A second opinion on the numbers, from someone with no stake in the closing.
Flat-fee independent English underwriting memos on Japanese residential property — built from Japan's public transaction record, delivered in five days. No commissions, no referral fees, ever.
If you're buying Japanese property from overseas, every number you've been shown — the price, the projected rent, the yield on the listing sheet — comes from someone who gets paid when you close. The listing agent's pro-forma is a sales document. English portals list properties; they don't underwrite them. And the public data that could check those numbers is in Japanese, scattered across government databases most buyers never see.
I check the numbers. That's the whole service.
What you get
You send a listing. I return a structured underwriting memo on that specific property:
Price check — where the asking price sits in the actual recorded transaction history for that district and property class (MLIT reinfolib database), stated factually against the distribution.
Achievable rent, quoted as a range — from current comparable listings matched on ward, layout, size, and building age. A range on principle: I blind-tested this comp method on 450 listings, and while typical error is small, tail cases can't be identified in advance — a single point estimate would be overselling precision. You'll see the method and its measured error, not just a number.
Real net yield — the full drag stack the pro-forma skips: management and repair-reserve fees, property management, vacancy, property taxes, insurance, and all-in acquisition costs — computed at both ends of the rent range, with a line-by-line variance against the seller's numbers.
Red flags — seismic-standard vintage, repair-reserve health vs. planned major works, land rights, hazard maps, tenancy contract terms, short-term-rental restrictions, financing walls for non-resident buyers — each with severity and the exact question that resolves it.
Questions for the agent — a ranked list you can send as-is.
Every input is auditable. Each memo's appendix lists the data sources, pull dates, and comp-selection rules, and every memo is timestamped when delivered. You — or anyone you hire — can reproduce the work from public data. That's the point.
Sample memo
A complete memo on a real listing (address redacted), exactly as a client would receive it — method appendix included.
Full underwrite: price check, rent range, net-yield math, red flags, agent questions. 5-day turnaround.
Deep
¥60,000 / memo
≈ US$400
Standard plus registry pull and analysis, tenancy/contract review, and extended comp work for thin markets.
Keep / Sell / Rent
¥60,000 / memo
≈ US$400
For owners abroad — inherited or long-held property. What it would rent for, what it nets, what the district record says it's worth.
Flat fee, paid up front, five days from payment to delivery. If your property's segment falls outside where my comp method is calibrated, I'll say so before you pay — or decline the engagement.
What this is not
Not a brokerage, and not intermediation — no introductions, no negotiation, no contact with sellers or agents, no involvement in any transaction (宅地建物取引業にあたる行為は一切行いません).
Not an appraisal (不動産鑑定評価) — no licensed valuation opinion is expressed.
Not investment, legal, or tax advice — and no buy/don't-buy recommendation. The memo checks the numbers; the decision is yours.
Never commission-paid. Flat fees only, from buyers only. No referral arrangements with agents, sellers, or anyone else.
Get a memo
Email contact@underwritejapan.com with (1) the listing link, (2) what you need the numbers to do — target net yield, needs-to-pencil, or keep-vs-sell — and (3) tenancy status if you know it. I'll confirm fit and calibration coverage before any payment.