Featured Image Credit: Gilles Beaufils/Base Camp Imari
Topics: World News, Money
Callum Jones
Purchasing a house on the cheap and renovating it in the hope of making a huge profit is a screwed investment opportunity for a lot of people.
However, one couple who decided to take on a similar project have issued a warning to those thinking about purchasing a run-downed home - adding that they will never do it again.
After three decades of working in Tokyo, Gilles Beaufils fancied a change of scenery.
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He subsequently met his wife in the city and they began their own business in both video production and real estate management.
Beaufils then realized that there was no obligation for them to be working from Tokyo, so they looked into the possibility of moving.
"Because of what we do, it's not like we're busy every day," Beaufils told Business Insider.
"When we have downtime, instead of staying in Tokyo, it is better to be in the middle of nature."
After agreeing to relocated, the couple decided to look for a property in the Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu.
And once that was sorted, the couple had to decide on a new home.
They quickly decided they wanted an akiya - old, abandoned houses in many rural areas of Japan.
After spending hours researching and looking into the right property for them, the couple set their sights on a traditional Japanese home in the rural village of Okawachiyama.
The home was over a century old, though Beaufils said that it had been left vacant for ten years.
"The people who used to live there died and the kids didn't want to take over," he said.
"But I enjoy doing renovation and interior decoration, and owning an akiya was the perfect chance for me to work on these kinds of things."
It took Beaufils, his wife and their 31-year-old son four months to renovate the property in winter 2019 - only leaving the likes of the electricity and plumbing to the 'professionals'.
But he said that the whole process was very physically and mentally taxing as the family worked six days a week for four months with very few breaks, as well as also having to deal with work matters occasionally.
Because of this, Beaufils is now warning others not to rush into a purchase just because the price is low.
He said: "There are a lot of disastrous places all over. Finding the right place takes a really long time, because looking at the property through photos and seeing it in reality are two different things."
The property owner then went on to say photos don't always show the extent of the deterioration of abandoned homes.
"They don't show you the moist, they don't show you the termites, they don't show you these kinds of things in the photos," he added.
"There are a lot of opportunities to live in the beautiful countryside with a nice cheap house.
"But you have to be careful also because sometimes, at the end of the day, it's not so cheap anymore."