Akiya Banks is Seeking Japanese Realtors for Professional Partnerships:
Who We Are:
Akiya Banks is the first website to provide a centralized database of all of Japan's individual municipal akiya banks. Our goal was to provide a resource that didn't exist yet, and to make it a bilingual, streamlined, accessible, and user-friendly platform for both native Japanese users and foreign users. We were successful in doing so, and we remain the only global platform that provides this database. Access to this information is free and forever will be. We conduct regular audits to ensure our pages and sources are accurate and up-to-date, and this directory continues to be the element that sets us apart from the multitude of other akiya websites that have sprung up in the years since we launched in 2021. As our growth inside and outside of Japan increases, we expanding into other areas related to akiya properties. We launched our Akiya Banks Property Portal in 2023, and are now branching out into providing resources and tools to help potential buyers identify properties and navigate the purchasing process.
How We Are Different:
Many of the competing websites focused on akiya properties have opted to utilize AI and automated crawling and webscraping software to repurpose listings already found on traditional Japanese real estate websites and pass them off as their own. In many cases they are not referring to or pulling properties from municipal akiya banks to begin with, meaning the homes they are listing are just regular houses. These are often new constructions, or modernized units commensurately worth the existing market value of any standard home for sale in Japan. Akiya Banks does not involve itself with traditional Japanese real estate. The majority of these recycled listings using crawled data already have designated realtors attached, so there is no need for us to get involved because that's not what we do. Akiya Banks only focuses on properties that meet the rigid criteria to be considered an "akiya." We will always emphasize a human-forward approach and do not and will never utilize web crawling or scraping tools, nor will we ever claim or offer to be directly involved in the actual buying process beyond serving as an initial intermediary party.
What We Want to Do:
Only homes that are truly abandoned, vacant, or lack clear ownership and provenance that can be found within municipal akiya banks are applicable to our platform. Due to this foundational principle, in order for potential buyers to feasibly purchase these properties, direct involvement and a deep level of one-on-one engagement with the municipal clerks in charge of their local municipal akiya banks is strictly required. In almost all cases, a successful acquisition of legitimate akiya properties concludes only after rounds of signing reams of paperwork in-person and with a handoff of the physical keys. This can not feasibly be done without a high proficiency or native-level fluency in the Japanese language.
As such, we are seeking bilingual, Japan-based realtors and agencies to assist serious buyers in navigating this process correctly and thoroughly. We are attempting to build a network of trusted individuals to personally facilitate with this process, from initial contact and inquiry all the way through to the finalized purchase.
More broadly, the Shiroi Tebukuro program aims to be an all-in-one, comprehensive service that begins with identifying available properties based on a potential buyer's stated preferences and ends with determining and securing long-term maintenance and upkeep needs of a newly purchased home and continuously remaining compliant with the bureaucratic elements such as utilities and tax burdens.
We have been laying the groundwork to provide this service for years and are in the final stages before we can go live.
What Realtor Partners Will Do:
Selected partners can expect to receive referrals directly from Akiya Banks of motivated potential buyers looking to purchase select akiya properties. These partners will then provide the following services:
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Initiate contact with the municipal clerks in charge of the specified properties
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Act as local intermediaries between clients and municipal officials by working directly with both parties through to successful property acquisition
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Arrange property viewings
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Help clients navigate Japanese purchase paperwork
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Keep clients informed of and compliant with Japanese real estate and tax rules and regulations
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Refer the buyer back to Akiya Banks after the sale for post-purchase support services
Those who choose to work with us will be listed as trusted partners on AkiyaBanks.com as participants in the Shiroi Tebukuro initiative.
Our compensation structure can be discussed internally after initial inquiry.
Why You Should Work With Us:
The term "akiya" is beginning to lose its true meaning, and the "akiya industry" is evolving into an oversaturated bubble inundated with a growing number of copycat websites that often operate with questionable intent and could be considered to be misleading at best or predatory at worst. We want to always build on our trusted reputation as a vanguard combatting such business practices by continuing to be a deeply involved party acting as part of the solution to a unique and worsening housing crisis. Akiya Banks was founded with that mission in mind above all else and refuses to be an exploitative force looking to generate profit at the expense of real people and communities. Our purpose is to educate, to assist, and to do our part to put good people in difficult houses in respectful, mutually beneficial ways that benefit communities and preserves historic and neglected buildings that would otherwise fall into further disrepair or remain uninhabited.
If you wish to join us in these efforts, please reach out and we will be in touch.
- R, Founder