What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

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titch
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What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

Post by titch »

Tomorrow I'm going to view a house in an area that I really like. I want to know what kind of things I should ask the estate agent when I'm looking at it. What should I check about the building and about the land itself?

Are there any gotchas and things that can catch you out?

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

Post by Zasso Nouka »

All the normal things I guess, neighbours, anything unusual happen in the house, any history associated with the house. Can you do an inspection yourself or get a builder to have a quick butchers and check for termites or structural defects.

titch
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Re: What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

Post by titch »

Thanks for the advice! I had a good look around today at this place. I liked it but the house is unregistered (未登記) so I feel like that might cause issues in the future (though I'm not sure what issues).

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Re: What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

Post by edmundedgar »

As I understand it the main problem with a place being 未登記 is that you can't get a bank loan against it. I don't think people have much luck getting mortgages for old places in the first place, so that shouldn't necessarily matter.

It seems pretty common for old places in the countryside to be 未登記, they were often originally built without loans and the requirement to register new houses seems to have been added later.

If you don't need a loan it shouldn't *necessarily* be a deal-breaker, although apparently it can cause problems with inheritance and planning permission for extensions and things, so some people like to take the time and money to get their place registered if it wasn't originally.

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Re: What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

Post by titch »

Thanks for the reply. Is registering the property that easy? The land is 山林/市街化調整区域 so if it were a blank piece of land it would be very difficult to build anything there. I guess speaking to the city hall is the next step?

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Re: What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

Post by Zasso Nouka »

That's hard to say for sure. In our city what you can do on sanrin is fairly flexible but other cities have different regulations. Best thing to do is approach the local council and ask them directly.

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Re: What questions to ask an estate agent when viewing a property?

Post by edmundedgar »

titch wrote:
Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:31 am
Thanks for the reply. Is registering the property that easy? The land is 山林/市街化調整区域 so if it were a blank piece of land it would be very difficult to build anything there. I guess speaking to the city hall is the next step?
I haven't tried, but it shouldn't be tied to the planning regime. Also IIUC the 登記 system is handled by your local branch of 法務局 rather than the town.

According to this you need a lawyer, a 土地調査家屋士 ("land investigator"?) and a 司法書士 ("judicial clerk")
https://www.chintaikeiei.com/column/00001556/2/

You'll need a 司法書士 when you buy the place anyhow (I guess normally the real estate agent would introduce one - that's what happened with us) so maybe start with the real estate agent, who could probably give you a ballpark figure for what would be involved and what it would cost and refer you to a 司法書士 who could give you a proper estimate.

If the place isn't worth much I imagine they'll tell you it's not worth the bother...

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