This American/Japanese couple bought a home in Sakai Japan

2026.06.20

Contract day of the Japanese real estate transaction

This is a very important part of the buying real estate process in Japan. I am representing him for the buyer side. I let the seller to dispose anything he knew. The property was relatively young, only 2 years old, the seller was transferred to Kyoto all of sudden so not too much to disclose. Almost new property. No worry about the neighborhood since this house is located in the best area of the Sakai city. After I explained about the property he sighed the sales contract and other documents.

A real estate contract is a written agreement between two parties to purchase real estate. The purpose of a real estate contract is to express the agreements involved in the purchase and sale, exchange, or other conveyance of real estate between a buyer and a seller. By paying the earnest money on top of the written agreement the buyer officially holds the property. While they wait for the closing day they need to talk to the title lawyer to contact the identity verification like my previous blog. They chose the fire insurance plan as well during this period. Since there is no history of the flood in this area in the past 30 years they eliminated the flood insurance to contain the cost.
The closing day is in 2 weeks.

What is the Deposit for Purchasing Real Estate

A deposit is the money paid by the buyer to the seller when signing a real estate purchase contract, such as for a condominium or single-family home.
The primary role of the deposit is to serve as proof of the sales agreement.
When the buyer pays the deposit and the seller receives it, this clearly indicates that the sale contract has been officially established.
At this moment, the seller can't sell his or her property somebody else except the buyer. The seller has to pay the penalty if he or she breaches the contract. On the other hand the buyer loses the deposit once he or she breaches the contract.Losing the earnest money is a terrible result for a buyer so you need to select the real estate agent very carefully.

I understand the market very well. I have been doing the business more than 10 years in Osaka.

Contact me for any question.
Koji Kitada
Licensed real estate agent.