Minimum to bring when buying a house - your honest opinion based on experience

[seedofessence]

Hi all,

I am reaching out to you all to hear your opinion and advice based on experience.

Simply said …. I want to buy a house in Japan.
Before you go “oh god another one” , a bit of background.

I got PR , wife is Japanese and our kid is turning 5 this year , meaning elementary school will quickly follow and by that time I want to have bought something.

We currently rent (23man/month) and it’s a waste of money.
I got a good income > 1300man p/y base pay (bonus is company and personal performance based and can vary year on year)
I feel my income would allow a decent amount for loan HOWEVER I’m sorely lacking in cash savings.
Most of what i have is committed to 401k/pension and “not touchable” till I turn 65.

Nowadays I hear about loans including even the loan contract processing cost and what not so inwas wondering what I can include in a loan , what impact it would have on the loan and this way determine a minimum amount of money to bring along for the purchase.

Im looking at places around the 7000man ballpark figure , how much money do I need to put down as a minimum nowadays (including realtor cost) considering all the extra cost I can include in a loan , or should I avoid doing so?

I have no open loans (just paid off the last vehicle related one in December 2023) so I got that going for me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[revstockton]

@seedofessence

Im looking at places around the 7000man ballpark figure , how much money do I need to put down as a minimum nowadays (including realtor cost) considering all the extra cost I can include in a loan , or should I avoid doing so?

At your income level? You don't need to put down anything and can finance it all. Or you can put down some to lower your immediate payments / the term of the loan.

I was in a similarish position. Bought a used place fully financed and used what would have been a down payment to pay for some quality-of-living renovations to redo it to our liking.

(Edit of course you would need a few million yen available to cover interim costs until financing comes through)

 

[patriciaj]

@revstockton

Bought a used place fully financed and used what would have been a down payment to pay for some quality-of-living renovations to redo it to our liking.

I haven't done any loan financing etc yet, but I was under the impression (from just reading stuff, not an expert or anything) that it's difficult to get a full loan for a used place.

Is that correct or does that only apply to really old places and/or those on land that isn't worth much? (I guess the income/financial position of the people asking for the loan also plays a part)

We're considering looking for a used place roughly in the layout we want (preferably high ceilings) that mostly only needs superficial work done (ie stuff I could DIY) and then only get the traders in for stuff like electrical and plumbing.

(sorry for piggybacking off OP's thread)