Articles Published in Akiya Lab | Roopt (Makigumi)
Makigumi, which operates Roopt, regularly researches case studies and other information on empty house revitalization and publishes it as columns.
This article introduces the experience of a teleworker who relocated and self-renovated an empty house. It covers the process of finding an empty house, the background of the self-renovation, the costs and time involved, and the reasons why self-renovation is recommended.
Noi: Hello everyone, I'm Noi, the host of this channel. In this video, we've been discussing the evaluation of old detached houses for investment in modern times with Mr. Ueda from Gaiax. This time, we're going to talk to Mr. Yoshii, who has actual renovation experience. Mr. Yoshii, thank you for joining us.
Yoshii: Thank you for having me.
Yoshii: First, let me give a brief self-introduction. In 2017, I moved from Tokyo to Tottori when I got married, and now I live in Tottori with my wife and child, a family of three. Both my wife and I work with computers and work from home. Neither of us has a daily commute, so we use our free time to self-renovate what was an empty house, and that's where we live now. After that, we utilize the extra space in our house to share it as a vacation rental and workspace.
Noi: You mentioned that you renovated your house. Where exactly do you live?
Yoshii: I live in Shikano-cho, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture. This area has a large number of new residents, and empty houses have been utilized here for about 20 years now. It's a small town of about 3,400 people. There's a magazine for people who want to live in the countryside, and Tottori City has won first place in the category of "countryside where child-rearing families want to live," making it a very popular area for new residents.
Among these areas, Shikano-cho in Tottori City is particularly active in utilizing empty houses, with many new residents gathering and renting empty houses to live in. With many new residents and returnees, the human relationships are also very good. I moved here from another place and find it a very comfortable area to live in, so if you are considering moving to the countryside, I hope you will consider Tottori City.
Yoshii: After moving, I initially lived in a rental, but then I ended up buying the empty house I was renting. Until then, when I was in Tokyo, I had always lived in rental properties, so I didn't really have any intention of owning or buying a house myself. However, after moving to Tottori, the owner of the rental house I was living in decided they wanted to sell the house itself. When I asked how much they would sell it for, the price was considerably higher than I had imagined, and I was wondering what to do. As I mentioned earlier, it's a very popular area for new residents, and properties nearby were being sold at quite high prices, so I thought it would be difficult to continue living there as it was. Also, living in a rental isn't very stable, and I thought that owning a house when my son started elementary school would provide a more stable life, so I began considering buying a house.
Noi: So, various circumstances led to your decision to move. We've heard about the background of your relocation and renovation, and next, I'd like to hear more about the internal aspects of the renovation using an empty house.
Noi: Could you please tell us why you chose to renovate an empty house instead of building a new one?
Yoshii: There are two main reasons. The first is cost. I considered building a new house of the size I wanted for my family, but it seemed like it would cost 30 to 40 million yen, even in the countryside, including the land. With an empty house, I thought I could buy the house itself for a few million yen and complete the renovation for around 10 million yen.
The other point is that from my experience living in what was previously an empty house as a rental, I thought that even empty houses or those 40 or 50 years old could be made livable with simple renovations. The house I lived in had been empty for several years, so there was some mold, the interior was quite dirty, and the garden was very overgrown. However, after about two or three months of cleaning, and hiring professionals for kitchen and toilet cleaning, and also for wallpaper, it became quite bright inside and the atmosphere changed dramatically, even with just a simple renovation. So, I thought it would be perfectly fine to live there, and that was a major factor.
Noi: How did you find the empty house itself?
Yoshii: Initially, I searched online through empty house banks and real estate sales websites. However, even searching across Tottori Prefecture, there were very few properties available. And those that were listed were often like unsold properties that had been listed for many years. The real estate properties themselves were quite old, but the asking prices were unusually high, and there were only properties like that.
When I asked various real estate companies about the empty house sales situation, they said that since empty houses don't sell for very high prices, the profit they could earn was small, so real estate companies weren't very keen on handling them. Many empty house owners are elderly, and communicating with them can be quite difficult. If it were a condominium sale in Tokyo, everyone would be thinking about selling, so communication would be relatively easy. However, people aren't very accustomed to selling single-family homes, so real estate companies felt it wasn't worth the effort to deal with them.
Eventually, I was introduced to an NPO that promotes the utilization of empty houses in the region. By chance, I found the empty house I now live in about 100 meters from where I was living at the time. While it might be possible to find empty houses online, there are very few of them, and many people are looking for them. So, if you have a specific area you want to live in, I think it's best to consult with organizations or companies that support empty house utilization in that region.
Noi: After finding an empty house, you mentioned that you self-renovated it. Could you tell us why you chose to self-renovate instead of hiring a contractor?
Yoshii: First, when we initially planned to do the renovation that our family ideally wanted, our budget, including the purchase price, was 10 million yen. However, when we saw the estimates from contractors, it was nowhere near enough. The house we live in now, before renovation, was a 5LDK with four Japanese-style rooms. We changed it to a 3LDK, converted everything to flooring, and completely redid all the plumbing. If we had asked for such a renovation, it felt like it would cost not 10 million, but more like 20 or 30 million yen, which would essentially be like building a new house, so we realized it was impossible.
After that, I was thinking of giving up on buying the house, but the NPO that introduced the house to me said, "If you have the motivation and time, and if you can compromise on the finished quality, self-renovation isn't impossible, so why not give it a try?" Since the NPO itself had various equipment and tools, and they offered to lend them to us, we decided to give it a shot.
Noi: I see. So, you initially decided to self-renovate purely for financial reasons.
Yoshii: That's right. The budget I had was completely insufficient for what I expected.
Noi: Regarding the costs, after deciding to self-renovate, and now that it's finished, how much did it actually cost?
: Well, we started with a budget of 10 million yen. Initially, when we were going to buy the empty house, it was offered for around 7.5 to 8 million yen. But if we considered that from our 10 million yen budget, we wouldn't have much left for renovation. So, after various discussions, we ended up purchasing it for 5.5 million yen. That amount is the total for both land and building, but it was almost entirely the assessed value of the land.Yoshii
As for other expenses, repairing walls and ceilings, flooring, plumbing, switching to new air conditioners, refrigerators, and since we went all-electric, installing an EcoCute, plus a lot of trash disposal and such, it would normally have cost around 7 million yen. However, by utilizing various applicable subsidies, we managed to keep it to about 4.5 million yen. The interior renovation is complete, but we are still planning to add a wooden deck, fences, and exterior painting. Including those future costs, my own cash outlay for the entire renovation will be around 10 million yen.
Noi: Wow, did it turn out as you expected?
Yoshii: Yes, it did. If there hadn't been subsidies, I would have had to compromise and lower the quality of various things. But because there were applicable subsidies, I was able to update various facilities and expand the scope of painting and other work.
Noi: I can imagine it must have been quite challenging doing it yourselves. How much time did it take?
: My wife and I, with some help from our child, spent about a year on it. Both my wife and I work remotely from home, and the house we were living in before was about 100 meters away from this house. So, after work, we would come to this house to do DIY, or paint a little during lunchtime. We also used mornings, evenings, and weekends for the work.Yoshii
It takes a long time and can be tough, and there are many monotonous periods. But during those times, listening to audio content like Audible or Voicy while working can be a good distraction, even if the work itself might feel tedious. So, over this past year, I listened to a considerable number of audiobooks and podcasts, which not only increased my DIY knowledge but also provided me with various other insights.
Noi: That's a great way to make good use of your time, amazing!
Noi: You've shared a lot about the costs and time management of self-renovation, and I'm sure there are many things you've learned. If you were to recommend it, what would be your reasons for doing so?
: Yes, there are two main points. The first, as I've mentioned several times, is the cost. Even if you install the ideal facilities you want in an empty house, you can probably keep the cost to about one-third of what a new house would cost, which is a significant appeal.Yoshii
The second is the improvement of DIY skills. As your DIY skills improve, you'll be able to modify your current room as needed in the future. My child is now 6 years old and will soon start elementary school, and I'm thinking of creating a children's room for them soon. At such times, I might consider adding another room somewhere, or I might want to create a dedicated storage space for DIY tools. Also, I've recently started camping, and I'm thinking of building a small shed or something to store outdoor gear and tents. The advantage is that you can implement such changes without spending a lot of money.
Noi: Creating a children's room or freely changing your home according to your own will sounds like a lot of fun.
Yoshii: That's right. You can do various things according to your life stage, so in that respect, you gain various skills, and I think it's highly recommended.
Noi: Thank you very much. This time, Mr. Yoshii shared his experiences as a renovation veteran. Personally, I was very surprised at how much the costs could be reduced. In the next video, we will continue to talk with Mr. Yoshii about renovation know-how. Thank you, Mr. Yoshii, for today.
Yoshii: Thank you.
First published: Akiya Lab (2024 - now integrated into this site)
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