Hello, kind folks of r/JapanFinance.
I am currently going through the process of purchasing a property to live in.
Situation : non-PR 正社員, stable job for 10 years, married to a Japanese national with a stable 契約社員 3 years position.
After a few weeks of searching, we found an ideal condominium in central Fukuoka through Miyoshi.
The apartment is located in a 20-lot building dating from 1981 (you already see where this is going), SRC, and the interior was fully renovated this year.
Got a 35M loan precheck confirmed from 2 banks, with a very decent interest rate (about 1%) and down payment (4%). Contract signature set in 10 days. Home loan includes moving costs and we could sneak in some furnitures if we wanted to.
The flat meets our criteria for location, proximity to public transport, quietness and interior. I would say very few of the properties we checked or visited were as good a fit.
Now the hurdle(s)?
Because we are kind of newbies, we have not accounted for the Real Estate Acquisition Tax (uh oh) in our purchase plan.
– We are purchasing the property itself 32M, but it is not the actual cost used for the tax assessment? Provided the building situation, what would be a ballpark estimation of the cost used for the assessment?
– I have read in this very subreddit that usually the tax payment is asked for in the 6 to 12 months following the acquisition, is it correct? I also read that the cost can be ventilated or spread if asked for to the tax office. What is the reality of this kind of arrangement?
– As mentioned above, despite the building structure beign SRC, it has been built in the year prior to the earthquake norms update and as such the city will ask us a certification and inspection if we want to benefit from a deduction. SO called the tax office and they said it "might be difficult to obtain" because it should be done for the whole building, naturally.
Is this true, and do you believe the company managing the building would be interested in sharing the assessment cost if it could benefit from it?
I am sorry if some of these questions sounds very stupid.
SO and I are checking with our real estate, bank and local tax office on some on those aspects, but we would really appreciate any third-party insight to decide if we should proceed or call it off.
by SouthernSpell