This Foreigner Bought 10 Akiya Houses in Japan. This is How He Did It.

I found him a bit annoying at first, but I like this guy.

great video. I was waiting for you to say "EH" lol ...not once haha. I wish for a retirement place. I was looking at properties online more rural with the main amenities and the next day a darn earth quake. Is there an English map for flood and landslide zones because this one posted on gov site doesn't translate to English. I'm wondering about property taxes in Japan and other costs. I'm in Northern Alberta Canada and the costs have increased on everything. Just today my home insure went up $700.00 for no reason. Property Insurance as well. Here the crime rate increased and people are longer friendly like before the lockdowns. The weather is minus 30 to 56 Celsius for 6 months and the to minus 15 . We have only 2 months of summer which goes to plus 40 Celsius. I'm fed-up of Canada. Canada passed a law no more Chinese can buy property within Canada. I'm looking at his site to learn Japanese

Is there money to be made renovating the houses then selling them? I have no desire to be a landlord, but I have done this all over the southwestern US. Its fun.

What is the name of this area? Trying to look at places around the same distance outside of tokyo

do you videos about the taxes of owning akiya , renovating , and the every 30 years must renovate rule ?

How do you buy one of these types of houses?

I offer home inspections services in English anywhere in Japan.

The only reason the Chinese haven't bought up most of Tokyo is that you don't get a permanent visa for doing so -- and thank god for that! Otherwise, locals would be priced out like in Canada, NZ and OZ, and there would be a huge housing bubble. And talk about ironic: They mention in the video how safe Japan is (I agree) but he had $20,000 stolen from his home! Ouch. Also, good point about "Akiya": maybe good to fix up and live in, but not really for investing.

he knows what he is talking about, and Japanese population will recover, with a modification of government policies.

I am Canadian as well. Everything he says about Canada is true. And, Japan is very safe. But the Emirates is safer.

How do u manage the properties using a property management firm or on your own via a business? What’s the cost of managing the properties and what is the time frame you have to get your return on your investment back?

What he does here in Japan is, exactly what happened to Canada and USA by forging investors.
Bought many many houses rented out and make unreachable for local people to buy or rent houses in big cities like Vancouver or Toronto.
Fortunately there is not much people like him in Japan to do so otherwise Japan will be worse than Canada and USA

This was very enlightening Shu and absolutely god-like interview.
I'm moving to Japan as a nikkei second descendent next year from the UK.
From this albeit brief hour I am sure we are very much aligned in both goals and philosophy.
If Colin is looking for an apprentice I would love to assist and learn from his wisdom.


Is there a way to get in touch with him?

Man proposes: God disposes.

does he only buy houses?

Of course the Japanese are racist, they literally have signs that says no outsiders allowed. Even native-born Japanese people who happen to be a mixed race talked about the racist experiences they went through living in Japan, It's kind of jacked up when because you're mixed race people call you outsider simply because how you look. There's nothing inherently racist about wanting someone to assimilate to your culture that's what you do when you immigrate to a new land, but when Western say that its racist.

Wow, Shu! You nailed your first interview! Congratulations! And, choosing Colin was a great choice too! I'm so happy for you guys, but I'm drowning in a sea of 悔しい I don't know what to think. Thank you so much. This is so interesting!

Great stuff… however, the fact of the matter is most of us won’t ever get that good at Japanese to pull off what Colin is doing. Would be great if he would raise a fund (hint hint) to buy deals we can invest in

Japan is the place that u can live Safe with good people/neighbors

I'm living in my car to save 200K to come to Japan and buy a House. This is my dream, to own a house then rent out to make passive income. I'll start cheap, then work my way up.

This gives me hope that if someone can do it, I can too!

New to this channel. Really enjoyed listening to this discussion. Thank you.

I've always wanted to buy jiko bukken and make them into vrbo

Hello 😊 How can i contact Colin ?

Somehow I dont like this man... Feeling like he takés advantage of the locals...

Where's this place?

Japan was expesnive duing bubble year, not just the housing everything else. I was in the military and felt poor becuase dollar got very weak by design from President Reagan, and the military was very slow to adjust the curency movement. A small home is tokyo would easily be $5 million. In Yokohama, outskirt a tiny home would be $500K.

He’s a weird interview
Strange man for sure

Poor guy, he missed out on the Canadian property boom, that's like 500%.

Awesome interview!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Colin. I'm now interested with Akiyas because of this content, Shu.😊

Playing the Devil's advocate, it's optimistic to buy a house/apartment, renovate and expect to sell on for a profit. Far better to renovate and rent out, especially in a cheap money environment. Preferably through an estate agent, who takes care of all the legal aspects, and are experienced in handling delinquent tenants. You must have been somewhat exposed at the beginning as tenants can be really flakey especially at the lower end. "Wife at the time didn't want to take out a 20 million yen loan over ten years." Speaks volumes.
Would be interested to know your formula for selecting property to purchase for renting out. All location, location, location, right? Sounds like you are approaching sellers with a "Cash suit you?" offer.
You would definitely need good spoken Japanese, especially legal Japanese.
When starting out you would need a base income, and English teaching freelance is the obvious entry level occupation, while you learn Japanese and make contacts. Teaching at a "fudoyasan" chain would make a lot of sense.
Clearly, a lot of self-discipline is required. The over-due Tokyo earthquake could wipe you out, especially if there is no land with the property.
Was in UK (Oxford) this June and was told you needed a minimum of Stg.60,000 as a deposit to get on the housing ladder. This was shortly before the two most recent bank interest rate rises. The couple I was in conversation with were somewhat shocked to hear that I'd just bought a detached house in suburban Japan for half that including agent's fee.
Jack, the Japan Alps Brit

Colin is now 60% Japanese He should dye his hair black and wear a yukata No doubt a master with chopsticks Someday a calligraphy expert making his own tofu.

So interesting man.

what about Airbnb? is there money in those?

I love Colin's investor mindset. My husband (Japanese) and I (Half Japanese American) also live in a 100 year old farmhouse in the country that we paid for in cash. (With the help from relatives) The idea of renting out our house sounds nice but I have known of two rental houses that the occupants accidently burnt down. Oh my god. I guess that's the risk you take. Definitely food for thought.

Foreigners in Japan are known as the "loser back home". They can't get a wife in their own country and usually have an Asian fetish so they move to Asia. This is disgusting that this foreigner gaijin weeaboo went to Japan and bought TEN houses. He clearly doesn't do anything with his life, he just relies on Japanese people paying him rent. Rent-seeking behaviour is absolutely lazy and toxic for society. Greed is not good. Do you think White people are racially superior?

Didn't Charlie Mung and Warren Buff invent the strategy of buying/investing when the market is low and also buying/investing when the market is high? As Warren Buffet said, he has seen this happen many times in his life. Not an investor. My wife and i never earned more than a middle class salary. We plan to get retired at 58 with a stock portfolio worth $4M. We have never sold so much as one share of stock...

Damn he's good, and unusual in that he's so frugal. I wish I had access to his on-line Japanese course.

Awsome sharing❤❤

That is why Japan is so charming. They have culture.

Great video; thank you for sharing! My husband and I are both foreigners in Japan, and we just received a Startup Business visa for our small business in rural Ehime (Ōmishima). We bought our first akiya while we were still on tourist status (although we now have residency) and we hope to purchase our second akiya by the end of the year. The first will be a guesthouse, and the second will be our own home.

hes not understanding basic supply and demand, lower population i assure you will effect your property prices in a decade from now, if the population crisis is serious enough we'll a huge decline in prices as there will literally be more homes than people

For foreigner's, the real question is how they can get to Japan in the first place. Though you did mention he was an English teacher at first, that seems fairly common. But is there a better way?

This chap has a interesting investor mindset.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Dang i tried to check out the learning Japanese website but i can't for both my phone and tablet XD I'll try my computer next though

the comments re Chinese/Indians, in general, ALL TRUE..HaHa...(this is why in China, price is set high since they EXPECT you to negotiate it down quite a bit.....weird mentality for westerners but it is what it is. Indian culture, if you don't negotiate hard on everything, you are not doing your part as a true savvy Indian investor....)

Colin reminds me of Joe Pesci back in the 80's. Rough on the edges but straight to the point (for anyone serious in emulating what he has done, it's a good start). There is one thing I would like to add: Japanese renters in general are more dependable/trustworthy, compared to majority of the world. When I rented furnished apts to them in China, they were always easy to deal w/ and never worry on their ability to pay. In the US, commercial landlords love credit/corp rated tenant since the check always hits on the 1st to 3rd of the month vs independent operator who drags till the 10-15th.