{
  "id": 16315532,
  "title": "I bought a house in Japan at 23 with 7 friends. We spent less than $20,000 to have a place to escape to.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/24/i-bought-a-house-in-japan-at-23-with-7-friends-we-spent-less-than-20",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-24T10:29:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/bought-cheap-house-japan-with-college-friends-2026-10"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Hilary Tang, accompanied by her college friends, purchased an abandoned home in Hiroshima, Japan, for under $11,000. The group of six friends, with an additional two joining later, spent months renovating the property and now plan to use it primarily for gatherings, though they are open to renting it out to cover yearly costs. They aimed to acquire and renovate the house for less than $20,000. Tang, a recent college graduate from Hong Kong, bought the home in Hiroshima with her university friends. They found a house listed at 3 million yen initially, but negotiated the price down to 1.8 million yen after the owner passed away five years ago. The property, spanning 315 square meters, included nine Japanese-style rooms and two Western-style rooms. The initial renovation budget was set at $4,000, but with additional help, the total renovation cost was around $1,262, leaving them with a significant portion of their original budget. The friends have been living in the house throughout the renovation process and are considering renting it out to offset expenses.",
  "summary": "A recent college graduate teamed with friends to buy and renovate an abandoned home in Hiroshima, Japan. They're using it as an escape from city life.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}