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Part 3: Budget ideas and important cautions when building a vacation house in Nasu.

Building Budget

建築予算について0

Even if you find a good piece of land, it won’t work if the size or price goes beyond your budget. With a vacation house, it’s easy to get carried away thinking, “If I’m doing this, I want it big and impressive,” and end up over budget. That’s why it’s important to set your budget firmly at the beginning, and then challenge yourself to see how much you can do within it. In Kaori’s case, she decided to keep the total within 20 million yen (excluding miscellaneous costs): 5 million yen for land + 15 million yen for the building. She wanted about 150 tsubo of land, so dividing 5 million yen by 150 tsubo meant she needed to look for land priced around 33,000 yen per tsubo.


Here, let’s briefly talk about land values in Nasu. After the bubble economy collapsed, land values dropped significantly. The typical market price is about 50,000 yen per tsubo along the Nasu Kaido road, and around 40,000 yen per tsubo in other areas.


Some real-estate agents may quote prices like 80,000 or 100,000 yen per tsubo and tell you, “This land used to be 200,000 yen per tsubo, so it’s a bargain.” Please be careful. If an agent brings up bubble-era prices and strongly pushes a “great deal” feeling, you should suspect they are not trustworthy. Don’t be fooled. Wanting to sell for “at least this much because I bought it for that much in the bubble era” is the seller’s convenience; you should judge based on today’s value. Again, the current market in Nasu is about 50,000 yen per tsubo along Nasu Kaido and around 40,000 yen per tsubo elsewhere (unless you truly want a specific land and are willing to pay more). Also, if they pressure you by saying, “There are plenty of other buyers, so if you don’t decide quickly we’ll sell to someone else,” be brave and say, “No, thank you,” then go to another agent. “Not giving you time to think, forcing a quick decision, and selling something expensive” is a classic tactic of dishonest businesses (suspicious people almost always use this).


Now, we understand the market price range, but even so, finding land at Kaori’s target price of 33,000 yen per tsubo started to feel extremely difficult. Such a price is unlikely unless an old local landowner sells directly. She researched and requested materials, but it seemed that around 50,000 yen per tsubo was the most common. Sometimes cheaper land appears, but those listings are often sold in units like 500 tsubo. Even if the unit price is as low as 33,000 yen, 500 tsubo would still cost 16.5 million yen. On the other hand, if she buys land at 50,000 yen per tsubo, then the 150 tsubo she wants would cost 7.5 million yen. Would she really be able to find good land that fits the budget? She started to feel a bit anxious.


Also, when it comes to budgeting (not only for land), the owner’s thinking is usually “allocate a total budget,” while the contractor’s thinking is “accumulate costs.” This difference requires caution. Contractors tend to think that if they spend the same time, they would like the total amount to be as large as possible, so even after construction has started they may propose various options (additional work). Owners often accept these options because they think, “If I’m doing it, I want it to be better,” but of course those costs are added later as “additional charges.” The owner then struggles with two conflicting feelings: “I don’t want to regret being cheap about a small cost,” and “But my budget…” In that dilemma, the owner keeps worrying until the building is completed.


Related to the fact that land prices have fallen, let’s also touch on scam-like business practices recently causing problems in Nasu. These are people who call themselves “advertising agencies” and approach landowners who once bought land for over 100,000 yen per tsubo. They say, “Leave it to me and I’ll sell it for over 100,000 yen,” or “This is wonderful land, so there are plenty of people who will pay that much.” Their method is: “To sell the land at a high price, advertising is necessary, and it will cost about 1.2 million yen. Please pay 600,000 yen upfront. You can pay the remaining advertising fee after the land sells.” In this way, they successfully obtain 600,000 yen. Because they actually place an advertisement in magazines or similar media at low cost, even if you complain “It’s not selling,” it is difficult to sue them for fraud. This is essentially a “secondary 피해 (second victimization) of undeveloped-land scams”: people who were once forced to buy land at high prices by dishonest real-estate agents get tricked again by dishonest “advertising agencies.” In reality, the perpetrators of the first damage (dishonest real-estate companies) and the perpetrators of the second damage (dishonest advertising agencies) are often the same company or group company, and they are simply reusing the list of potential victims. So why do people get tricked twice?


The perpetrators of the second victimization are often people who left the dishonest real-estate companies responsible for the first victimization. They left because the dishonest real-estate company they worked for received business suspension penalties (for violating the Real Estate Transaction Business Act, etc.) and went bankrupt. Those people then start a new company with the same group (often a suspicious advertising agency, real-estate firm, surveying company, and so on), and begin approaching people they previously dealt with. They say things like, “That company was terrible. Actually, I was being deceived too,” to gain sympathy and emphasize that they are also victims. They add, “That’s why I want to help the people who were deceived by that company,” emphasizing a sense of “we’re in this together.” As a result, people who were previously deceived and suffered end up saying, “I see. I understand. Please help,” and get completely deceived again.


How about it? If you feel, “Maybe I’m being deceived,” with a similar approach, I recommend that you take a step back and calmly look at your situation from a third-party perspective. And if you think you are being deceived, cut ties with those people and never go near them again. It may sound cold, but I hope you realize that local real-estate professionals who understand the situation may be thinking privately, “Someone is being deceived again… how sad,” and feeling sympathy for you.


Even so, there are many cases (especially among elderly people) where, although a third party would think, “That can’t be right,” the person involved believes, “I’m not being deceived, I’m right, and you’re the one who’s strange to say that.” In such cases, it’s frustrating that it is often extremely difficult to make someone who is completely mind-controlled recognize the truth


建築予算について
There is plenty of land in Nasu, so you don’t need to rush. Take your time and keep looking until you find land you truly feel satisfied with.

How to read this story

Each page shows one step of building the vacation house in Nasu, such as land search, meetings with the architect, construction, and daily life after completion.
You can start from any part you like, but reading in order may help you understand the full flow more clearly.

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