Houses

[me_in_japan]

I'm currently in the (very) early stages of looking at buying (building) a house. I have a question or two for all you folks who have already done this, if it please ye, squires

1) how many tsubo/square metres is your house, and are you happy with that size? Obviously I'm sure you'd all prefer a bigger house, but what I mean is are you acceptably satisfied with the size of the house you have? A follow on from this question is: how many folks live in your house? Do your kids share rooms, etc?

2) do you live in the city? The burbs? The boonies? Are you happy enough with where you're at?

3) you don't need to answer this one (heck, you don't need to answer any of em) but how much do you spend on your mortgage in terms of monthly income? (eg "about a quarter" or "oooh, almost all of it" etc). Also, do you put in extra if you get a bonus or similar? Tied into this question is: how long is your mortgage?

Thanks a lot for helpIng out. As I said, its early days yet, but I really feel I need to get moving with this one. My wife and I have been to see some model homes and so on. Next step is talking to the bank So much to learn, do little time to do it in...

[Spevna]

1. About 68 tsubo. The size is fine. There's a garden and 3 parking spaces. There are 3 bedrooms and a small den/man room upstairs. There are 4 people living in the house.

2. Boonies!! 30 minute walk to the nearest station. Bus stop is 2 minutes away. The bus journey takes 25 minutes to the centre of Yokkaichi. Living in central Yokkaichi would make The Spevna weep.

3. Currently 82,000 yen a month. The mortgage is a three year fixed interest one. It is currently at 1.2%. The full term is 35 years though. No hurry to pay as the interest is so low. Fixed term offshore bank accounts give The Spevna 4.5% interest so that still gives him a profit over his mortgage interest.

Be prepared to whack down around 3,000,000¥ as a deposit and to cover legal costs etc.

Any other questions, just grab The Spevna on his keitai.