House hunt #2

After our somewhat disastrous first house hunt, we were dropped off back at the hotel by our first house agent who was more than happy to get rid of us by that point. Perhaps hoping to be done with us before we decided that we did indeed want money from him. He drove the wrong way down one way streets even in his hurry to off-load this liability and as soon as we were all out of the car, quickly said good bye and took off like he was being chased.

We headed into the hotel lobby and sat down to wait for housing agent #2. DH asked if I wanted to just go back to base and reschedule this second visit to which I said that I would have a hurt leg on base or off, so lets see if there's maybe a nicer house out there than what we just saw. We didn't have any Tylenol handy and there was a bar in the lobby, so I sipped on the strongest screwdriver I've ever touched, to dull the pain while I waited for our next ride.

A short time later, a mini van pulled up in front of the hotel and DH went outside to see if it was our guy and it was, so we all hopped into the van and headed off to see another house.

We rode along, without a clue where we were going, or even the price point for the monthly rent of this house, or if they would allow our dog. All we knew is that it was considered a big house with a big yard, and that the price was above our maximum allowance but that the agent would negotiate with the owner to see if they would go for our price.

We wound our way out of town and into the country side and found ourselves back in a town in a quiet neighborhood. All within 15 minutes. We looked around at the houses and they all looked nice well maintained in this little suburbia. Then the agent pointed out the house we were going to see and I thought sure he must be joking. Ahead of us stood a 2 story white stucco house with tile roof, a decoratively carved hardwood front door, a nice rock wall and a gated parking spot, and it looked bigger than the other houses on the block.

As we walked in, the agent's assistant (a very sweet lady), handed us house slippers as we took off our shoes. The entry way was again dark wood paneling, but the air in the house was pretty dry and though a little chilly, was still tolerable (they don't keep any heat on in vacant homes, it's just too expensive). To the left just after the traditional knee high step up from the ground level, was a steep staircase with a hand rail that was about shin high (perfect for our 16 month old), ahead was a long hallway and to the right was a closed door.

We followed the assistant down the hall, where she showed us the bathroom (again on the ground floor), which included a traditional Japanese soaking tub (you shower prior to getting in the tub) that is basically a small indoor version of a hot tub. The crazy thing about it was that you went into the laundry room and then open a shower door and there inside, was a 6ft by 6ft 'bathroom' with a shower head on the wall and the soaking tub against the far wall and the whole thing was tiled. On the other side of the laundry room was another door, which was the toilet room. A tiny little room with only a toilet in it. Just beside the door to the toilet room was a sink. So far, this place was stomping all over the house we'd just seen.

We then took a walk through the dining room and living room which were empty square rooms that were sort of dark and sliding doors that opened into what I thought was a dark hallway. At least that's what I thought it was, until the housing agent started opening the huge floor to ceiling shutters and windows that closed off this long porch from the out of doors. As my eyes adjusted, I has handed a new pair of slippers (yard slippers) and I slipped them on and turned around to a gorgeous traditional Japanese garden! There is no pond, but I don't need DD going fishing for $1000 koi anyway, so it's really probably for the best.

We took a walk through the garden and then re-entered the house and were shown the kitchen. It had an amazing amount of cupboard space and the stove even had an oven. The counter space was limited and would be perfect for teaching little ones how to make cookies, even if I would have to do so on my knees to not have to lean over all day. I think the counters and stove top were somewhere between knee and waist level on me. The stove was really quite a novelty, as it only had 2 burners, a fish grill (a tiny toaster oven of sorts just above the oven) and then the smallest oven I have ever seen. I think my old easy bake oven could have rivaled this one for interior space. I'm pretty sure the oven measured no bigger than 1ft x 1ft!

We were then taken to see the 'guest room' an 8 tatami (approx 12 x 12) room that was through that door just to the right of the entrance. It too had a wall of windows that opened up completely to the outdoors, but to a small pebble garden with a bamboo fountain and a low bamboo fence.

Finally we headed upstairs and were shown the upstairs toilet room which held only a toilet and a tiny little hand sink that was about chest high. If the same people were using the downstairs kitchen as were using this hand sink, where was the step ladder they would want to use to reach this sink?? Again just outside the toilet room door, there was a small sink and a counter space. By this point, I had already been won over by the fantastic huge windows and the beautiful yard, and all this was just merely details.

We were then shown a great storage room and then a smallish (by our standards) bedroom which had tall windows that opened out onto the balcony, interestingly the windows and balcony were about 2 1/2 ft higher than the floor. We were then shown a 4 1/2 tatami room (about 6ft x 6ft) which also had the tall raised windows leading out to the balcony. A bonus of those tall windows was that a small child would have to have a stool to climb on in order to get out onto the balcony.

Then we were shown the "master bedroom" at which point I caught my breath. The room was probably 15ft x 15ft!! I was floored!! While I was still reeling at the shock of how big the room was, the agent's assistant decided to further knock my socks off by declaring that she needed to show me what they call the 'hidden room'. Excited by the prospect of a small little sort of secret room, I followed her to what looked like a closet door and when she opened it, I'm pretty sure the neighbors heard my jaw hit the floor. Through that door was another 8 tatami room!!! The floor of the room was 2 - 3 ft lower than where I stood and there was a bit of a ledge that led through the doorway, and then you would have to hop down into the room from there. Apparently, had I not been so distracted by the garden, I could have noticed a stairway from the sun porch that led up to this exact room.

At this point I was certain that there was no way on earth we could afford this house with out housing allowance and was bracing myself for disappointment. We then asked what the monthly rent was and we responded to with, 'do you want to live here?' We said that we did, but only if it was within our allowance, because we cannot afford to pay above that. The lady then had me fill out a paper with our contact information and handed me a paper with a diagram of the layout of the house and which also listed the sq ft, age of the house, pet policy and monthly rent for the house. I cringed and said, 'It says here that there are no pets allowed, and the rent is listed at 280,000 Yen ($3146), our max OHA* allowance is 230,000 Yen ($2584)'. The housing agent just nodded and said 'negotiate', 'negotiate'. His assistant then said she would call us the next day and let us know if the owner was willing to negotiate down to the price we were allowed and if they would allow our small dog.

The wait the next day seemed eternal, but we finally received the call stating that the owner had indeed approved the terms and we could go to the housing office to begin the paperwork process of getting the house. We must now wait for an inspector from the military housing dept to go inspect the house to ensure it is safe for living and then we can schedule a 'start paperwork appointment' where we will ask the military for a 931,500 Yen ($10,466) interest free loan for the move in costs. 1st month's rent of 230,000 Yen, Owner's fee of 230,000 Yen, Security deposit of 230,000 Yen and housing agent's fee of 230,000 Yen + 5% tax (yep, we pay his tax). As soon as we are moved in, we will be reimbursed from our OHA for the 1st month's rent, the security deposit will be reimbursed to us when we move out of the house, less any damages, and at some point down the road, the owner's fee and agent's fee will be reimbursed to us through an entitlement called MIHA (Move In Housing Allowance), though no one seems to know for sure when that will be. Also at that appointment, we will arrange to borrow a washer/dryer and a refrigerator for the house from the military.

It's sounding like we may be able to move in to the house as early as the beginning of next month!! I am so ready to be out of this lodge!!! We all are!


*OHA = Overseas Housing Allowance is an allowance that is up to a certain amount depending on your rank. Ours is up to 230,000 Yen for DH's rank here in Japan. This does not mean that we get 230,000 Yen and can then get something for 165,000 Yen and keep the difference. It means that if we get a house for 165,000 Yen, then they will cover our rent or if we get something for 230,000 Yen, they will cover our rent, or if we get something for 300,000 Yen, they will cover 230,000 Yen and we have to find the rest within our budget.