The redevelopment of our company’s websites has progressed considerably, and I am pleased with how they are beginning to take shape.
The next question is how we should develop them from here. Since our core business is real estate, listing properties for sale or rent is obviously important. But I believe providing knowledge about Japanese real estate is just as important.
Many of our foreign clients are dealing with Japanese real estate for the first time. They may be looking to rent an apartment, purchase a property, or make an investment. In such cases, I think it is better to understand the basic system before taking action rather than simply starting with a property search.
I lived in China for many years, and China naturally has its own rules and practices regarding real estate. When you do not understand those rules, taking the first step can feel difficult. Once you begin to understand them, however, things start to make sense. You realize, “So this is how the system works.”
Japanese real estate is no different in that respect.
If someone looks at Japanese real estate entirely through the expectations they developed in China, they may wonder why everything seems so complicated. Residential rentals are probably one of the clearest examples.
I lived in Shanghai, where I found renting a home relatively straightforward. At least in my own experience, I did not have to think about the kind of detailed income-related screening that is common in Japan.
In Japan, however, prospective tenants may be asked where they work, which school they attend, whether they have sufficient ability to pay, and other questions before an application is accepted. From a foreigner’s perspective, it is understandable to wonder, “If I am going to pay the rent, why do I need to go through so much screening?”
Japan also has systems involving rent guarantee companies and guarantors. These were not things I was particularly conscious of when I lived in Shanghai. Someone arriving in Japan with the expectations formed by renting in Shanghai may therefore find the Japanese process unnecessarily complicated.
But Japan has its own rules governing residential rentals. The system places considerable importance on protecting people who actually occupy a home. From a landlord’s point of view, once a property has been rented out, it is not necessarily simple to have the tenant leave. When you understand that background, it becomes easier to understand why landlords and related parties want to confirm so many details before accepting a tenant.
Without knowing the background, people see only the procedures and think, “This is troublesome” or “Why are they asking me all these questions?” Once the reasons are understood, however, the structure of the Japanese rental market begins to make more sense.
The same principle applies beyond rentals. Buying property and investing in real estate also involve systems and practices specific to Japan.
That is why the next stage of our website development is not simply about increasing the number of property listings. I want our sites to help foreign clients understand how the Japanese real estate world actually works.
Understand the rules before searching for the property.
Things that seem completely normal to Japanese people may not seem normal at all to someone from another country. Likewise, practices that are taken for granted overseas may work very differently in Japan. Rather than immediately deciding that one system is good and another is bad, I think the first step should be to understand the differences objectively.
Providing that kind of practical real estate knowledge to foreign clients is something I want to make an important part of our websites going forward.