Post #809201 by SouthSeasKat on Sat, May 27, 2023 4:24 PM

Looks like I agreed to buy a house.

They asked 8M (which was about $60K), I countered with 5M (about $37K), they counter-countered with 6M (about $43K), and I accepted. That was Thursday evening, so I suspect I won't hear next steps until tomorrow (Monday).

Also, as long as you have the money outright, you can buy whatever you want as a non-citizen. If you need a loan, you need to be at least a permanent resident. And that's not a law or a policy, it's a bank thing--they see it as a risk factor. I am hoping the house purchase helps solidify my case for PR next year.

Worth noting, as a personal opinion, I am not a fan of the g-word. I'm a member of the society, so I don't consider myself to be "gai" or "outside." Also, the thing is, it is NOT a shortening of gaikokujin, which even many Japanese now mistakenly believe. It literally just means "outsider" and long before Japan opened up was used as an insult towards tax collectors or other government officials from outside the area. It's not a nice word, even though its original meaning has been obscured because of the similarity to gaikokujin (or outside country person), the legal term for non-citizen. The first time I ever heard the g-word used, it was directed at Tokyo visitors to a small rural Kyoto area town I lived in.

[ Edited by SouthSeasKat on 2023-05-27 16:29:50 ]