Long Version : Buying Tokyo Apartment (中古マンション購入)

No, this is not my TOKYO apartment. I wish. The commute to work (3x a week) will kill me though.

Coz I am adulting and I am bored, so I figured time to try buying my own home.

So. Let me summarize the costs (excluding transport costs):

At Contract Signing

JPY5,000. Revenue stamp. This depends on the value of the property.
JPY2,000,000. Deposit (normally 5-10% of the property price)

For Bank Loan / Mortgage Application

JPY3,000ish. Copies of my 住民票, 納税証明書, 課税証明書. Some banks need one year, some banks need three.

After Bank Loan Approval

JPY300,000ish. Payment to the Bank's 司法書士.
JPY350,000ish. Payment to the seller's 司法書士.
Bank fees. 2.2% of property price + JPY5,500 contract fee.
Property price.

① September 29. Start.

I decided to buy my home, which likely means apartment (or mansion, as the Japanese calls it). I started searching through suumo and homes.jp. There are other websites, and once you call a real estate agent they have their own database + a consolidated database for all agents that they use. Each agent will try to send you the ones on theirs, but are ok to help you buy others. At the end of the day, they get 3% if they help you buy any property, which is why it is better to use the same agent as the seller's.

The amount of calls from real estate agents are ridiculous. Basically for each property you click, you will get a call. I didn't know that and I clicked all properties I was somewhat interested in.

What are the initial filters?

Visa. Seems that PR is needed
Income. At least JPY6.5m. Some say 3m, but I bet you it's closer to 6.5m.
Work. Needs to be permanent employee.
Age. Normally need to finish the loan, usually set at 35 years, before you turn 80 years old.

Pro-tip: Only request documents you are really interested in.

② October 2. Found a listing I like.

Well, my friend did (shout out to Rui!). I actually found another the day before, but that didn't stack well against the one my friend did. So the agent calls me, and I schedule a viewing for the next day.

Pro-tip: Keep searching until you find a good one.

Here are the fields I ended up needing to prioritize:

Location, location, location. It is either via train station/line or map. I personally chose Yamanote Line simply because I am one of those believers that think property value will increase if it's Yamanote Line accessible.
専用面積 (せんようめんせき). Size, measured in 平米(へいべい) or square meters.

Most banks require at least 30sqm. MUFJ for example requires 40.

Take note that the are tax benefits (almost 500k JPY/year for 10 years) for properties above 50sqm. Do NOT think of the tax benefits, coz you're not the first person to think of it. Rest assured, the property price factors in that benefit.

間取り（まどり）。Layout. I want a layout with my own room, particularly since I have some days I wfh and my family comes over.

1LDR / layouts with rooms have higher valuation, because those are for actually living.
After looking at a couple of layouts (間取り), I thought I wanted a kitchen that looks out into the living room. But now I realize that it creates dead space. Also, rooms with long hallways use up a surprising amount of space (on a JPY1m/sqm, each dead sqm is ONE MILLION YEN).

価格(かかく). Price in 10万円(まんえん) or JPY100,000 increments.
所有権(しょゆうけん). With property rights, as some buildings only lease their land and you'll get kicked out once the lease is over. Building does not appreciate, only the land does.
築年数(ちくねんすう). Age of building. Has to be from 1981 due to the changes in the building code.
戸数 (こすう). Number of houses. Has to be 50+, otherwise the maintenance cost will be too high.
2階以上 (にかいいじょう). 2nd floor and above, because first floor requires a lot of maintenance.

I actually was looking for at least 4th floor for some quiet. Of course, the higher the floor, the more expensive it is. This becomes noticeable around 4-5 floors, and of course 1st floor is the "cheapest".

角住戸 (かどじゅうこ). Corner room. Because I feel like being sandwiched left and right is a nightmare.

③ Oct 3. Viewing + Agent Visit + Bank screening Application

Saw the house, decided I want it, but asked for a day to think about it. In the meantime, the agent can now facilitate the bank application for the initial screening (仮審査・かりしんさ) so he had me submit an application via the agency's portal. He provided the pdf copy of the listing and a estimate sheet (見積書・みつもりしょ) where he explained the relevant costs, and asked me to prepare JPY2m for deposit, if the seller accepts my bid and the bank screening is done.

Pro-tip: Apparently 仮審査 is rather important, and so once you decide to buy property, just go with any agent to help you facilitate a 仮審査. This becomes you preapproval, and that makes buying property, when you actually have one you want, faster.

Required documents :

源泉徴収票（げんせんちょうしゅうひょう）for the past year
MyNumber . Just face, not the back.2
名刺（めいし）. Business card (this was asked of me later)

Banks' criteria is similar to the initial filter in the ① above, but I hear some also check that the 平米 is at least 40sqm, as anything below that is considered investment properties.

④ Oct 4. Offer Submission

I submitted an offer! My agent filled up a form, I got the 見積書 (みつもりしょ) .

This is when we discussed the main terms - expected signing and turnover.

⑤ Oct 6. Listings Closed

The listing disappears from my agent's website. Suumo's posting was closed a day later. This is a good sign.

⑥ Oct 7. Bank Initial Approval

Only when you get a confirmed 仮審査 will they schedule a contract signing. I technically got one on Oct 7, but due to my own scheduling conflict, Oct 16 was the earliest date we have.

I started researching banks hard and did my own applications throughout the week. I think I overdid it...Here are the banks and results (as of Oct 2025):

SBI Shinsei Bank.

Lowest rates. 0.59% if done via online application, 0.649% if via agent.
Takes a couple of days.
I initially applied via my agent but the rates they had were higher than the online rates, so I cancelled my application and applied online.
After three days of no reply, I called the hotline to follow up and I got approval within the hour.

MUFJ.

Lowest rates (same as SBI) 0.59%
Only accepts properties above 40sqm.
Required me to open an account with them before even applying, and at application I couldn't input the size of my property.

PayPay Bank.

Relatively low interest. 0.63%
Very fast approval (less than an hour if done during office hours. Mine was 12 minutes)

Sony Bank.

Higher interest. 0.897%
Very fast approval (within the day).

au Jibun Bank

Relatively low interest. 0.64%
A lot of requirements to hit that interest (phone, electricity, etc), but all those are waiver if you apply via agent.
Takes a couple of days.

Kansai Mirai Bank.

Relatively low interest. 0.645%
Takes a couple of days, and strict on names.
Might be a bit of a hassle coz they are primarily in Kansai region.
I cancelled my application.

Risona Bank.

Relatively low interest. 0.64%
Requires 20-30% deposit
Takes 2-3 days.

SMBC

High interest. Around 1%
Takes 2-3 days. 2I cancelled my 仮審査 application.

Tokyo Star Bank

High interest. Around 1%
Takes 2-3 days. I cancelled my 仮審査 application.

Mizuho

Mid interest. 0.775%
Applied via agent. They only approved the purchase price, not the other costs.

⑦ Oct 16. Contract Signing (売買契約).

Time to make things official. I was told it's likely 1-1.5 hours. It took us three.

We went over :

Important matters (重要事項説明). This covers the legal disclosures, the management company's requirements and other relevant details. Very very detailed.
Actual contract（不動産売買契約書）. This details the details of the property, price, transfer date, deposit, what happens in case of cancellation etc.
Property details (物件状況等報告書). There's a list of major defects (e.g. leaks) and the claims by seller that as far as they are concerned, there's none. It also covers if there's a death etc on the building.
Interior details (内装工事説明書).

Very important thing to note : INSPECTIONS. They are the norm outside of Japan, but not so much in Japan. Of course you need to have them. But it was very explicitly written in my contract that this is not allowed. Some building inspections require drilling a hole to the structure, which... no building owner really want. The interior, on the other hand... well, apparently it already comes with insurance. Three months if you are buying from an individual, two years if buying from a company. So I am happy to do no inspection since I have a two year warranty on the inside, and if i own part of the building, I do NOT want anyone drilling a hole in it.

Then I started signing / stamping, wired my deposit, and concluded the day.

⑧ Oct 17. Bank Application

本審査 start! I submitted all my documents. It is really just tax documents that can be accessed online. I went with au, PayPay and SBI. I completed all docs for au and PayPay, SBI's system was still closed for document submission.

This is surprisingly a stressful period for me because I do not do well with waiting. But at this period, there's really nothing to do but wait, and maybe follow up after 6-7 business days.

Update : Oct 23 : PayPay Bank rejected my application, no reason given.

⑨ Oct 30. Bank Approval.

Got a message on the SBI approval. The notification includes the approved amount and applicable interest, which of course is not final because it is variable rate. They said that they will mail me the documents, but in the meantime the bank staff was asking me to submit some documents online.

There are some documents required of my agent, so I also forwarded that to him.

⑩ Nov 7. Mortgage document signing

On Nov 5, the 司法書士 contacts me and asks me to schedule the meeting with him + pay the deposit of JPY265,523. Of course I first email my bank to confirm that this is their scrivener, and that I should pay the money despite me loaning the relevant costs. The bank confirms that I have to pay the scrivener haha. And we scheduled Nov 7 for the signing.

For the signing, there are two 司法書士. One to handle the mortgage + lien (bank side), and one to handle the transfer of the property (seller side). I went to the bank's 司法書士 and affixed my 印鑑 to the different documents (including special power of attorney that allows the 司法書士 handle the documents on my behalf. I had to give a copy of my 住民票の写し and 印鑑証明書.

⑪ Nov 18. Contract Call.

I chose to do the contract online. We had to a call to go over the terms verbally. It was not even a video call, just a normal phone call. He says I will get the postcard for my log in in about two weeks.

⑫ Dec 2. Contract is finalized.

I just have to log in and follow online instructions.

⑬ Dec 12. Handover

I asked to change the layout so I had to do an extra visit to check the property (Dec 1), but that was just an extra procedure for me.

On the handover day, I met with the 司法書士 from both the bank and the seller. The one from the seller had some docs for me to stamp and needed a copy of my 住民票. Once he confirmed the transfer, the 司法書士 from the bank messaged the bank to send the money. Bank sends ME money and automatically transfers to the buyer the property price and to the seller's 司法書士 their fees. The remaining amount stays in my bank account. We wait for the seller's confirmation of the bank transfer, and the agent gives me the key.

That's it. I left and there's no more steps which was rather surreal that I just left the building with keys and now I have a new home (and a big loan).

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