Get a House for Free… Earn Up to 600,000 Yen a Month with “Zero-Yen Property Investment”? A New World of Real Estate Investment Born from the Vacant Home Problem

Earning 600,000 yen a month isn’t just a dream! The world of “zero-yen property investment”

Get a house for free—

The real estate matching support site “Everyone’s 0-Yen Properties,” which has garnered such a reputation, is attracting attention. Behind its popularity lies the feverish boom in “run-down single-family home investing”—a strategy that leverages vacant homes scattered across the country to turn a profit with zero initial investment. On one side are people willing to give up their homes for free; on the other, those who step forward precisely because they’re free. This phenomenon reflects the reality of the vacant home problem.

Ryo Nakamura, representative of “0-Yen Urban Development LLC,” which operates the site, reflects, “A bitter experience with inheritance was the starting point for this business.”

“I lost my father in 2018 and inherited a two-story building in Asahikawa City that served as both a store and a residence, but neither the land nor the building was registered. Not only were the boundaries with the neighboring property unclear, but demolishing the house alone would cost 2.7 million yen. Since my father had run a store there, a large amount of inventory remained, and I found out that disposing of it would cost another 400,000 yen.

Even if I cleared the land and sold it, I wasn’t sure if I’d even reach 500,000 yen. In total, I was looking at a loss of 2 to 3 million yen. ‘You should have sorted out the legal issues like registration and property lines and disposed of the inventory before you passed away,’ I honestly resented my father for that. But since I’d already inherited it, there was nothing I could do…”

Mr. Nakamura’s decision was to “give it away for free rather than do anything with it.” A businessman who was preparing to start a new venture took over the land and building—problems and all. This experience served as the catalyst, and Mr. Nakamura launched the website in 2019.

Since the selling price is 0 yen, the company’s revenue comes from a flat-rate closing fee of 298,000 yen paid by the seller. By charging a flat fee instead of providing individual quotes, the company lowers the operational barriers and maintains a system capable of handling a large volume of cases—a simple yet effective model.

The site has listed approximately 3,600 properties to date, with a closing rate of just under 80 percent. Buyers generally only need to pay just under 100,000 yen in registration fees and 10,000 to 20,000 yen annually in property taxes.

“From early spring, when property tax bills start arriving from local governments, through June, the number of listings surges. This is likely because vacant home owners see the notices and think, ‘I need to do something about this.’”

So, how are the people who’ve actually acquired these “zero-yen properties” putting them to use? In Part 2, we’ll introduce a woman who revitalized an abandoned building left vacant for 15 years into a popular café, as well as investors who earn about 600,000 yen a month from homes they acquired for practically nothing.

Click here for the second part

From the November 6, 2026 issue of *FRIDAY*