Due diligence

2026/10/13

By the time it shows on the ceiling, the wood has been wet for a while

By the time it shows on the ceiling, the wood has been wet for a while A stain on a ceiling is the last stage, not the first. Water reached it by passing through the roof substrate, a rafter or a beam, and everything it passed through was wet before you s ...

2026/10/13

The land you can never build on again

The land you can never build on again Same area, same size, same age, half the price. One of the commonest reasons is that nothing new may ever be built on the plot. It does not show in a photograph, it is rarely stated in English, and from 2025 the usual ...

2026/10/13

Two dates decide how a Japanese house behaves in an earthquake

Two dates decide how a Japanese house behaves in an earthquake Ask when a Japanese house was built and you are not asking about its age. You are asking which set of structural rules it was built to. After the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, a complete survey of ...

2026/10/13

Before you buy a kominka

Before you buy a kominka Massive beams, earthen walls, a beaten-earth floor. No category of Japanese property pulls harder on overseas buyers, and the pull is entirely justified. Beautiful, liveable and maintainable are three separate questions, and this ...

2026/10/13

Whether you can run it as a holiday let is decided before you buy

Whether you can run it as a holiday let is decided before you buy Three things determine whether short-term letting is possible at a given Japanese address, and all three are fixed before you make an offer. None of them can be changed afterwards, and none ...

2026/10/13

Buying an apartment means buying the building's finances

Buying an apartment means buying the building's finances You are not acquiring a flat. You are acquiring a share in a collective that owns a building, along with its repair fund, its arrears, its decisions and whatever it has been putting off. The unit is ...

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