Read before you sell / We buy damaged houses

A damaged house (a so-called wreck) can be sold without demolishing it.
How to tell a repairable house by its frame

Leaks, termites, a tilt, contents piled high. Even a house like that can be sold without demolition. What we look at is not the appearance but the frame: posts, beams and sill.

Damage has three stages. Finishes and fittings hardly matter; the frame sets the price
If the frame is sound we buy as-is, contents included. No demolition cost deducted
Five photos give a first view before the visit. Appraisal and on-site survey are free

The village of Ainokura, Gokayama, Nanto: wooden houses with snow piled up to the rooftops and buried to the eaves — Photo: そらみみ "Ainokura in a snowy day 4"(CC BY-SA 4.0), cropped

1 Just send photos of the outside and the damaged spots. No clearing outFree appraisal on LINE 2 9:00–17:00, Japanese only / after 17:00: Call us

1970Founded / Yatsuo, Toyama City

Real estate + constructionA builder with both a real estate licence and a construction permit

Appraisal and survey: ¥0No charge if you decline

Toyama, Ishikawa and HidaOwners living elsewhere welcome

Most houses called wrecks have a sound frame

The shop interior before restoration (our project) The disused, worn shop interior (before)

The shop repaired with its frame kept The yakitori bar rebuilt around a solid cypress counter (after)

One of our own projects. The shop interior had fallen into disuse and disrepair, but the posts and beams were sound, so we kept the frame and brought it back as a yakitori bar. → See this project in detail

Damage you can see and damage to the structure are two different things. Even with the walls peeling, the tatami rotten and the ceiling down, if the posts, beams and sill are dry and standing, the house can be repaired.

Many people walk into the family home after a long absence and think, "This one has to come down." The earthen walls have fallen away, the tatami is spongy, the ceiling boards sag, the belongings are piled high. It smells. That impression is correct, but it is about the surface of the house.

We are a builder holding both a construction permit and a real estate licence. Our policy is not to demolish the houses we buy but to repair them and hand them to the next occupant, so we look at a house differently from a buyer who assumes demolition. The first thing we look at is not the walls or the tatami but the frame of posts, beams and sill, and the footing stones or foundations beneath it.

This view fits the houses of Hokuriku especially well. Old houses in Toyama and Ishikawa are framed with thick posts and beams to carry the weight of roof snow, and the roof framing is sturdy. As the Toyama kominka restoration guide says, the structure itself is usually sound; what is missing is wall area, metal connectors, foundations and insulation, and those can be added by construction. Conversely, once the frame itself has rotted, there is too much to add and repair costs approach rebuilding. So the line between repairable and not runs through the frame, not the surface.

Three stages of damage. Each stage is priced differently

Most of the "damaged house" impression is stage ① damage. ② affects the price by the repair cost, and ③, the frame, decides whether there is a price at all. Figures are our guide construction costs.

We sort the damage to a house into three stages: interior and fittings, components, and structure. Each stage is repaired differently and affects the price differently.

① Interior and fittings ─ wallpaper, tatami, ceiling boards, sliding doors, kitchen, bathroom, toiletThe most visible damage, but it barely affects the value of the building, because interiors are redone anyway. An old kitchen or bathroom is the same: replacing the kitchen and bathrooms in full is ¥3–6 million by our guide (construction cost). Most of the "damaged house" impression is damage at this stage.

② Components ─ roofing, outer walls, floorboards, gutters, doors and windows, eavesLeaks, peeling outer walls, floors giving way, sagging eaves: damage to the parts that protect the house from outside. Repair costs real money, so we deduct it from the price. Re-roofing is ¥2–4.5 million and envelope work including insulation ¥2–5 million by our guide. But component damage is seen together with how wet the frame beneath it has got. After one or two years of leaking the frame is usually still dry; after ten years of neglect it may have moved on to ③.

③ Structure ─ posts, beams, sill, footing stones, foundations, roof framingThis is the decider. If the frame is sound, however bad ① and ② are, we value the house as a building. A post rotten at the foot can be spliced with new timber; so can a section of sill or a single beam. The work falls within our seismic reinforcement (wall area, connectors, foundations) at ¥2.5–7 million. On the other hand, where the sill and post feet have rotted over a wide area and the roof framing has come down, repair costs approach rebuilding. Then we too may be unable to price it, and if so we tell you honestly.

A demolition-based appraisal makes no distinction between these three stages: land value minus demolition cost, and that is the end of it. We do not deduct demolition cost from our price because we never intend to demolish. In return, we visit the house to look at ③.

When the authorities judge whether a house is a designated hazardous or a poorly managed vacant house, they look at the same places. The guideline from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism judges whether "the building is at serious risk of collapse" or "the roof, outer walls and so on are at risk of falling off or being blown away" from the tilt of the foundations and posts and the state of the roof and outer walls (MLIT guideline on measures for poorly managed and designated hazardous vacant houses). The authorities, too, look at ② and ③, not the interior.

How a Toyama vacant house deteriorates. It breaks in winter and is noticed in spring

The village of Ainokura, Gokayama, Nanto, in winter: snow banked on both sides of the cleared road, sheds and house roofs capped with snow — Photo: そらみみ "Ainokura in a snowy day 7"(CC BY-SA 4.0), cropped

Every spring, heirs living outside the prefecture tell us the eaves have come down or water was spraying. As the year-round calendar for managing a Toyama vacant house from afar says, a Toyama vacant house breaks in winter and is noticed in spring. Damage follows an order, so knowing where it starts tells you where to point the camera.

Roof snow load and falling snow ─ December to FebruaryA roof nobody clears carries a whole winter's snow. The weight bows the beams, doors stop closing and the eaves sag. Falling snow breaks the gutters and eaves, and a roof facing the neighbour drops it onto their shed or car. Most complaints from neighbours come from this falling snow and from the garden trees described next.

Frozen and burst pipes ─ January to February, found in springWater pipes and water heaters that have not been drained freeze; the water expands and splits the pipes and joints. When the thaw comes and the water starts flowing, it pours into the house from the split. If it pools under the floor, the sill and post feet start rotting from there. If roof snow is component damage, a burst pipe is an accident that leads straight to structural damage.

Humidity in a shut-up house ─ June to SeptemberA house shut up all summer traps humidity. Mould appears on the tatami and floorboards, the things in the closets go damp, and that is the smell of a shut-up vacant house. At this stage it is interior damage. But if the underfloor vents are blocked, or the ground around the house is higher than the floor and water runs in underneath, the damp moves into the sill.

Garden trees and the windbreak grove ─ all yearFarmhouses in Toyama often come with a windbreak grove (kainyo). Once the upkeep stops, branches touch the roof, fallen leaves block the gutters, and water from the blocked gutters runs down the outer walls and into them. Trees spilling over the boundary or the road are grounds for a notice from the authorities. The 2023 Civil Code amendment that lets a neighbour cut overhanging branches, and selling with the trees, are in Overhanging windbreak groves and garden trees.

What they have in common is that the time it takes water to reach the frame decides whether a house can be repaired. A hole in the roof leaves the beams dry if it is caught that winter. Over years, the ceiling comes down, the roof framing rots and the water reaches the foot of the posts. When we ask for photos early, it is not a sales pitch; it is because this clock is running.

A tilt has four possible causes (liquefaction or uneven settlement, sunken footing stones, roof snow load, a rotten sill), and the fix depends on the cause. It is covered separately in Can a leaning house or kominka be repaired?.

The four places we check on site, in order

The four places we check on site.

The site survey takes about an hour. Even with the contents piled up, even if you live outside the prefecture and cannot attend, we hold the key and go. The order is fixed: top to bottom, outside to in.

1. The roof framingThrough the ceiling hatch, or wherever the ceiling has come down, we look into the attic. We look for where the rain stains are and how far they spread, bowed beams, and rot in the purlins and rafters. A dry-coloured stain is an old leak that has stopped; a black, wet one is still coming in. If the roof framing is sound, damaged roofing stays a component question.

2. The foot of the postsAt floor level and at the foot of the outer walls. If a post in a Hokuriku house rots, it rots at the foot first. We press with a finger to see if it gives, tap with a mallet for a dull sound, and look for termite mud tubes (lines of earth). A partly rotten foot can be repaired by splicing (netsugi): cutting away just that section and joining new timber. If the rot reaches waist height on several posts, it is a different story.

3. The sill and footing stonesIn an old house with posts on stones, the posts simply rest on footing stones. We check whether the stones have sunk and whether the posts have shifted off them. In a house with a sill, we check the sill for rot and the foundations for cracks. Damage here causes tilting, but resetting footing stones and replacing sill is work we do all the time.

4. Dryness underfloorWe look through the underfloor vents and, where possible, go under the floor. Is the ground dry, does it smell of mould, are there traces of standing water, any mud tubes? A house with a dry underfloor is very likely to have a sound frame. A house with water pooled underneath needs care, however clean it looks above.

These four places all but decide the value of the frame. Wallpaper, tatami and kitchen come afterwards, as a question of how much to spend on repairs. Within a week of the survey, we put in writing how much and why. There is no charge if you decline.

A demolition quote is set by floor area, structure and access for removal; whether the frame is sound does not come into it. A repair-based survey cannot start without looking at the frame.

Start from the symptom: leaks, termites, roof, kura, contents

For each symptom, which stage of damage we treat it as, and what we would like you to photograph.

Leak ─ ceiling stains, damp wallsThis is ②, component damage. What we look at is how long the leak has been going and how wet the beams and posts directly below are. Send photos of the ceiling stains and the roof. A single spot can be fixed as a spot repair from a few hundred thousand yen. How far damage goes with the years, the duty to disclose, and selling without repair are in Can a house with a neglected leak be sold?; how the roof is repaired is in The roof and snow.

Termites ─ holes in posts, a springy floor, swarmers seenIt is ② or ③ depending on the extent. The foot of a post or a section of sill can be repaired by splicing and replacement. If several posts are eaten up to waist height, it is ③. Send photos of the post feet and the underfloor vents. Damage in itself is never a reason for us to refuse. How to read a house with a collapsed floor, and selling without treatment, are in Can a termite-damaged house be sold?.

The roof has fallen in, the eaves sagIf only the roofing has come off, it is ②; if the roof framing has come down with it, ③. The dividing line is whether the beams under the fallen part are broken or rotten. Send a photo of the whole roof and one of directly beneath the fallen part. For a roof brought down by snow, a spring photo after the thaw is the useful one. Emergency measures, partial demolition and counting back from winter are in What to do with a house whose roof has fallen in or that looks about to collapse.

The storehouse or barn is collapsingWe look at these separately from the main house. A kura storehouse has thick walls and can often be kept as long as the roof holds. A barn or garage, if dangerous, we demolish after taking it over. We never ask the seller to demolish first. Whether to demolish or keep the storehouse alone, and what to do with its contents, is in What to do with a collapsing storehouse or barn; how demolition costs work is in the demolition cost guide.

Contents piled high, can't get inThis is separate from the stages of damage: no clearing out is needed. We buy with the contents still inside and dispose of them ourselves. If there is a Buddhist or Shinto altar, we may ask you only to arrange the closing rite. Even in a house we cannot get into, the roof, the foot of the walls and the underfloor vents seen from outside give us an idea of the frame. Typical clearing costs and what happens to altars and farm machinery are in Selling a cluttered family home without clearing it.

Complaints from neighbours, a notice from the cityFalling snow, garden trees and flaking outer walls are the usual reasons. Once a poorly managed vacant house moves from advice and guidance to a formal recommendation, the residential land relief on property tax is lost. Because we buy the house as it is, you do not need to repair anything first to answer the notice. Which stage a notice is at is covered in When the city sends a notice about your vacant house, liability to neighbours in When a vacant house damages the house next door, and overhanging trees in Complaints about an overgrown windbreak grove or garden.

A non-rebuildable house with no road frontage cannot be rebuilt, so repairing and using it is the only exit. See Selling a non-rebuildable house.

Demolition-based and repair-based appraisals: how the price differs

Change the premise and the same house gets a different price. Our free appraisal gives you both the figure for selling as it is and a rough demolition figure.

"Another company said zero" is something we hear often. We are not saying zero is wrong. Zero is the answer of a demolition-based appraisal. Change the premise and the same house gets a different price.

A demolition-based appraisal takes the demolition cost off the land value. Demolishing a wooden house in Toyama costs around ¥30,000–50,000 per tsubo (3.3 m²): from about ¥1.5–2 million for a house of 40 tsubo (about 132 m²), from about ¥2.5–4 million for a 60-tsubo (about 198 m²) farmhouse or Azumadachi, and with a storehouse and windbreak grove the total often tops ¥3 million (demolition cost guide). Where land in suburban Toyama is worth less than that demolition cost, the answer is zero or negative. On top of that, once the lot is cleared, the residential land relief on property tax ends from the following year, and you pay the higher tax until it sells.

A repair-based appraisal adds the value of the building to the value of the land, then deducts the repair cost and the risk of not selling. We value the beams, posts and layout, and we repair the houses we buy and hand them to the next occupant. Where the frame is usable, we deduct neither demolition nor disposal of the contents, because we do not demolish and those costs never arise. Conversely, a house damaged through to the frame that cannot be repaired can only be priced on the basis of clearing the lot. Then the figure has the demolition cost taken off, or there may be no figure at all. Which it is, we tell you honestly after seeing the frame on site. Our price is lower than a brokered sale would fetch, because we, as buyer, take on the repair cost, the risk of not selling and the clearing out. But compared with a demolition-based zero, the value of the building remains.

This is not about which appraisal is right. It is that for a house whose frame is sound, a repair-based appraisal leaves you with more. For a house damaged through to the frame, our appraisal too moves closer to the demolition-based one. That is why we go and look at ③. Our free appraisal can give you both the figure for selling as it is and a rough demolition figure, so compare them on one table before deciding. How a house "that won't sell" gets a price, and how we compare with brokerage, akiya banks, giving it away and surrender to the state, is covered separately in Demolition-based versus repair-based appraisals.

Municipalities offer subsidies for demolishing dangerous vacant houses. Toyama City's subsidy for removing dilapidated and dangerous vacant houses, for example, requires the house to meet at least two of a list of criteria (tilting or risk of collapse, damaged outer walls, damaged roofing and leaks, and so on), and its outer walls to stand within 3 m of the neighbouring boundary at ground level or 5 m at first-floor level (Toyama City: removing a vacant house above a set level of danger). In other words, the subsidy is for houses where ② and ③ have already advanced. Most schemes require applying before work starts, and the terms and budget change each year. Even with a subsidy you pay part, so set it beside our as-is appraisal and check the details in the city's official guidance.

Five photos give us a rough judgement

Tatami room before renovation (our project) Kominka turned into a guesthouse: the tatami room before renovation

Into a stairwell with exposed beams Kominka opened as a minpaku guesthouse: the stairwell with exposed beams (after)

One of our kominka restorations. Before, it was a tired Japanese-style room, but the frame of posts and beams was sound, so we removed the ceiling to expose the beams as a stairwell and opened it as a minpaku (private lodging). Four months of work, construction cost ¥9 million. → See this project in detail

Some things can be told from photos before we visit. No drawings or land register needed. Send these five photos straight from your phone on LINE. If there is somewhere you cannot photograph, send what you can.

1. The whole exterior. One photo from the road with the whole house in. If the ridge is dead straight, the roof framing is probably sound; if the middle sags, we suspect bowed beams
2. The roof. From a little distance, at an angle that shows the roof surface. We look for shifted tiles, holes, lifted sheet metal and whether there are snow guards
3. An underfloor vent. The grille at the foot of the outer wall, crouched down and square on. We look at whether it is dry inside, whether it is blocked by rubbish or soil, and whether the ground around it is higher than the house. Of the five, this is the photo closest to the frame
4. Ceiling stains inside. The ceiling of a stained room, shot from a corner so the whole ceiling is in. The colour of the stain (dry brown or wet black) and its spread tell us whether the leak is still active
5. The foot of a post. One photo at floor level where a post meets the floor. We look for blackening, cracks, lines of earth (termite mud tubes) and sagging floorboards. If the contents hide them, any post you can see will do

With these five photos, the name of the municipality, the rough age of the house and how long it has been empty, we send back a view before the visit and a plan for the appraisal. Your name and the full address are not needed at this stage. Photos are the way in; the answer comes on site.

If you live outside the prefecture, we hold the key, survey without you and exchange the contract by post. The whole process is set out in We buy kominka and vacant houses.

If the house cannot be repaired: our honest answer

The flip side is that there are houses damaged right through to the frame that we cannot price either. Here is how we answer when that happens.

Roughly, we judge a house beyond repair when: the sill and post feet have rotted in so many places that splicing cannot keep up; the roof framing has collapsed and the beams in the attic are broken; water keeps collecting under the floor with no prospect of drying it out; or the tilt is progressing, the cause is in the ground, and the work would have to start with restoring the site. For such houses, repair costs more than rebuilding. As the FAQ in the kominka restoration guide says, where the foundations or roof are badly damaged, rebuilding can be the better choice, and we tell you that after seeing the house.

In that case, we say so: "This house is more realistically demolished than repaired." We do not fudge it with a low figure, and we do not pretend it can be repaired, take it over and then demolish it. We buy in order to repair and pass on, so we have no reason to buy a house that cannot be repaired.

Then we offer three things. One, a demolition quote. We prepare it, and explain how to read it and which items move the figure up or down. Two, a check on whether the municipality has a demolition subsidy (most require applying before work starts, so the order matters). Three, an exit for the land once it is cleared. You do not need to decide first whether to keep or demolish. We start by looking together at whether this house still has a future worth entrusting it with.

Keeping a house empty costs roughly ¥150,000–400,000 a year in property tax, fire insurance, standing charges for water and electricity, grass cutting and snow clearing (What to do with the family home). Leave a house that cannot be repaired standing and, on top of that cost, the owner remains liable for falling snow and falling debris. Whether you sell or demolish, the sooner you decide, the less it costs you.

FAQ

Another company said it was worth nothing. Can I still ask you?＋−

Yes. A figure of zero is usually a demolition-based appraisal. Take the demolition cost off the land value and, in the Toyama suburbs, the result is often zero or negative. We do not assume demolition, so we do not deduct demolition from our price; if the posts, beams and sill are sound, we value the house as a building. That said, there are houses damaged right through to the frame that we cannot price either. If so, we tell you honestly and help you from there, including introducing a demolition contractor.

The ceiling has come down and there is a hole in the roof. Will you buy it?＋−

A fallen ceiling on its own is interior damage. A hole in the roof with rain still coming in is component damage, and the question is how wet the beams and posts beneath it have got. If the hole is recent, the frame is usually still dry and the house can be bought. If rain has been coming in for years and the roof framing has rotted and collapsed, that is structural damage and a different judgement. Send a photo of the roof and one of the ceiling or posts directly below it, and we give you a rough view before visiting.

The house is so full of belongings you can't get in. Do I have to clear it before you look?＋−

No. We buy with the contents still inside and dispose of them ourselves. Even without getting in, the shape of the roof and eaves, the foot of the outer walls and the underfloor vents tell us a lot about the frame from outside. Inside, we check the foot of the posts and the ceilings wherever we can reach. If you clear the house before the appraisal, you pay the clearing cost first, and if the house does not sell, that cost is all you are left with. Showing it to us first costs you nothing.

Will you turn a house down on photos alone?＋−

As a rule, no. What we give from photos is a rough view before the visit and a plan for the appraisal. The state of the frame cannot be settled without seeing the underfloor and the roof space, so even a house that looks difficult in photos gets a visit if you want one. The site survey is free, and there is no charge if you decline. The reverse happens too: a house that looks repairable in photos turns out on site to have wide rot in the sill. Photos are the way in; the answer comes on site.

The city has sent a notice that the house is a poorly managed vacant house. Do I have to do something before I sell?＋−

Read the notice first. Under the Vacant Houses Special Measures Act, a house that could become a designated hazardous vacant house if left alone is classed as a poorly managed vacant house; the municipality gives advice and guidance, and if nothing improves it moves to a formal recommendation. Once a recommendation is issued, the residential land relief on your property tax is lost. If you are already selling, tell the city department so. Because we buy the house as it is, you do not need to repair or clear anything first to answer the notice. Send us a photo of the notice and we will read together what is being asked of you.

The storehouse and barn are close to collapse. Can I sell just the main house?＋−

Please talk to us about the land and all the buildings together. Selling the main house on its own usually means subdividing the plot and confirming boundaries, which is rarely practical. We appraise the storehouse and barn as they are along with the house, consider reusing or keeping what can be kept, and demolish anything dangerous after we have taken it over. We never ask the seller to pay first to demolish a collapsing storehouse. For a farmhouse with a storehouse and windbreak grove, the total demolition bill often tops ¥3 million, so handing it over as it is costs you less.

→ All 49 questions on selling and renovation

This page describes for a general reader the approach we use in site surveys. Whether a house can be repaired, and for how much, is settled only after checking the underfloor and roof space on site. The criteria for poorly managed and designated hazardous vacant houses, and municipal demolition schemes, change each year. Follow the official guidance of MLIT and your municipality.

Before deciding to demolish, five photos.

The whole exterior, the roof, an underfloor vent, ceiling stains, the foot of a post. No clearing out, contents left in place, from anywhere. Appraisal is free, and there is no charge if you decline.

Send photos on LINE Use the form

By phone (Japanese only) 9:00 - 17:00 After 17:00, site manager (Japanese only)

More on damaged houses.

Fixing a tilt, demolition costs, what breaks in winter, the exit for a non-rebuildable house. Each has its own page.

We buy kominka and vacant houses: overview → Can a leaning house be repaired? → Why a house "worth nothing" gets a price → Demolition costs, and before you demolish → Managing a Toyama vacant house from afar → Can a non-rebuildable house be sold? →

Written by Tatsumasa Nakamura, Hokuriku Homes Updated 2026-10-10

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A damaged house (a so-called wreck) can be sold without demolishing it.How to tell a repairable house by its frame