(Disclaimer: For information and entertainment purposes only. Not intended to be personalized advice of any sort. Please consult a qualified professional. Some links may provide affiliate commissions to the author.)
You may be missing out on the opportunity to create the next Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Uber, or DoorDash in countries where these services are not available. The key is to find something that is missing in an international destination that you can normally get in your home country, then work on developing and providing a local version for said international destination.
Now it may never actually be the next Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Uber, DoorDash, etc., but you can potentially come close. Imagine this: If Amazon, et al, do decide to enter that particular market, you will have an opportunity to sell your company to them or a competitor for a potentially big payout. Then, you can take that money and put it into other things.
The bar can be even lower than that, depending on where in the world you go. You may not even need to find the next big thing. Instead, just find a good business with growth/expansion potential, and make that growth and expansion a reality. The product or service provided may not be “sexy,” but if it makes a good profit, who cares?
One example is Real Estate Brokerages, which are very hit-and-miss around the world. There is a golden opportunity to provide world-class service in this area, according to Andrew Henderson, the Nomad Capitalist:
I have mentioned this before, but in Japan, there are incredible bargains there on new and pre-existing real estate, and many small businesses are up for sale as bargain prices because they have no successors to take over. A smart and savvy investor or group of investors could reverse the process, and do in Japan what Japan was doing in the rest of the world in the 80s and 90s by vacuuming up as many businesses as they can. Staff them with enough Western foreigners for labor and management, and you would not only begin to solve Japan’s population problem, but it might even become a sizeable and influential political/voting bloc (once they obtain citizenship, of course).
One of the largest M&A platforms in Japan for buying and selling businesses is Tranbi. Note that it will require the use of something like Google Translate, if you cannot read Japanese.
While there are some brokers who specialize in foreign clientele (like Blackship Realty, Toshihiko Yamamoto, and Plaza Homes), communicating with sellers of businesses and real estate in Japan can be very difficult. Despite English being the most frequently taught second language, the Japanese generally do not communicate in English, and their lack of confidence in speaking or writing in English means they are very reluctant to communicate with foreigners. You will need some type of intermediary to act as your representative, someone who knows the language, culture, and the people well enough to communicate with them.
Enter Nippon Tradings International. For a fee, you can hire them to handle all communication with sellers on real estate and business transactions.
When it comes to residential real estate, opportunities can be restricted in places like Japan. Only citizens can own farmland, for example, and unless you have citizenship or permanent residency, you can forget about getting a mortgage on any type of property under the current system. It may have to be an all-cash transaction.
The burden of getting that kind of dough together can be lessened when you have partners. For example, say you and your friends want to buy a vacation property in Japan. If all of you split the cost, that property suddenly becomes much more affordable.
Prices on Japan real estate can vary quite a bit, depending on where you are looking. If you are searching for a bargain, and do not have to live in a major city, but are fine with living in the country or in a suburb, you can find older residential properties in varying conditions. Often, these properties are cheaper than anything you might find anywhere else in the West.
While you could spend hours or days scouring multiple Japanese real estate websites, I would suggest a more efficient use of your time is to have someone do that work for you. Cheap Houses Japan provides just such a service, and you would be amazed at some of the places they find! More than a few of Cheap Houses Japan’s subscribers have purchased houses in Japan, renovated them, and turned them into vacation homes and seasonal rentals.
If, on the other hand, money is no object, you might want to take a look at luxury properties for rent or purchase in Japan’s major city centers, like Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Okinawa, etc. One such website that provides these listings is Real Estate Japan.
Let’s say you want a brand new house in Japan. That is a popular choice, especially among Japanese nationals, as they tend to prefer new homes over pre-existing structures. Prices for new home builds in 2021-2022 have been in the neighborhood of roughly USD$200,000 for a 3-5 bedroom house in areas like Gunma Prefecture. You can reach out to English-speaking brokers like Jane Castillo at House Partners directly on Facebook.
For additional reading, I recommend the following books on the subject:
Japanese Real-Estate Property Investing for Foreigners - Part 1: The Basics - what a first-time investor entering Japan's property market needs to know by Ziv Nakajima-Magen
The Savvy Foreign Investor’s Guide to Japanese Properties: How to Expertly Buy, Manage and Sell Real Estate in Japan by Toshihiko Yamamoto and Masatoyo Ogasawara
Landed Japan: Key local knowledge you need to buy Japanese real estate by Christopher Dillon
What do you think about investing in international businesses, startups, and real estate? Would you dare to take the plunge, to fill the gap where Western multinationals have yet to tread? Subscribe, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.