The guide

Buying an Akiya: the complete guide

Everything an English speaker needs to go from "this house costs $20,000?" to holding the keys — finding real listings, the buying process, the fees nobody mentions, renovation, visas, and running a house from abroad.

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空き家便り
Buying an Akiya
The Complete Guide · Akiya Letter Research

What's inside

Ten chapters and an appendix, written from reading every municipal akiya bank in Japan.

01

Where the real listings are

Municipal akiya banks vs. the English portals — and why the cheapest houses never reach the portals.

02

The buying process, step by step

From first enquiry to registration, who does what, and how it differs for a foreign buyer.

03

The real costs

Fees, taxes, and the fixed overhead that can outweigh the price of a very cheap house.

04

The legal checks that catch people out

The 2026 FEFTA reporting duty, the farmland (農地) permission trap, and special-zone rules — before you make an offer.

05

Renovation, realistically

What ¥5M buys versus ¥20M, where the money goes, and which houses to walk away from.

06

Visas & living there or from afar

Owning a house doesn't grant a visa — what ownership does and doesn't get you, and managing from abroad.

07

Real purchase breakdowns

Three worked examples with itemized numbers, so you know what your budget really buys.

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Checklists & sample emails

A pre-offer due-diligence checklist, a 30-day action plan, and a copy-paste enquiry email for the town hall.

Who makes this

Akiya Letter Research

This isn't one person's anecdote. Every week our system reads Japan's official municipal akiya banks — hundreds of town and city listings published only in Japanese — cross-references the facts, and summarizes them in English. This guide distills what that process has taught us about how these houses are actually listed, priced, and bought, into one place. It's the map we wish we'd had.

Buy the right house, with your eyes open.

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