Mrs. Bucky says she wants to buy a mansion. Ugh!

[Bucky]

Ok, we live on the left coast and have lived here for 35 years. Mrs. Bucky grew up in Tokyo and though I took the girl out of Tokyo I was not able to take Tokyo out of the girl.

Now, with retirement not that far in the future she says she wants to buy a mansion in Tokyo so she as someplace to go back to. Her plan is to return to Tokyo each hear from the end of December to about the middle of May. The rest of the time to spend in Seattle. (Much better summer weather in the PNW that Tokyo.) The idea of buying a mansion in Tokyo seems like more problems than answers. What do we do with it the other 7 months of the year? Rent it out as an AirBNB?

This idea is still three or four years off so I have some time, but I gotta believe we can find a long-term rental some place that is going to be a better solution buying a small 1 LDK that is not comfortable and locks us into a place.

Any thoughts?

[Mike Oxlong]

Isn't this precisely what monthly mansions/serviced apartments are for?

[Grumpy Gramps]

If she wants it to her "home" for half a year, then she'll likely want to have her own things there and might not like the idea to rent it out. So you'd have to bite the bullet and rent an "un(der)used" space. Also you'd need someone to have the keys, empty mailboxes, let workers in for repairs etc.

OTOH, a serviced apartment, aparthotel, AirBnB etc. would rid her of all responsibilities, but then it would never really be "hers".

I have friends doing this for actually decades to see/help their family, and they would just log their address with their parents' or siblings'. And have their teeth made on NHI, while they're here anyway

[Taro Toporific]

The idea of buying a mansion in Tokyo seems like more problems than answers. What do we do with it the other 7 months of the year? Rent it out as an AirBNB?

Just a few little problems that are causing me problems:

• Almost all newly-build condos automatically prohibit AirBNB. In older condos like mine, the condo owners association will block renting out for AirBNB the moment you start doing it (or once you start succeeding at it).

• The few condo buildings that allow AirBNB are (Chinese) investor owned and not the kind of place anybody wants to live in.

• The cost of a cleaning/management service to check/clean on the care of a condo between AirBNB guests eats most of the profits of the AirBNB rent.

• Taxes and depreciation on a Tokyo condo also eat into AirBNB profits.

• The monthly fees of a condo owners association go up to way over 50,000yen/m once the condo gets older than 8~10 years (...BUT a brand-new condo depreciates faster than a new car in the first five years).

Saaa, all this is all a real fuckin' headache for me now. Living in a Tokyo condo for 4~6 months a year just does not seem practical and the lack of practicality prevents Mrs. Taro and I from spending summers on my family ranch in the foothills just outside Denver.

However, there are people who claim to make money rent out their Tokyo condo as an AirBNB when they are not living in it.
I'll be damned if I know how absentee condo owners they can make money* at AirBNB, grrr.

*Slave labor? A helpful relative living
next door to the AirBNB?

[TennoChinko]

Rent it out as an AirBNB?

What Taro said.

Not just newly-built condos. Most sensible owner associations will have already passed rules against any short-term stays like AirBnb ... and, they will scan the listings from time to time to be sure.

I don't mind using AirBnB but I would be upset if I found out upon arrival I ran the risk of being confronted by angry building management. Nor do I want one in my building ... what's the purpose of controlled entrance and security?

Actually, it'd be a great way for criminals to scope out high-end residences like Roppongi Hills and the like. By booking an AirBnb for a week, they'd be able to figure out the weakponts of security, copy keys or codes for common areas, and identify which tenants and floors (eg the rich Chinese or Indonesian ones who own them but are rarely there ) are worth breaking into. "OCEANS EREBEN..."

[matsuki]

"OCEANS EREBEN..."

Not sure about AirBNB for loads of short-term renting the whole place on the reg....but a decent-sized place with a proper lock/door on "her" room and long term renting out the other room(s) to decent renter(s) might be feasible depending on location? One of my "forever single" friends rents out two rooms in his place and it covers his loan payments and then some. Less privacy and some stress with shared spaces but he seems pretty happy with the setup.

[legion]

Find an Ozzie friend who really likes summer.

I'd day look for one of those houses built on a plot of land which can't be rebuilt on because of the change in building regulations, often much cheaper. Do it out Showa style and rent it out on Air B&B for the max days you can