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That is definitely true. I currently live in a one-bedroom apartment near Silicon Valley; I can't afford to buy a house anywhere near the Bay Area unless I wan

That is definitely true. I currently live in a one-bedroom apartment near Silicon Valley; I can't afford to buy a house anywhere near the Bay Area unless I wanted to commute from Stockton, which has a very high crime rate. Conversely, I could afford a really nice place in Tokyo with my Silicon Valley income, but if I transferred to my company's Tokyo branch and took a local salary, my salary would go down substantially. Even so, I'd still be able to afford a home in a suburb of Tokyo (even $250,000 can get you a place out there). As someone who travels to Japan frequently, my dream is to own a vacation home there. Outside of Tokyo homes can be even cheaper; I've seen listings in rural parts of Japan for places as low as $40,000!

alephnerd 3y ago
> I currently live in a one-bedroom apartment near Silicon Valley; I can't afford to buy a house anywhere near the Bay Area unless I wanted to commute from Stockton I mean, you are going to have to get a mortgage to buy a house no matter which country you live in. A mortgage of $4-5k/month can still be doable assuming you saved enough for a down payment, though the lack of houses being sold makes it much more difficult to buy. That said, it's a similar story in every city I've been to - London, Boston, Saigon, HK, Delhi, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, etc. > As someone who travels to Japan frequently, my dream is to own a vacation home there. Outside of Tokyo homes can be even cheaper; I've seen listings in rural parts of Japan for places as low as $40,000! Prices are lower, but managing, buying, and owning property is difficult if you aren't a Japanese national. A lot of those cheap rural houses are in their versions of WV or Idaho, where you can still find houses for a similar price. > Even so, I'd still be able to afford a home in a suburb of Tokyo To be fair, anything that isn't Central Tokyo is the Japanese equivalent of Stockton socially.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
> As someone who travels to Japan frequently, my dream is to own a vacation home there. Outside of Tokyo homes can be even cheaper; I've seen listings in rural parts of Japan for places as low as $40,000! There are lots of conditions to that, including high property tax, requirements to farm, strict permanent residency requirements. I don't think many rural communities want to become desolate vacation home places, and they've surely thought of that when regulating their property markets.

alephnerd 3y ago

> I currently live in a one-bedroom apartment near Silicon Valley; I can't afford to buy a house anywhere near the Bay Area unless I wanted to commute from Stockton I mean, you are going to have to get a mortgage to buy a house no matter which country you live in. A mortgage of $4-5k/month can still be doable assuming you saved enough for a down payment, though the lack of houses being sold makes it much more difficult to buy. That said, it's a similar story in every city I've been to - London, Boston, Saigon, HK, Delhi, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, etc. > As someone who travels to Japan frequently, my dream is to own a vacation home there. Outside of Tokyo homes can be even cheaper; I've seen listings in rural parts of Japan for places as low as $40,000! Prices are lower, but managing, buying, and owning property is difficult if you aren't a Japanese national. A lot of those cheap rural houses are in their versions of WV or Idaho, where you can still find houses for a similar price. > Even so, I'd still be able to afford a home in a suburb of Tokyo To be fair, anything that isn't Central Tokyo is the Japanese equivalent of Stockton socially.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

> As someone who travels to Japan frequently, my dream is to own a vacation home there. Outside of Tokyo homes can be even cheaper; I've seen listings in rural parts of Japan for places as low as $40,000! There are lots of conditions to that, including high property tax, requirements to farm, strict permanent residency requirements. I don't think many rural communities want to become desolate vacation home places, and they've surely thought of that when regulating their property markets.