“I decided to make friends with ghosts”: In Japan, haunted houses have become an obsession of bargain hunters

Ryua lives in a small apartment in the Setagaya neighborhood of Tokyo, for which he pays 62,000 yen in rent, about 350 euros. This is the market price. He actually pays 45,000 yen, 30% less. Something similar happens to Diane Tincher, an American guide who has lived in Japan for decades. Normally, his Kagoshima house would cost 45 million yen, but he bought it for less than half that price.

If Ryua or Diane paid so little for their house, it’s not because of a miscalculation or real estate generosity. Their houses are undervalued because they are considered Zico BookenProperties associated with haunted properties or tragedies.

“I decided to make friends with ghosts.”. From the phrase Ryua, a young woman aidoru who recently explained to the BBC how he was able to live in an elegant neighborhood in Tokyo for less than the actual market value. When he visited the 25 m2 studio four years ago, they explained to him that it had a tragic story: a man had committed suicide inside.

Ryuya himself claimed that the first time he stepped into the apartment he saw “a ghost”, a man who stared at him and only saw him. Even today, he says, he experiences miraculous activity. True or not, what is undeniable is that the young woman’s home history came in handy. He saves 17,000 yen each time he rents. “I decided to make friends with ghosts.”

Luke Paris (Unsplash).

“They are very superstitious.”. Diane Tincher is much older than Ryua (she is 79), born in the United States and lives in a rural area of ​​Kagoshima, on the other side of Japan. However, it took advantage of the Japanese public’s reluctance to settle at home with dramatic stories. While looking for a house, he found a three-bedroom villa for sale at a ridiculous price: 20 million yen, less than half of its appraised value. He visited her. And he bought it.

The real estate agent who showed it to him was honest with him: he explained that it was a bargain because, some time ago, an elderly woman had died alone on the property and it had stigmatized him. “I don’t believe in ghosts. But I know that the Japanese are very superstitious,” Tincher explains: “If there is a ghost, I thank him every day for living in such a nice and affordable house.”

Are they fictional cases? no In Japan they have a word for houses like Ryua and Tincher. is Zico Booken“Blemished properties”, homes marked by sad and traumatic episodes, such as a crime, a suicide or even a lonely death, are increasingly common.

“Due to the image of misfortune and emotional events that such properties conjure up, those looking for homes tend to reject them, and it is generally difficult for them to find residents. This is a major disadvantage for the real estate industry,” explains specialty website Nippon.com.

Complicating the market. “Even an apartment next to a cemetery will be difficult to rent, especially if you can see the graves from the kitchen. The worst thing is if there is a suicide. Even if someone jumps from the roof, many tenants will leave. Other problems are a serious crime or a lonely death,” confirmed Eric Oskamp, ​​an agent in Tokyo.

While selling or renting such properties can be a challenge in other parts of the world, Osakamp is convinced that the Japanese are particularly reluctant to settle down, buy or rent. Zico Booken.

If anyone knows? That Ryua and Tincher are aware of their house’s disturbing past is not a coincidence, and it does not depend solely on the transparency of real estate companies. As the BBC reminds us, agents often have to communicate whether the property they are showing has been the scene of a suicide, murder or arson. Also if someone dies inside and it takes time to find their body, an increasingly common tragedy in the country.

If the house is rented, that information should be available for at least three years. The rule applies indefinitely to properties for sale.

A sad Google map. You don’t have to scratch too hard to find information about Zico Booken. For years there has been a website called Oshimaland, a map of ‘tainted properties’, scenes of grim events that might be of interest to potential buyers or tenants.

Especially if, like Ryua, they don’t mind living in a supposed ‘haunted house’ in exchange for a 30% reduction in their rent. Oshimaland offers information from various countries, but mostly covers the Japanese area.

Ghosts or skyrocketing prices? Japanese society is perhaps more sensitive Zico BookenBut it is also due to fluctuations in the economy. And it is noticeable in a scene marked by rising housing prices.

A year ago Kazutoshi Kodama admitted to the Reuters agency that rising prices per m2 were making more people consider living in ‘tainted’ properties. “Earlier, it was almost impossible to find a tenant. But with the rise in real estate prices, people are starting to consider distressed properties as an option,” he says. There are studies that show that about 54% will live on Zico Booken If rent compensates it.

Real Estate ‘Ghostbusters’. He knows what he is talking about. A few years ago, Kodama founded a company in Shinjuku, Tokyo, that offers a strange service: what he calls paranormal investigations for real estate agencies and owners, which analyzes reveal to terrified clients that a house is haunted. It doesn’t come cheap. According to Asahi Shimbun88,000 yen charge per session.

“They can reassess their property when they tell tenants there shouldn’t be a problem because there’s nothing to worry about,” explains Kodama. “When someone posts on the Internet that a house has a body, that information remains and is difficult to erase.” In the most egregious cases (involving crime) that can reduce the sale price by up to 80%.

Picture | Patricia Haller-Anguella (Unsplash) and Luke Paris (Unsplash)

Through this BBC

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