Paul Quirk & Yuuki Hasegawa

Paul and Yuuki are a husband-and-wife team supporting both domestic and international clients buying and selling property in Japan.

Paul, originally from Australia, is one of only a handful of Westerners working as a licensed real estate agent in Japan. He has lived and worked in the country for over 25 years, including more than a decade as a professional translator.

Yuuki was born and grew up in Yamanashi before moving to Tokyo for higher education and work, where she met Paul. Fluent in both English and Japanese, she draws on her experience of living and buying property in both Australia and Japan when working with international clients and is the key contact for all Japan-side communication.

From Paul & Yuuki:

“We specialize in buying and selling property – especially in Greater Tokyo. If we were to summarize the three most important things when you are looking to purchase property in Tokyo, we would rank them as:

1. Understand your budget: Many times we have introduced people to great homes that they have loved and wanted, only for them to realize that they do not have the budget to buy the property. Do not assume that you can borrow X amount just because ChatGPT gave you that figure. Get in touch with your bank or talk with us and we will help you where we can. Whether you are buying in cash or getting a loan – understand additional costs so that you can be sure of having enough money in hand to secure your property.
2. Get familiar with the locations where you are searching. Where is the nearest station – are there places to eat, where is the hospital/school, how far to the supermarket? Would I feel comfortable living in this neighborhood? I think this is the most fun thing about buying a property – ask yourself, am I excited about living in this neighborhood – and if you can’t say yes, then maybe you need to keep looking!!
3. Understand your costs and benefits going forward. All properties require upkeep, especially apartments, which require a monthly payment for management fees and the repair reserve fund. It is important to understand those costs, but it is also important to understand what the benefits of land ownership are in the location that you are buying. Some apartments come with larger portions of land ownership than others – and as you might already know – it is the land value that continues to rise in most areas of Tokyo. It is important to consider both aspects!

And then – although this may sound self-serving – I strongly recommend that you get in contact with someone you trust to help you navigate through the mountains of rules and paperwork – so that you can just concentrate on the big picture – do we really want this, and can we afford it?

Get in touch, we would be happy to organize a video chat so we can hear about what you are looking to do.”