Purchase & Selling Guide
Introduction
You need to be certified as a Real Estate Transaction Specialist in order to close a sales transaction in Japan, and all real estate agencies shall retain more than one certified Real Estate Transaction Specialist for every five employees.
In aiming to protect buyers, only certified Real Estate Transaction Specialists are allowed to execute both "Explanation of important matters"and "Sales Contract", and a certified Real Estate Transaction Specialist is required to conduct an "Explanation of important matters" for buyers "face-to-face" before they enter into the contract under Real Estate Business Law.
We will cordinate the best possible closing procedure for each buyer/seller as we comply with Japanese Real Estate Buisiness Law to protect our customers.Please also note that obtaining a loan from Japanese financial institutions is extremely difficult, especially when buying a property as a second house, unless you reside in Japan.
- Purchase Guide
- Selling Guide
Purchase Guide
Selecting a property
Please look through our listings on our web site to see what's available on the market.
Feel free to let us know your requirements or specific properties you are looking for.
Site Visit
Please kindly bring along someone who comprehends Japanese when conducting a site visit so you can communicate with our local branch agent.
Purchase Offer
If you intend to buy a property, you will submit a "Letter of Intent (LOI)" to the seller, which does not construe as a binding contract.
Once Buyer and Seller reach an agreement, you will proceed to the next sep to enter into the contract.
The Contract
"Explanation of important matters" will be carried out by Certified Real Estate Transaction Specialist.
The sum of 10% of the sales price, which is regarded as a deposit, and other contract-related fees will be required at the execution of the contract.
Handover
The rest of sales price plus other related fees will be due on or before the closing date.
Once all the Buyer's duties are executed, key and any documents required for the public registration will be delivered to the Buyer.
A judicial scrivener will then apply for public register to transfer the freehold.
- 1 Explanation of important matters
- Explanatin of important matters is a disclosure statement on property descriptions, right and obligation, maintenance fees, restrictions and etc that shall be delivered and explained to the buyer "face-to-face" prior to the closing.
After our certified Real Estate Transaction Specialist explain this disclosure statement, you will write your signature on Explanation of important matters. - 2 Contract-related fees
- Contract-related fees include the followings:
・Contract stamp fee
・Please note that we will charge no brokerage fee at the time of executing the contract. - 3 Money Transfer
- Generally speaking, escrow is rarely seen in real estate transactions in Japan. To avoid having Buyer directly make a deposit into Seller's account, we propose that you employ either our bank account (as Buyer's broker) or a bank accout of a judicial scrivener (or lawyer) depending on your preferences.
- 4 Required documents for public registration
- In general, the judicial scrivener will prepare all the documents for you in terms of public registration.
However, please be informed that you need to obtain an "affidavit" to verify your home address in your country. - 5 Fees related to the handover (including brokerage fee)
- Fees related to the handover include the followings:
・Buyer's brokerage fee・Registration taxSales price Brokerage fee more than JPY 4,000,000 3% of the sales price ＋JPY 60,000 ＋consumption tax JPY 2,000,001 to JPY 4,000,000 4% of the sales price ＋JPY 20,000 ＋consumption tax up to JPY 2,000,000 5% of the sales price ＋consumption tax
・Fee for judicial scrivener
・Pro rata share of Property tax, which shoule be allocated to Buyer. - 6 Public registration
- After public registration procedure is completed, we will mail you the public registration record which proves you are the legitimate property owner.
- 7 Tax Agent
- If you are non-resident of Japan who purchases properties in Japan, we suggest that you employ your own tax agent in Japan so that you can have him/her to handle all the payments such as real estate tax, real estate acuisition tax, management fees and so on. Your tax agent also prepare a tax return on behalf of you if necessary.
