Parking
Today I leased a parking spot for the office. I had gone a year or so without one, instead using one of the two nearby coin parking lots. But this time of year, when people come in droves to see the changing leaves of Mt. Takao, made me finally break down and get one. The going rate for a monthly parking spot near Takao Station is 10,000 yen. Using coin parking was costing anywhere between 2,000 and 5,000 yen a month. However, those moments when I wanted to go buy and transport something to the office like a kerosene stove, but could not get a spot in the coin parking lots, proved very frustrating. My local employee had also resorted to visiting the office late at night to pick up mail and documents, etc. (Mind you, he is a night owl so those are not necessarily hardship hours for him—we mostly work when we want at this company.) So now we are all set.
The real estate company managing the parking spot where I leased the space happened to be one I first visited as a political aide in 2005, so that obviated the usual vetting and trouble that often occur even for something as minor as a parking spot. The same principles apply as with rental housing, in the sense that once a person is leasing the spot/place, it is very troublesome to get them out if they are undesirable, so sometimes management companies will be choosy about whom they allow to lease. The company is also in the same association of real estate brokerages as ours, so they kindly “split” the brokerage fee of one month’s rent with us, by discounting it to half. Very kind of them.
While there I asked if they have any properties on the north side of Takao Station, especially along Koshu Kaido, that they are trying to sell. He alluded that there was one, but wouldn’t elaborate except to say that the owner is somehow being difficult, so I did not press, assuming he didn’t want to disclose details just yet. In lieu of pressing, I explained that my goal is to Kamakurafy™️ the area between Takao and Takaosanguchi stations. Hopefully he brings a property my way where an interesting business can locate.
Another thing he told me was that he and two other realtors I know of have been “working together on some things.” One of the other two realtors is the fellow who sold us the property on which my house stands. He shepherded us through getting the builder to build the house how we wanted it, and more importantly went to bat for me with the bank for a home loan. That realtor called me later today, clearly having talked to the one who leased the parking spot. I need to hang out with this soon-to-be-four-realtor cabal. Oh, the third realtor is one I have wanted to meet. Happily it sounds like the cabal is open to my joining it.