Gaijin Apartment Helper Review

So you're in Japan and looking for a new home or maybe you have plans of moving here soon. You've probably scoured the web in search of an apartment and came across dozens of websites claiming to have no fees, low prices, move in specials etc. only to be disappointed upon discovering all of the hidden fees. Unfortunately for me I didn't have any of the advice or guidance that I am about to give you.

I've been living in Japan for almost 2 years. I lived in a share house in Tokyo for about 1 year and 2 months. I then decided to move to Kansai to be closer to my boyfriend who would be graduating and moving to another country for a 1 year business trip. I was broke unemployed and just finished being educated (I'm currently working on another degree). I came across countless ads thanks to Google and Facebook (creepily spying on my conversations and saving my web searches) that seemed too good to be true and ultimately ended up being so.
I was running out of time to find my own place which became even more complicated as I was pretty much lacking everything that I needed to move into a Japanese apartment despite the fact that I had been in Japan for nearly 2 years. I became so desperate that I resorted to Craigslist which is notorious for scams and spam. I actually came across 2 good housing companies but today we will focus on Gaijin Apartment Helper.


If you ever look at the housing section especially in Kansai it's pretty much spammed with their posts which honestly made me not trust them initially. I contacted them and soon after received a reply from Derek who jointly owns the business with his wife or as they prefer to say "partner". As expected I had to play a good old game of bait and switch with them as pretty much every place that I initially expressed interest in both from their ads on Craigslist AND even on their own website they claimed that the places were no longer available yet they didn't remove the listing from either location.... interesting. I am sure this is in the hopes or luring and attracting people to their business and attempting to persuade you into renting another and possibly more expensive property. However4 they still had plenty of places on their site within a similar price range.

The Basics

Who is it?

Gaijin Apartment Helper is owned and operated by a married couple Derek and Akiko. They also have an assistant whom I did not personally meet. They have been running this business for years to help foreigners find a home that's affordable with ease.
The company has a physical address and phone number. They're real people. Don't worry it's not a scam!

What Makes Them Special?

They offer bilingual housing assistance with both a native Japanese woman and a native Japanese man whom are a married couple. They offer affordable housing options for anyone who holds a valid  residence card and visa. There are no outrageous or hidden fees. They are very personable and easy to work with.

They won't reject you if you don't have it all together and figured out. They will work with you to help you get what you need. They can recommend apartments for you (within reason of course) if you don't know what you're looking for exactly.

How Does It Work?

You can view the apartments alone or with Derek and Akiko. All they need is a picture of your residence card (front and back) which can be submitted via email.
You can pay in cash and will receive a receipt that has been printed signed and dated. Upon signing your contract a licensed realtor will discuss all of the legal aspects of the paperwork over Skype. Akiko will translate it into English for you and will point to the lines that the realtor is explaining (very helpful and nice). You'll get your keys in a nice envelope by mail which can be sent to your hotel, current address or to a Japan Post office thats near you.

The Pros

This is by far the most personable housing or real estate agency that I have dealt with. They were very personable and friendly. They practically held my hand through the steps and they ultimately saved me a lot of time and money. I would have been in huge trouble if I didn't find this agency and give them a try.

1.) The Pricing

All of the apartments on their website are VERY affordable. Most of the houses are between $300-$600 a month and many of them include a few if not all of your utilities such as water and gas and some even come with free Wifi!
I still have no idea how exactly are they being paid or making any profit from this but apparently they are.  I moved in for less than $1,000 and that's crazy good. 

2.) Quick Move In

While this is on par with pretty much every agency I was able to apply and move into my new apartment in just shy of about 2 weeks. On average this can be done in about 7-14 days with most companies so it's nothing special, but since the initial move in costs are so low you'd think this would be the catch if not something else but thankful it's not! You can move in pretty fast for such a low upfront cost.

3.) The Ease in Passing The Guarantor Screening

They didn't ask many questions. They simply asked if I had a job and confirmed my emergency contact's information. They never called my job or my boyfriend (my emergency contact). Then we said our goodbye's and the next day I passed. I had a complicated situation as I had a student visa which is usually a red flag for companies. A lot of places don't rent to students especially nit foreign students as theirs a fear that you won't pay your rent or go back to your home country.
Gaijin Apartment Helper claimed to have explained my situation about who I was in the process of changing my residence status. Regardless of what happened it worked and I passed with ease! I have previous experience with more complicated screenings and I must say that this was hands down the fastest and easiest.

4.) The Friendliness 

The couple is very "real". I felt more like I was hanging out with my friends than I felt like I was with a housing agent. They were very kind and personable. We watched YouTube videos together talked about international and interracial marriage between Japanese and Americans etc..
They voluntarily gave me a ride to city hall and even offered to take me to get my bank account set up and my signature stamp! There's no other agency that would do this for you anywhere! I didn't pay them a dime more.

5.)  There's No Catch

There's absolutely no catch! You pay exactly what the website says. There are really ZERO hidden fees. No key money or guarantor fee. I moved into my current apartment for less than $1,000 (all fees included). I believe I only paid about $500! There is NO other agency in the entire country that can say this. Even if a website claims that there are no hidden fees it's a lie. As soon as you go their office and view the place you'll be shown a list of other fees such as fire insurance and an agency fee which is on par with paying a deposit and key money.

Before we get into the cons please keep in mind that this is for the sake of balancing this post with an honest perspective showing both sides. I would highly recommend this company to anyone who is new to Japan, doesn't have a Japanese partner, doesn't have Japanese friends who can help, or that lacks the needed Japanese skills or cultural knowledge to comfortably find a permanent home in Japan.

The Cons

Despite the lies and the screw-overs I honestly enjoyed working with these two. For the most part they were a fairly honest couple. They were very nice to me (especially his wife). However there was still room for improvement in regards to professionalism and honesty. I would still recommend this company and I would use them again if I could do it all over. They helped me a lot more than they hurt me. They did much more than most place are willing to.

1.) Unprofessional

After successfully persuading me to make a payment to secure my spot for this apartment I made an over one hour trip to Umeda Station with my dying phone and had used up my spare battery pack (my fault and problem of course). He was late meeting me at the Mc Donald's at there. That was okay I guess even although when I say late I mean he was over an hour late but I didn't have the time or money to waste leaving angrily just to come back again.
He claimed he was waiting on his wife to get me a receipt even although I was desperate and stupid enough to be okay with not having one as I said before (he told me he'd figure something out presumably make a makeshift receipt for me). Anyway once he arrived at the small packed Mc Donald's he was VERY loud and embarrassing.
Everyone in the small seating area could hear him and some even turned to look. It was obvious that we were discussing rent. He was also dressed very Unprofessionally. He had on a t-shirt and cargo shorts. Not really the kind of person you'd trust handing hundreds of dollars to! I believed I paid about $200-$300 USD to secure the place.

At the city hall office his wife was also loud and embarrassing and kept referring to her company's name "Gaijin Apartment Helper" which wasn't very discreet in the name itself. Even if you don't think you get embarrassed early which I can admit that I do, this is Japan and you are a foreigner. Japanese people already have all of these ideas that you can't understand anything because you aren't Japanese. I would think that it's common sense to speak quietly when discussing someone's personal business especially in regards to person things. My monthly rent, fees, down payments etc. were loudly being mentioned everywhere we went and I didn't appreciate this. I don't believe that it was intentional though. Personally I think being on the phone with other clients and even her husband/partner was a tad bit unprofessional too. I have et with multiple housing agents in Japan and I have never seen someone use their phone in front of me unless it was to arrange a ride for us and good manners were used to excuse themselves for doing so.
I'm human and I understand life happens (she needed to handle family business so I understood). but most people would find this unacceptable and rude.

2.) The Lack of Knowledge

I understand that like most agencies they have countless units available for rent so it's impossible to know everything or to even remember all of the details for each unit. However I think if you're trying to make a sale you should attempt to visit the place before hand or at least refresh your memory.
The pictures are similar to the unit that I viewed but not the same. They weren't sure about how the building should look and simply told me to check Google to ensure that I wasn't at the wrong home as I was viewing the apartment alone.
They thought that there was a lock for which they'd give me the password to open the door. The door was never locked with a keypad AND even when I moved in after they had cleaned it and I had walked 10 miles with 4 heavy travel bags and pneumonia they had never even manually locked the door( but this last part isn't Gaijin Apartment Helper's fault since they don't own this place)!
They did warn me about how small the place was going to be so I appreciate their honesty but I felt as though they should have been more aware of what I needed to finalize my move in and be more familiar with the home I was going to be renting as other agencies I have spoken and met with have been.

3.) The Lies

I insisted that I keep or at least get 2 jyuniho's (a certificate from city hall proving were you previously resided at) as I was both told and had read online that this was needed to update my residence card which was also needed to set up a bank account and health insurance.
She angrily (fast speaking raised her tone never yelled at me of course) insisted that I didn't need it and that only the landlord/housing agency needs this. She insisted that there wasn't time because they were closing soon. She convinced me that if I did need another copy I could easily obtain it myself.

She assured me that without a doubt it wasn't needed and just as she was wrong about me needing an updated address on my residence card she was also wrong about this but I wasn't surprised just angry because I knew I was right. Of course they didn't apologize either!

I have mixed feelings towards this situation as this was an example of them going above and beyond what was expected in regards to customer service. She went out of her way to pick me up and take me to immigration using her own family car and even did all of the paperwork for me once we arrived.
They offered to and tried to help me set up a bank account and even volunteered to take me to get my personal stamp (my boyfriend was able to help me with that though).
However she also complicated my work once she was gone and had received her pocket money from me or the licensed agency that they go through (Gaijin Apartment Helper is a middle man company and not licensed).

I don't expect for them to be god's or wizards who know everything about everything BUT I absolutely hate it when people tell you incorrect information with confidence. If you don't know just ask or simply say "I don't know" or "I am not sure". They clearly were being lazy and wanted to take the easy way out of this. This costed me time and more money and it made me VERY pissed off. She somehow worked some kind of magic when she went to the office. The pulled up my jyuniho electronically within just about 30 minutes before closing time!

Once I had moved and was ready to update my residence card my boyfriend who is Japanese came with me and was told that I needed to write a letter (fill out this simple application) and mail it to Shibuya's ward office and request it manually. This took almost a week and he was unavailable to go to the office with me the second time around(he was moving, graduating, and going on a business trip) so I had to put my big girl pants on and do all of the hard work myself.
I was extremely angry at them to say the least.

My keys arrived later than expected by mail at the post office. When I arrived I had a ratchet cashier at the post office who almost got cursed out as I had pneumonia and couldn't breathe and had been homeless all day as I had to check out of the hostel I stayed at. It was very cold and I had about 4 bags to carry which made it even harder for me to breathe and walk. I went to the wrong post office initially in the opposite direction and it was cold. I walked about 10 miles with mycoplasma pneumonia!
I called them and complained that the woman was saying something that I couldn't understand and refused to give me my package that had my new house key. They insisted that my package hadn't arrived yet and that this was why. I argued with the real estate people that my Japanese boyfriend called them over an hour ago and asked about my package and they told him it had arrived which is why I left from the mall I had been staying at. Otherwise I wouldn't have been walking around looking for the post office.

Again the real estate people insisted that Japan Post said they'd notify them by phone once it arrived at the post office because they asked to be notified by phone upon its arrival.

I didn't care about them being wrong all I wanted was for them to figure out why I couldn't get my package (I will make a video about this later). 

I tried using Google Translate to communicate. I showed the cashier my residence card and passport as I wasn't sure if the envelope wasn't being given to me because my ID had a Shibuya, Tokyo address and the package was addressed to my boyfriend's Kyoto Address. I tried everything that I could and she was clearly enjoying embarrassing me in front of everyone.
Between being really sick (the sickest I've ever been) and having my apartment keys held hostage (I could literally see my package in her hands in the back and could even see my name on it but she wouldn't hand it to me!

Long story short I was eventually given my package and the lady had the nerve to hand me a brochure about Japanese classes and life in Kyoto .I looked at her in disgust. I didn't thank her. I left all of the 5 plus useless pamphlets on the counter and I sadly left out as a stereotypical "angry black woman". I never yelled or cursed at her as much as I wanted to because my mother raised me better than that but boy was it hard. Now I almost laugh looking back on this but it was by far the worst customer service experience I have had here in Japan.

4.) Strictly Business

Despite the fact that I helped them by getting tracking on my envelopes so that they could run back and tell the licensed company that does all of the legal and good stuff, they were;t willing to provide any further assistance to me after I moved in despite their claims that they could or would.
I misunderstood the 2 months free rent policy which this is questionably not really 2 months free rent.
I missed a payment so they didn't hesitate to contact me to let me know that they were told I hadn't paid my rent BUT when I asked for the exact date in which rent is due they basically told me to figure it out and find it somewhere i the 50 papers I signed. Understandable. It is my apartment and my responsibility BUT I didn't have to get tracking or tell you the tracking numbers for my paperwork. I also didn't have to go through this agency and help them put food on the table or gas in their car by giving them my money as a customer. It was a simple question and the made no attempt to help answer it.
I found this to be rude.

5.) Bait & Switch Memory Loss

In my initial email I specifically asked it they had apartments available in Kyoto. I was told that they didn't have much to offer but that they did have a small selection. I was asked to arrange a phone call. I did. Over the phone they asked what station I'd like to be near and they told me that they had nothing at that station but they told me that they could easily find me an apartment in Kyoto since I said anywhere in Kyoto even the countryside would be fine.
Upon contacting them again they acted as though they had no idea what I was talking about and instead that they only had places available in Osaka and Tokyo. There website doesn't list any Kyoto apartment which is why I asked in the first place as I know not everything available is necessarily listed on their website as their site even says.
Since I was desperate and the pricing was low I went ahead and decide to pursue an Osaka apartment as long as I could easily commute back to Kyoto. I have no regrets.

5.) It's Not REALLY 2 Months Free

Despite the fact that it says all of their apartments are 2 months free it's a lie. You pay for the first months rent plus a small fee of about $200-$300. Basically unlike most Japanese apartments you don't pay the previous month's rent ad there's no key money or deposit to be made. So you are basically just paying a few hundred more than the cost of the first months rent. It's still a great deal! Even in America I can't think if anywhere even in the poorest most dangerous neighborhoods where I could move in for anything less than $1,000. However it's still false advertising but every company in Japan does that. You'll pay rent at the end of the first month just as you would anywhere else. If you think about it you still ultimately saved a ton of money as most places cost about $3,000-$6,000 to move into (if it's a nice apartment on par with an American home).

Overall 

The good thing is that they told me the truth about me being able to move in and that I wasn't scammed. They are good and nice people.I got my keys and made the 2 hour trip to Osaka, Japan.I am now living in my very own and first mini Japanese apartment. My rent is cheap there's no gas. The water bill is included in the rent and my electric bill is only $4-$5 a month and $15 if I use the A/C. The apartment isn't nice but I knew this before I moved in. It's a place to live and it gives me privacy and a personal and permanent address here in Japan. I can easily commute to Kyoto, Kobe, and anywhere within Osaka from here. I live fairly close to Umeda Station. I have a nice mall, 3 pharmacies, two hospitals, Mc Donald's, Osaka Subway, Coco's Curry, TSUTAYA, Mister Donut and countless hair salons, convenience stores, grocery stores and bars all less than 10-15 minutes walking distance.I am in a more convenient location here than I ever was in comparison to Nerima and Shibuya.

If you are looking for a new home in Tokyo or Osaka I would highly recommend this company! I wish I had known about them back when I was in Tokyo. I honestly probably wouldn't have moved here in the first place!
Thank you so much for reading my review!
So have you used this agency? What were you experiences? Please share in the comments below.

Stay Tuned!

Please Subscribe to my Blog and Follow Me on my other social media pages.

YouTube: 
https://www.youtube.com/user/CoMicninetyfive/videos

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comic95/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoMic95/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Comic95?lang=en

DeviantArt: comic95.deviantart.com

Email: comic95thesavior@gmail.com