Should you not simply instruct the company that gives the highest appraisal figure? — An appraisal and a bid are different things

An appraisal figure is an opinion — that the property would sell — and not a promise to buy. The Real Estate Brokerage Act requires a broker stating such an opinion to disclose the basis for it (Article 34-2, paragraph 2). A bid is a figure a buyer has actually put forward. If there are few days left before you leave, what you collect is bids.

This page is about what kind of figure an appraisal figure is. How several companies are put in competition with one another is set out in our feature on selling property before leaving Japan, and how to tell whether a company holds a licence is covered in a separate column.

Last updated: 15 September 2026

What kind of figure is an appraisal figure?

It is an opinion. Among the matters to be stated in the document delivered on the conclusion of a brokerage agreement, the Real Estate Brokerage Act lists "the price at which the building lot or building in question should be sold or purchased, or the valuation thereof" (Article 34-2, paragraph 1, item 2), and paragraph 2 goes on to provide as follows.

Where a real estate broker states an opinion on the price or the valuation referred to in item 2 of the preceding paragraph, the broker must disclose the basis for that opinion.

The statute itself calls it an opinion. It is neither a guarantee that the property will sell nor a promise to buy it.

This is not to say that brokers should be doubted. It is simply that an appraisal figure is, by its nature, that kind of figure. For the same property, the figure moves with the way the basis is set — which recent completed transactions are chosen, how refurbishment is viewed, how long the sale is expected to take.

May you ask for the basis of an appraisal figure?

Not only may you ask: the broker is under a duty to disclose it.

Article 34-2, paragraph 2 says "must disclose". It is not a duty merely to endeavour. So you are free to ask the following.

What to ask	Why you ask it
Which completed transactions was that figure based on?	To check that they are looking at prices at which sales actually completed, not at asking prices
How did you adjust for the differences between those cases and my property?	How the differences in floor level, aspect, exclusive floor area, age and state of upkeep have been factored in
Over what period do you expect that price to be achieved?	Whether "a price you would reach given a year" is being presented as "the price now"
If it does not sell, what happens next?	Whether a price reduction was built into the plan from the start

If there is no answer, or if the answer stops at "experience", that is itself a piece of information.

So what makes a bid different?

A bid is not an opinion; it is a figure offered. We use the word "bid" for the figure a buying company puts its hand up with — "we will buy at this price".

	Appraisal figure	Bid (the figure offered by a buying company)
What kind of figure it is	An opinion about the price at which it is thought the property would sell	An offer to buy at this price
Who produces it	The broker (who is not buying)	The buyer (who is buying)
Guarantee	None	Once the conditions are met, it proceeds to completion at that figure
Days until it arrives	A few days	A few days (where the papers are in order)
Incentive to go high	To win the instruction	None (going high costs them their own money)

The last row is the one that matters most.

A broker who gives a high appraisal figure wins the instruction, and it costs nothing. A buying company that bids high has to pay that figure out of its own funds. That is why a bid is an honest figure, and why bids entered by several companies on the same day are the market's answer for this property, now.

Why can a high appraisal figure be the more dangerous one?

Taken in order, it goes like this.

Stage	What happens
1	You ask three companies for an appraisal and instruct the one that gave the highest figure
2	No buyer appears at that figure (it was a figure with little prospect of being reached in the first place)
3	A month later, a price reduction is proposed "because the response has been weak"
4	A second reduction, then a third. Your departure date draws closer
5	In the end, you sell at a figure below the appraisal figure another company gave you at the outset

Losing time is the greatest loss. For a seller whose departure date cannot be moved, it weighs more heavily than price. Case 4 in Part 1 of the feature (the last-minute reduction) is what this pattern looks like when it surfaces at the very end.

There is one way to tell. Ask why the figure is what it is (Article 34-2, paragraph 2, above). Where the figure is high but the basis behind it is thin, that figure may be a figure produced in order to win the instruction.

What should you check before signing a brokerage agreement?

The Real Estate Brokerage Act contains a number of provisions protecting the client in relation to brokerage agreements. They are tools you can use once you know they are there, so here they are in a table.

Content	Provision
On concluding a brokerage agreement, the broker must prepare a document, sign and seal it, and deliver it without delay (with the client's consent it may instead be provided by electromagnetic means)	Article 34-2, paragraphs 1 and 11
The document states the price at which the property should be sold, whether other companies may also be instructed, the term and termination, registration with the designated distribution organisation, the commission and other matters	Article 34-2, paragraph 1, items 1 to 8
Where an opinion is stated on the price, the basis must be disclosed	Article 34-2, paragraph 2
The term of an exclusive brokerage agreement may not exceed three months (any longer term agreed is reduced to three months)	Article 34-2, paragraph 3
On concluding an exclusive brokerage agreement, the broker must register the property with the designated distribution organisation (REINS), and the document evidencing registration is delivered to the client without delay	Article 34-2, paragraphs 5 and 6
Where an offer is received, the broker must report it to the client without delay	Article 34-2, paragraph 8
Under an exclusive brokerage agreement the broker must report on the progress of the work at least once every two weeks, and under a sole and exclusive brokerage agreement (senzoku senin, under which you may not sell to a buyer you find yourself) at least once a week	Article 34-2, paragraph 9
Any special agreement contrary to the above is void	Article 34-2, paragraph 10

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The last three rows are the most usable. "There was an offer and I was not told", "nobody gets in touch" — these are cases of something laid down by law not being observed, not questions of whether you and the company get on.

Note also that a brokerage agreement is signed under the competing-bids method as well. The commission we receive is within the cap under the Real Estate Brokerage Act, and it is stated in the brokerage agreement (Article 34-2, paragraph 1, item 7; Article 46; and the public notice on commission).

When selling before you leave, which of the two do you look at?

Bids. There are three reasons.

#	Reason
1	Time. Trusting the appraisal figure, putting the property on the market, watching the response and then reducing the price takes several months at the very least. A seller with a fixed departure date does not have that time
2	Certainty. An appraisal figure is "the price at which it is thought the property would sell"; it promises no completion date. A bid proceeds to completion once the conditions are met
3	Comparability. Bids collected by handing the same papers to everyone on the same day can be set side by side and compared as they stand

With that said, there is something we should tell you plainly. A buying company's bid comes in below the open-market level. Buying companies normally want around three months to completion, and "quickly, and in cash" asks them to work against that. This cannot be avoided, whoever you instruct.

What can be avoided is the size of the gap. How to keep it down is set out in our feature on selling property before leaving Japan.

Where there is time to spare, the position changes. Checking the basis of the appraisal figure and then selling through ordinary brokerage leaves you with more in hand. Which of the two suits you is decided by the number of days until you leave.

What this article is based on

Point	Source
The duty, on concluding a brokerage agreement, to prepare, sign and seal and deliver a document, and the matters to be stated in it (the price, whether other companies may also be instructed, arranging a building condition survey, the term and termination, registration with the designated distribution organisation, the commission and others)	Real Estate Brokerage Act (Act No. 176 of Showa 27 (1952)), Article 34-2, paragraph 1, items 1 to 8
The duty to disclose the basis when stating an opinion on the price or the valuation	Same Act, Article 34-2, paragraph 2
The term of an exclusive brokerage agreement (which may not exceed three months) and its renewal	Same Act, Article 34-2, paragraphs 3 and 4
The duty to register with the designated distribution organisation, and delivery of the document evidencing registration	Same Act, Article 34-2, paragraphs 5 and 6
The duty to report where an offer is received	Same Act, Article 34-2, paragraph 8
The duty to report on the progress of the work (at least once every two weeks under an exclusive brokerage agreement; at least once a week under a sole and exclusive brokerage agreement)	Same Act, Article 34-2, paragraph 9
The voidness of any special agreement contrary to the above	Same Act, Article 34-2, paragraph 10
Provision by electromagnetic means in place of delivery of the document	Same Act, Article 34-2, paragraphs 11 and 12 (added by the Act on the Development of Related Acts for the Formation of a Digital Society, 2021)
The cap on commission	Same Act, Article 46, and the public notice on commission

This page provides general information only. The price of an individual property, and which way of selling suits it, vary with the state of the property and with the number of days until you leave. Individual tax judgements are made by a licensed tax accountant (zeirishi), and registrations by a judicial scrivener (shiho-shoshi).

Real estate brokerage is handled by Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. (Real Estate Brokerage Business Licence, Governor of Tokyo (1) No. 113304), and the preparation of documents for licence and permit applications by Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office (gyosei-shoshi), under a separate contract in each case. For tax matters we introduce you to a licensed tax accountant, for registrations to a judicial scrivener and for disputes to an attorney, and you contract with each of them directly. We receive no referral fee.

About the author Joji Uramatsu | Representative Director of Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. and its full-time Real Estate Transaction Specialist (takken-shi). Administrative scrivener. Former China Bureau Chief of the Mainichi Shimbun, with 34 years as a journalist; posted to China, Taiwan and Thailand in that role. Passed the Certified Social Insurance and Labour Consultant examination (practice scheduled to open September 2026).

Related links

• Feature: selling your property before you leave Japan
• Does a tax agent in Japan need a qualification, and can a company act as one?
• A guide to selling Japanese real estate for overseas owners (for those already living abroad)
• Contact us