vs the perception. Someone died a few years back apparently, so the Japanese government stepped in. They closely monitor logged overtime hours. Bosses whose employees persistently log long hours (I think it is 60+ hour weeks) get a warning, first from HR internally, then the government itself. It's a big deal.

They have a "no overtime Wednesday" every week, and a "Premium Friday" where workers are encourage to go home in the early afternoon.

I went in imagining people sleeping at their desks, etc, but it was the opposite..My Japanese co-workers are surprised at how much I worked! At this point, I wish the U.S. would adopt Japanese labor laws.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#209

Post by labster »

funkaster wrote: post #200
labster wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People pay half a million dollars for 60 year old homes all the time in California, just as bad of an earthquake zone, yet these houses aren't worth half a million yen. Culture is a much bigger factor here -- I've never heard the phrase "used house" in the US. What I do hear is mid-century modern, arts and crafts, ranch-style.

> just as bad of an earthquake zone As much as people living in California would like to believe that, it's not true. I was born in Chile, a place that's actually as equally-prone to earthquakes than Japan, and I've been living in California for about 8 years now. In here, I almost forgot what is like to feel an earthquake. In Chile/Japan is common to feel at least a magnitude 5 earthquake a couple of times a year (t…

I must agree with your subductive logic. But magnitude isn't the right measure here for effect on structures, we'd want the Mercalli scale: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercalli_intensity_scale

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#210

Post by dakna »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #167
autokad wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

murder is rare. assault, robbery, and burglary are not. I prefer those things not happen to me

People live their whole lives in these sorts of neighborhoods without ever personally being assaulted, robbed or burglarized. I know this is a topic that tends to bring out hysteria instead of rational assessment of probability but seriously, it's not as bad as people think. That said, the upper class crowd should feel free to not move in. The added pressure from gentrification would probably not make things better i…

I think the point of most other comments is that you greatly underestimate the issues in an area like the Detroit "Red Zone" aka the 48205 ZIP code.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/story-series/death-by-inst...

I have been to less worse areas in Detroit in 2015 and still decided not to be play early adopter and be "the guy with money" on the block. And I'm absolutely not upper class.

Even if you live there just for the amount of time it takes to renovate and flip the house, you will need to constantly guard your tools, materials etc. If the local community thinks you are not one of them, life gets hard. In the end I bought a fixer upper house in a solid working class neighborhood (in a different city) and life is great. But yes, a lot of people think you are only safe in the suburb, which is not true. There are safe pockets in most major cities, but you have to scout for a while until you know the area.

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