How Smoovin counts

Use rent + management to compare the recurring housing cost, and use listed feesto compare the one-time charges that the listing actually states. Neither figure is a promise of the full amount you will pay. The first payment still needs to be confirmed with the agent.

Rent + management is the rent plus the management or common-area fee (管理費・共益費). When a listing provides both amounts, the dashboard sorts and compares listings by this figure while still showing both amounts separately. If one is missing, Smoovin does not fill it in.

Other monthly fees, such as parking, a 24-hour support plan or a monthly guarantor fee, are shown next to it as “+ ¥X other monthly fees” and never added in. Agents list them inconsistently, so adding them would make the same figure mean different things on different listings.

Move-in fees are the one-time or move-in-related charges the listing states. Smoovin adds the amounts it can identify: Security deposit (Shikikin), Guarantee deposit (Hoshōkin), Key money (Reikin), Agency commission (Chūkai tesūryō), Guarantor company fee (Hoshō gaisha), Lock exchange (Kagi kōkan), Renter's insurance, Cleaning fee, 24-hour support, Other move-in costs, and Other fees. Some charges, such as cleaning, may be paid at move-in or deducted when you move out. When a listing puts a cleaning fee with its other costs (ほか諸費用) rather than its move-in costs (ほか初期費用), Smoovin shows it under When you move out, because a fee paid at move-in would be listed with the move-in costs. Smoovin calls the result “listed fees”, not a total.

It leaves out:

• Smoovin leaves out your first month's rent and other charges that are not part of the listed fees. You may pay them at signing, so ask the agent for the exact first payment, including any prorated rent.
• If the listing does not mention a key fee (Security deposit (Shikikin), Key money (Reikin), Agency commission (Chūkai tesūryō), and Guarantor company fee (Hoshō gaisha)), Smoovin marks it Not listed — ask the agent.
• When a listing gives a fee only as text, such as “ask for details”, Smoovin shows it as written.
• Smoovin keeps monthly, renewal and move-out fees separate because they are not part of the listed move-in fees.
• Some portals fill in typical amounts, such as an agency commission of one month's rent, when the agent has not listed one. Smoovin ignores those estimates because they are not the agent's figures.

Imagine a listing with ¥100,000 rent, ¥10,000 management, ¥50,000 deposit and ¥100,000 key money. Smoovin shows ¥110,000 as rent + management and ¥150,000 as listed fees. Your first payment may be higher because it can also include the first month's rent, prorated rent, insurance or other charges. The agent's itemised estimate is the figure to use before signing.

GaijinPot prints its own move-in total, and it includes your first month's rent and fees. Smoovin shows the one-time fees without the first month, the same way as on every other portal, so its figure is lower. It checks its sum against the portal's total and says “ Matches GaijinPot's own total (without the first month)” when they agree.

When a listing gives a fee in months or percentages, such as “1 month” of key money or a guarantor fee of “50% of rent and fees”, Smoovin uses the listing's own rent. It uses rent + management when that is what the listing names. The result is marked calculated from listed rent or calculated from listed rent + management. If the listing does not state the amount behind a percentage, such as “the total monthly payment”, Smoovin shows the fee as written.

Some listings give an exact map position, some only an address area, and some only the nearest station. When nearby places or a map are based on the station rather than the flat, Smoovin says so (“Around Ebisu Station”), and compares them as approximate.

Smoovin does not fill in missing fees. An estimate could look as precise as a listed fee and make two listings harder to compare. When a listing does not say, Smoovin leaves the question for the agent.