I lived in a Sakura House apartment for 1.5 years. My experience was a positive one. I recommend this place as a good way to start out in Japan.
The good things about Sakura House
1)The facility was older but very well maintained.
2)The deposit was around $300 and $200 and was fully refunded when leaving. I spent the time to clean the list of things they wanted cleaned up.
3)Trash management was handled for you. You only had to put the trash out in to designated containers provided for you on the second floor. The cleaner took care putting out the right trash on the right day.
4)As long as you’ve paid your deposit of $300 and reserved the apartment online. Just go get the key when you arrive.
5)No key money, no guarantor necessary
6)Utilities and Internet are included in the rent you pay.
7)You don’t have to deal with the utility companies to set up water, gas, electricity and internet. This simplifies things greatly
8)It’s cheap to get in to Sakura House as it only costs about $300. It can potentially cost thousands of dollars to get in to a place in Japan through the regular channels. Below is an example of what you could be facing. The amounts vary from place to place
- Key Money/Bribe Money = 1 Months Rent
- Realestate Agent Fee = 1 Months Rent
- Deposit = 1 Months Rent
There were a few problems with living in a Sakura House apartment.
1) I had to go to Shinjuku to pay the rent which was a huge pain. They didn’t have some way of paying rent by credit card even though you can pay your deposit by credit card.
2) The apartment was far from the closest station and it was far from central Tokyo. Walking 15 minutes to the station every morning to get to work is a huge pain. I’m guessing most Sakura House apartments are older and far unless you have the money and are willing to put out the big bucks over $1000/month.
3) The apartment you get for the price you pay is usually smaller, older, or far. A similar apartment would be much cheaper if you spend the time to search and can get someone to lend to a foreigner and if you can get a guarantor.
Extra Information
1) Almost all Sakura House staff are pretty young in general. You’re not dealing with a typical Japanese company
2)Sakura House is a good place to start off in when you first come to Japan. Everything is taken care of for you and you can hit the ground running.
3)If you can deal with the utility companies in Japanese, if you have a guarantor, and if you have a lot of money you can probably skip Sakura House and find a place using the thousands of Fudosan or realestate agents. Most foreigners coming to Japan wouldn’t fit that criteria so Sakura House might meet your needs better.
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