The cost of owning a house

[DumbStick 13]

Yes, I suppose lots of people do actually use them.

 

But I do know a fair few people who don't seem to use them at all and they are in odd unappealing places.

[Thundercat 60]

We have a nice balcony that runs the length of our house facing south. Quite nice for all the laundry stuff and we used to use it a lot for sitting around when we first moved in... not so much now though.

[muikabochi 208]

My place has one that takes up valuable room space, rather than poking out off the side of the house.

We never use it actually, just not big enough and/or nice position.

[RobBright 35]

I would rather have one than not, especially when it comes to placing air con units. Very useful to have a balcony in that respect. Keeps the cost down during installation.

[muikabochi 208]

Actually do use it sometimes... like to put bottles of wine or beer in the snow. Sadly this season I don't think there has ever been any snow on there. Yikes, another sign of the relative lack of snow this year.

[snowdude 44]

We have a balcony on the house we have now, but have never used it in the 4 years we have been here.

And when we get our new house built we have no intention of having a balcony put on it.

We always hang our washing on a line in the garden, we have plenty of space so don't see the use for a cramped balcony.

 

Our next door neighbour to our left never use their balcony, but the ones to our right do.

[NoFakie 45]

Here's the only place I ever lived with a balcony. They're two up-LDK down apartments. I can't remember using the balcony much and as you can see there's a washing hanger outside the downstairs. I can remember the rent though and its now ichiman cheaper and no longer has reikin. Holy deflation batman!

 

Btw, it's imported 2 by 6 construction with vinyl windows, so it was really toasty warm.

 

[HeatherLocklearRocks 1]

My place is toasty warm too in July, August and September.

 

[griller 9]

More like oven hot!

 

[NoFakie 45]

I think most toasters are a bit drier than a Japanese summer!

 

This might be a little more accurate

 

 

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I have a nice big balcony that faces south. In summer it's a sun trap and I like to sit out there with a couple of bottles of beer and read a book. All year round it's used for washing etc. our new place in Sapporo doesn't have a balcony.....guess it won't matter so much up there bcos of the snow

[Chriselle 158]

We have two balconies and given our spectacular views we should sit out there more. But, we don't. I also had a big wood deck I built out on the side of the house but after 10 years or so it rotted out and I tore it down last year. I'm planning or rebuilding it again this spring but have been thinking of just putting in a rock garden instead.

[pie-eater 207]

Wot, no trucking?!?

 

 

[Chriselle 158]

Haha....haven't made that commitment yet Pies.... It was my wife's birthday yesterday and I was asking here what she wants..... response.... All I want is to move to Canada,,NOW. Maybe I'd better hold off on that deck.

 

BTW.....Nice picture of me there.. definitely the resident stud....don't ya think?!

[Go Native 70]

The most essential item for our house was a decent oven/cooktop. Rare things in Japan but the one we got was a very reasonable price. We got it through the local gas company and got it reasonably cheap (they matched the best online price we could find) as long as we signed up with them for a minimum of 3 years for the gas. Win, win. We'd often have Japanese friends around for roast dinners. They were always really impressed.

 

 

[DumbStick 13]

Wot size LDK.....

 

12 with a 6 room next to it seemed pretty good.

 

Need to go check some more model houses to get a feel.

 

There's only two of us.

 

[NoFakie 45]

It depends on the shape as well as the size. Kitchen then dining then living in a long line and doesn't have to be so wide. If the space is wide, you're still going to end up with a similar length, making for a bigger area but possibly not so much extra useful space.

 

The big one now with LDKs is having an island or a galley style kitchen so that you can cook or wash up facing the room. For us, its the sink. However, if just stick all the kitchen along one wall and do some prep on your dining table, I think 12 mats would just about work for an LDK, provided you don't want a big sofa in the living bit.

 

If you like entertaining and/or cooking and want lots of appliances, I guess you'll need more counter space.

[Chriselle 158]

The most essential item for our house was a decent oven/cooktop. Rare things in Japan but the one we got was a very reasonable price. We got it through the local gas company and got it reasonably cheap (they matched the best online price we could find) as long as we signed up with them for a minimum of 3 years for the gas. Win, win. We'd often have Japanese friends around for roast dinners. They were always really impressed.

 

 

 

That is the one we'd like to have....ii na!!

[NoFakie 45]

We love our oven! Its an AEG I got as deadstock on Yahoo Auctions. In the UK it would cost about 400 quid which in Japan magically becomes something stupid like 200,000 yen. I got it for half that, which was about 500 quid at the time.

We have an Ikea fitted kitchen and although they don't sell their oven cabinets in Japan, all they are is a box with matching material at the front. You can make one yourself using the cover panels they sell.

 

A quick little shuftie found this one which has a good starting price. If you've got an induction hob, a 200V line will be right there in your kitchen.

http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g99737046

[Chriselle 158]

Ya...but I just love the heavy cast iron grill burners on the industrial ovens like GN's.

[NoFakie 45]

I think commercial kitchen stuff is pretty cheap too second hand. It's about as solid as it comes.

For full size ones, I think you're supposed to have stainless steel on the wall above them. I don't think tiles pass the fire regs. For a commercial kitchen that is.

We went with electric since it saved us getting gas fitted to the house.

[DumbStick 13]

We found a plot of land that provisionally liked.

Agent said that there had once been a building on it and water.sewage was sorted.

But today the housing company comes back to us and say that needs to be sorted seperately, so a bit confused.

Apparently that costs 500,000 yen or so -- though presumably will vary depending on how close (?) etc.

Suppose that's the next thing to investigate.

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

Make sure there is no lien on it. Don't want any problems.

 

As for balconies, we have one that is pretty much used only for hanging out the laundry, for which it is very useful. The silly thing we did was to not put a roof over it, which means we have to worry unnecessarily about rain. Will fix that some day.

 

And oven, yes, expensive, but worth it.

[DumbStick 13]

MO, what's lien?

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

A claim on the property. When the property is put up as collateral for a mortgage, the bank gets a lien on the property; if the loan is defaulted on, the bank can exercise the lien to get the property.

 

The legal term is 抵当権.

 

It is a matter of public record. Your housebuilder can help you check it out, if you like. (We gave up on what was otherwise an ideal property because our builder discovered a 抵当権 on it.) Real estate agents usually don't know anything about whether a particular property has one on it, so don't count on being warned by them.