Apartments in Tokyo

[neta]

I am currently living in a company run dorm in Nerima-ku where after all utilities and expences I am paying about 50,000 yen a month (and it's a shared room). I would like very much to move into some sort of apartment. I have seen (in the streets and online) ads for apartments for less than 500 bucks a month. I know about key and move-in fees and long contracts. But my question is this, How much will utilities run me if I get an apartment? and are there other hidden fees? If I get a room for 40000 yen a month rent will I end up paying much more?

[Invictus]

Your mileage may very, but out here in backwater Gifu, I've paid as much as 18,000 a month for utilities (water/electricity), and never below about 10,000. I don't imagine Tokyo is gonna be much cheaper...

[erbiumfiber]

This summer I only paid about 5000 yen per month for electic, and about 1500 yen for gas and I think about the same for water. And I kept the aircon on (1 room only) when I was home and all night. If you take short showers I think you can get by for well under 10,000 yen per month.

Or if you're worried about utilities, you could try a gaijin house- some of them are quite nice. There are a lot of lower-end listings on gaijinpot.com- check it out if you haven't already- they have a lot of pictures. There were a lot of places out in Ogikubo, Suginami-ku. It's a nice area both on JR and Maranouchi lines.

Good luck!

[Pierrot le Fou]

I lived in a one-room palace myself. Electricity in the middle of summer, cranking the aircon whenever I was home, cost about 5,000 yen. Gas was never over 1,500 for me and I take long showers. Water was thankfully included (the water in my town is obscenely expensive). If you are careful about it, you'll definitely pay less than 10,000/month for utilities. Don't listen to the Gifu person -- they probably live in a house. You'll have a one-room palace which is easy to heat and cool.

[Invictus]

Actually, I live in a 1K apartment. :p I think I'm being taken for a ride, though, since my monthly water bill is 8,000 and last month's electricity bill (a fair amount of air conditioning and a fridge, but not much else) was over 10,000.

[erbiumfiber]

Maybe you need to take a look at how old those appliances are. You could buy a small fridge (that's what I use) and leave the big electricity hog unplugged. Aircon is more difficult (and expensive) to replace. I have brand new aircons and they are super efficient, hence the low bills.

[megaversal]

Until I moved back to the US this month, I was enjoying a stay at a http://www.sakura-house.com/ apartment. Utilities are paid, no key money, and it seemed like the rent wasn't too terrible. Depending on where you live, your mileage may vary and whether you get a dorm/guest house/apartment (I had a regular apartment). This was also a monthly contract, move out whenever you want... there's a 30,000 yen deposit with 10,000 taken out for "wear and tear" and you get the rest of the money back when you leave (assuming nothing bad has happened to your room... I got docked 2,000 for not having a place to toss my trash [long story involving too much trash and missing trash day one too many times... ;)]).

Before that, I lived in a dorm and the one big difference was paying for laundry. The dorm had a free washer, but it's unlikely you'll get that in an apartment. Some of the Sakura House guest houses also charge for showers, definitely get details on the specific building.

Sakura House seems to be on the expensive side, but the bonuses of month-to-month and a VERY English-speaking staff are nice.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Leo Palace (do a google search) is similar to sakura-house. Potentially cheaper. Furnished, free utilities, etc.

[neta]

Yeah, Ive looke at those and they are not really better than what I have now (as where I am now I get fed breakfast and dinner 6 days a week). Really I guess I just wish I had unlimited sums of money at my disposal and I didn't have to commute for over an hour everytime I go to classes.

[megaversal]

The only thing I'm not cool with is the shared rooms. I need to go home to my own space and both my dorm and apartment had that (incidentally, the dorm company was Kyoritsu (多分「共立」という寮) and combined with the IP phone [10y/3min to call the US], the room was a decent stay). No comments on the dorm cafeteria though ;)

[Godon]

I looked at www.gaijinpot.com and it gave me a few different appartment types in the search options. Which of those do you guys think is most usefull?