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Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

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Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#251

Post by rmason »

samstave wrote: post #78
rmason wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually if you look at what happened to the majority of homes that were rehabbed that's not the case. Most of them were in the downtown area and crime actually went down. Grant you there were urban pioneers that chose less than desirable areas but they were the exception. In Detroit the formal program run by the city that gave away houses mandated that they be rehabbed and inhabited by the person receiving them for…

So, what if you purchased these with the express intent to tear them down and install pre-built tiny-homes on them. So you effectively get a plot of land, with service-hookups and low property taxes. but you can install beautiful, yet-tiny home on it. http://windrivertinyhomes.com has amazing units.

No need, there are thousands of acres of vacant land in Detroit. Complete with city water, sewer and brand new led powered street lamps. There are lots of experiments including a proposed hotel made entirely from shipping containers.

Last I checked you can buy a vacant lot for $100 and they'd probably give you a discount if you bought an entire city block.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#252

Post by jonathankoren »

yourapostasy wrote: post #142
Ibethewalrus wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where?

Look at a map of US MSAs [1]: nearly anywhere outside of an MSA will be cheaper than within the MSA. Anywhere that is outside an MSA, has very poor soil, no exploitable oil and/or mineral (and most mineral and oil rights are separate from the land anyways), not by a body of water, and has no electric/water/sewage service is going to be very cheap, like $100-500 per acre cheap. Of course, the catch is that standing up…

> Anywhere that is outside an MSA, has very poor soil, no exploitable oil and/or mineral (and most mineral and oil rights are separate from the land anyways), not by a body of water, and has no electric/water/sewage service is going to be very cheap, like $100-500 per acre cheap.

This is so very very wrong. MSAs are purely based on population density. I grew up in one of these white counties on the map you linked. It's small towns, scattered among farmland and coal mines, and the local MSAs are nothing but a larger (but still quite small) town with an interstate.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#253

Post by JumpCrisscross »

saagarjha wrote: post #214
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> growth obsessed global capitalists are completely delusional Infinite growth and finite material resources are perfectly compatible. Case in point: Fortnite.

I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic; how does Fortnite demonstrate “infinite growth”?

> how does Fortnite demonstrate “infinite growth”?

Fortnite makes money by selling digital in-game goods. Their revenues could grow infinitely without their material footprint expanding one iota. What they demonstrate is not infinite growth, but the capacity for infinite growth in a finite universe.

Value, at the end of the day, is subjective. Growth is a measure on this subjective value. It is not a measure on material inputs.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#254

Post by nihonde »

Homes in Japan are generally depreciating assets with a roughly 20-30 year lifespan. Some of these homes being given away are older, but when you take ownership, you’re basically getting land value. Whether or not the land is an appreciating asset is unknown, but the fact that no one wants it today says a lot. On the other hand, satoyama lifestyle is pretty special and amazing. I wonder if that culture can survive without a continuous lineage?

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#255

Post by tathougies »

jameslk wrote: post #218
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…

Japan is not a very good proxy due to their strict immigration policies and preference to be an "ethnically homogeneous nation." As you mentioned, other countries can just replenish their head count through relaxed immigration. I'd wager, for example, that the US will remain highly multicultural with looser immigration long term since it's baked into its identity[0], despite some recent policy changes. 0. https://en.…

Ah right... just get more immigrants from the immigrant factory.

I know this is difficult for some to understand but brown, black and asian people are made via sex and birth (Shocker of shocks, I know).

What you're arguing for is for the birth rate of the undeveloped world to continuously grow at a never-ending rate in order to compensate for the utter laziness of the developed world.

I hate to break it to you but that'll simply lead to a flip in which countries are classified as developed.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#256

Post by aikinai »

jameslk wrote: post #218
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…

Japan is not a very good proxy due to their strict immigration policies and preference to be an "ethnically homogeneous nation." As you mentioned, other countries can just replenish their head count through relaxed immigration. I'd wager, for example, that the US will remain highly multicultural with looser immigration long term since it's baked into its identity[0], despite some recent policy changes. 0. https://en.…

Not just immigration, Japan also doesn’t rely on real estate speculation to drive middle class wealth. Houses and buildings have always depreciated and even land stopped appreciating after their bubble popped nearly 30 years ago. No one buys real estate to build wealth, but simply to live there. So they’ve got a huge head start in contraction economics.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#258

Post by nihonde »

antcas wrote: post #194
mikekchar wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not easy to asset flip in Japan. I have no idea about this program. I live in Japan and I haven't heard about it, so I'm not sure what the deal is. However, people in Japan don't buy used houses. Due to the large number of earthquakes, etc, older houses are felt to be unsafe. A house on a property is actually a liability because the new owner will have to knock down the house in order to build a new one. I'm abs…

Whenever I hear about the used housing market (or lack thereof) in Japan I wonder if there's an opportunity to find some amazing deals. Properties that could be purchased way under value and re-purposed. Either on a personal level (foreigner wants to buy a house) or as a cheap way of setting up a hotel or AirBnB kind of business.

My wife is in this business although she buys quite expensive old homes and buildings in cities. You will probably have trouble with sellers (and certainly with banks) if you’re a foreigner. Also, the short term rental legalities are a liability in most places unless you can get registered as a proper hotel. Some communities will outright ban short term rentals because they don’t like the turnover of visitors. It can be done though.

Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses

#260

Post by hudibras »

neic wrote: post #182
mikekchar wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not easy to asset flip in Japan. I have no idea about this program. I live in Japan and I haven't heard about it, so I'm not sure what the deal is. However, people in Japan don't buy used houses. Due to the large number of earthquakes, etc, older houses are felt to be unsafe. A house on a property is actually a liability because the new owner will have to knock down the house in order to build a new one. I'm abs…

What reasons do people have for not wanting a perfectly good 20-30 year old house for half the price of a new one?

A couple reasons that don't get much attention are that a.) newly-constructed houses are relatively cheap and b.) mortgage rates are very good.

A normal, custom-built house in the suburbs of Tokyo can be constructed for somewhere between $120,000 and $250,000 (source: I'm shopping for a house now) which, at the current Japanese mortgage rates for a 35-year loan, translates into a $400-$800 monthly payment for the home construction.

This is on top of what you have to pay for the value of the land itself, of course. But if you're already paying $300k-$500k for the lot, then why not just knock down the old building and put up your own, perfect-for-your-family, architect-designed, house?

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