Is a Pre-Owned Home the Best Choice for People in Their 40s and Older? A Couple in Their 50s Who Bought a 5.2 Million Yen Home and Started a Dual-Residence Lifestyle: “Quality That Doesn’t Compromise”
Escaping Tokyo… The Story of a Couple in Their 50s and Their “5.2 Million Yen Home” [Part 2]
Tomoyuki (57) and his wife Hisako (54), a couple in their 50s, decided to call it quits on Tokyo’s skyrocketing rent and purchased a 50-year-old, 5.2 million yen pre-owned house in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture.
In Part 1, we followed their journey from searching for a property to the purchase.
In Part 2, we’ll reveal the reasons behind their decision to take out a loan instead of paying in full, the challenges unique to an older home, and the realities of their new life in the community.
The Surprising Reason They Chose to Take Out a Mortgage
The couple initially intended to pay the purchase price in a lump sum with cash. However, while discussing their financial plan with financial institutions, they decided to take out a mortgage instead.
They could have paid the full amount in a lump sum. Even so, Tomoyuki chose to take out a loan. The loan amount was 6 million yen. The deciding factor was advice from a friend who told him, “You should keep some cash on hand.” The interest rate is fixed at approximately 1%, with a 10-year repayment term. The annual repayment is about 600,000 yen, which works out to roughly 50,000 yen per month.
“I wanted to take advantage of these last low interest rates. I couldn’t risk going with a variable rate—it’s too scary. So I went with a fixed rate,” said Tomoyuki (all subsequent quotes are from him).
He also rented a new studio apartment in Tokyo. The rent is 75,000 yen. It’s a place for him to stay in Tokyo on nights when he works late or attends social gatherings.
“If I want to head back here (to Ichihara City) from Tokyo, I have to leave the city by 9:30 p.m. to catch the last train. Even if I make it back, I don’t get home until just before midnight. The sheer hardship of having to get up early the next morning to commute from there is unimaginable.”
My monthly mortgage payment of 50,000 yen and the 75,000 yen for the Tokyo apartment. That comes to 125,000 yen total. Even so, it’s still cheaper than the 165,000 yen I used to pay out of pocket.
“All in all, I was determined to keep it absolutely cheaper than my previous rent. That was the bottom line.”
Unexpected! The Reality of 1.8 Million Yen in Repair Costs
At the time of handover, the wallpaper and the first-floor flooring had already been replaced. New toilets and sinks had been installed. The only things I paid for out of pocket were interior windows (double-glazed) for about 300,000 yen (using a subsidy) and a used car for 500,000 yen to transport materials.
“Excluding the interior windows, I don’t think the total cost—including the car—was even 1 million yen.”
Property tax is just over 10,000 yen per year. The annual garbage management fee paid to the neighborhood association is 800 yen, and there’s no garbage duty.
There were also unexpected expenses. About a year after the purchase (just recently), I noticed a leak in the roof, and repairs cost about 1 million yen. The moisture rising from under the floor was worse than I’d imagined, and renovating the floor cost about 800,000 yen. With older homes, problems that weren’t visible at the time of purchase sometimes come to light after you start living there.
The purchase price was 5.2 million yen, but that doesn’t mean the expenses end there. You need to set aside funds, anticipating the possibility of problems being discovered later. In the end, it proved helpful that I didn’t pay the entire purchase price in cash and left some financial leeway to cover repairs.
There’s no sewer connection either. The toilet uses a septic tank. Under the Septic Tank Act, even for residential use, maintenance inspections are required at least once every four months, cleaning at least once a year, and a separate annual statutory inspection is mandatory. Maintenance costs amount to about 35,000 yen per year.
“Maintenance costs are higher than I expected. But the hardest part is being told, ‘The sewer system is now available,’ after we’ve already moved in. The connection costs are borne by the homeowner, and it’s incredibly expensive.”
The house is 50 years old. It was built before the current seismic resistance standards were introduced in 1981.
“They tell me I’d be eligible for a subsidy if I reinforce the structure against earthquakes, but it would cost about 3 million yen. I find myself thinking, ‘Maybe I’d be better off moving.’ Honestly, that’s a source of anxiety for me.”
This house withstood the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, even the homeowner isn’t sure if that’s a reason to feel reassured. If it were to collapse, it would cause damage to the neighborhood as well. The surrounding houses are all from a similar era.
“Is it safe because it withstood the quake once, or is it dangerous precisely because it withstood it once…?”
However, this doesn’t mean the entire neighborhood is dangerous. The condition of each building varies depending on its age, structure, soil conditions, and past maintenance history. The couple is also anxious about “how to maintain this house going forward.”
They cut costs wherever possible. When they converted the second-floor Japanese-style room into a Western-style room, they took the six tatami mats that were left over to the waste disposal site themselves. They threw away other items at the same time and got away with spending only about 3,000 yen.
“If we’d hired a contractor, it would have cost tens of thousands of yen.”
Cost Savings! Living on a Budget with DIY
The reason they’re keeping costs down is that Tomoyuki does most of the remodeling and DIY work himself. During the six months between purchasing the home and moving in, he commuted from Tokyo every weekend, built eight storage shelves, and laid the floorboards.Since moving in, he’s built a wooden deck, a storage shed, and raised garden beds all by himself. Right now, he’s working on relocating a door.
“The only things I hired professionals for were installing interior windows and the air conditioner. Instructions for everything else are available on YouTube.”
He distinguishes between what he can do himself and what he leaves to professionals. That’s the foundation for keeping costs down while living in an older home.
Both the storage and the layout have been completely redesigned. His wife, Hisako, has watched him work.
“I’ve come to realize that people shouldn’t just put up with things. If you put up with things, you stop coming up with creative solutions. He doesn’t put up with things—if he decides he wants to install wooden flooring, he’ll do it no matter what.”
“The Youngest Resident Is 77”—Neighborhood Dynamics
One concern when moving to a new area is getting along with the neighbors. Both husband and wife are originally from different regions and didn’t know anyone in the area before moving. Before moving in, they consulted someone in the neighborhood who was familiar with local customs. The answer was surprising.
“They told us, ‘You don’t have to join the residents’ association.’”
A few days later, a representative from the residents’ association came to visit. The couple was about to explain that while they would pay the membership fee, they might not be able to help with the association’s work—but the representative beat them to it.
“‘Oh, you don’t have to join,’ he said. That old man told us, ‘I’m 77, but I’m actually the youngest member of the residents’ association right now.’”
Now, I just pay 800 yen once a year for garbage collection fees.
This neighborhood was developed during the Showa era for commuters working in Tokyo. The original residents are now elderly, and their children haven’t returned.
When I bought the house, there was still a home nearby where an elderly couple lived. Since then, the residents have passed away, and it now stands vacant.
Social interactions are pretty casual. When I set up scaffolding for roof work, the elderly woman across the street asked, “Why are you replacing it already? Ours’ been here for 70 years.”
“When I’m working outside in the morning, people call out to me: ‘Good morning,’ ‘What are you building?’ ‘I used to be a carpenter, you know.’ I listen while thinking, ‘I really want to finish this today,’ but I suppose that’s just how we get to know each other.”
The “Sense of Security” Gained from Sharing Vegetables
To make it easier for neighborhood cats to climb up, Tomoyuki built a cat deck by the first-floor window.
“You couldn’t do that in an apartment building, could you? If a cat suddenly appeared on the fourth floor, people would think it was a ghost. I think that’s something unique to a single-family home in the suburbs,” says Hisako (all subsequent quotes are from her).
Pheasants run around in front of the station. Cucumbers get passed around from neighbors.
“Someone says, ‘I’ve grown too many cucumbers—do you want some?’ and I take them. Then I’ll say, ‘I’ve grown some tomatoes—how about these?’ and give them away. That kind of exchange is so comforting,”
“With the yen continuing to weaken, I’ve started saving a little in foreign currency out of concern for the future,” says Hisako.
“But once I started growing tomatoes, I felt a little calmer. I realized that even if it’s just a little, it’s important to grow our own food and be able to eat it.”
For People in Their 40s and Older, “Secondhand” Is the Best Solution
Tomoyuki still checks real estate websites almost every day. It’s not for his next home. He buys vacant houses, renovates them himself, and rents them out. He says there are already quite a few people who have successfully turned this into a side business.
“The vacant home problem can’t be solved by local governments or the national government alone, so the private sector has to step in,” says Tomoyuki (hereinafter the same).
There’s a reason these vacant homes remain standing. Land on which a house is built qualifies for property tax breaks, so demolishing the house and clearing the lot can actually increase the tax burden. On top of that, demolition costs about 3 million yen.
“From the owner’s perspective, it’s better to just leave it alone,”
However, under the revised Vacant House Act, which took effect in December 2023, tax incentives are revoked for vacant homes deemed to be poorly managed upon receiving a formal notice. The cost of leaving them unattended is beginning to rise.
Tomoyuki wonders what would have happened if he had stayed in Tokyo.
“I think it must be really tough for the elderly in the Tokyo metropolitan area. If you’re a senior living alone in a rental, it would be difficult to get by on just your pension.”
He chose this house with that future in mind. The previous owners were apparently an elderly couple without children, and the bathroom is lined with handrails. If he ever becomes unable to climb the stairs, he can simply leave the second floor as is and live on the first floor.
“It’s just right. Basically, I’m not leaving here.”
Finally, I asked, “Is there one thing you’d like to say?”
“Don’t buy a new home. Things will work out. A new home is fine when you’re young, I suppose. But if you’re in your 40s or 50s and can’t take out a 25-year mortgage, you’re definitely better off buying a used home right away.
You’re not going to buy a grave, are you? If that’s the case, think of a house the same way.”
It’s neither something you buy nor something you rent. You take it because it’s available. Or you buy it for a price that’s practically a gift. Beyond the assumption that “buying a house equals spending tens of millions of yen,” there are 9 million vacant homes.
Reporting and Text： Wakako Ta