Company Employee Interviews
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Thank you so much for your time today. this marks our 3rd year of providing housing services to your company— |
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We were previously going through a different company, but the level of service quality was inconsistent between different staff members. Also, since they weren’t specialized or all that knowledgeable in foreigner housing, there were many cases where they could not or would not accommodate our particular requests. Companies that deal in executive-level housing broadcast that they'll "take care of everything!" for you, but as the unit rental price range lowers so does the level of services actually being provided. In many cases we were ultimately expected to handle almost everything besides the housing contract itself on our own, so it was quite confusing and frustrating. |
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So while handling all of your usual company responsibilities, you also had to provide significant support for incoming overseas employees—it must have been quite demanding! what did you find the most difficult part of arranging relocation? |
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Rather than any specific single task, it was just that there were so many separate things that needed to be taken care of that was the most overwhelming. Setting up Electricity/Gas/Water utilities, arranging the Internet service provider, registration at the local ward office, opening a bank account...there are so many tasks and all ends up quite time-consuming. FREA openly offered to assist with many of these tasks, which was a huge help. |
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Sounds like quite a burden for sure. At FREA, we feel that as an intermediary housing service company providing support for directly related things such as utility setup are to be expected. Our staff are quite accustomed to handling those tasks regularly and can take care of them efficiently as a result. As a foreigner-specialized real estate company nearly all our clients are unable to set up utilities on their own, so we already include that in our core services. Going forwards, we are also planning to expand our services to include support for both ward office registration and bank account opening. The number of foreigners being employed in Japan is rapidly increasing, and many companies are finding themselves spending increasing amounts of time on all these relocation tasks. was the scope of our company’s offered housing services a deciding factor in switching to FREA? |
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FREA doesn't come off as just another "company-company"—in the sense that it feels very personable and not like they're just looking to do business. It's easy to reach out to them with questions and they are very flexible compared to most real estate agencies. Also, FREA will proactively reach out with proposals on how to handle housing needs— I'm not an expert in housing myself, so it's very helpful to receive their advisement ahead of time. FREA also offers furniture and appliance leasing, so it's very convenient being able to handle of everything through a single company. Even the really major housing companies known to deal with foreigners don't offer furnishing options themselves. Additionally, FREA is completely bilingual so their staff can communicate directly with the foreigner employee, which is another bonus point. |
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Thank you! We feel very honored to receive such positive feedback from you. Although there are other real estate companies that regularly deal with foreigners, indeed most don't cover furniture and appliance leasing which can end up quite time-consuming. Setting up the leasing of furniture and home appliances means there must also be ongoing follow-up during the lease and at move-out time, so there are rather few real estate companies who will offer this. |
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The needs and wishes regarding furniture and appliances also definitely vary between each employee, so the flexibility of FREA has been really fantastic. |
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Unlike typical Japanese clients, foreigners often bring a strong sense of their individual preferences with regards to their housing. We have seen many cases where they were discouraged dealing with other real estate agencies upon being treated with the inflexible attitude of "this is just how the rules are." We really hope that by doing our best to accommodate individual needs, these company employees entrusted to us can experience a smooth and comfortable transition into living in Japan. Thank you once again! |