When we were negotiating for the purchase of a piece of land, the realtor told us that the lot we were interested in had no access to public waterworks, which meant we would have to dig a well. At first, this aspect seemed like a demerit, since hiring a company to dig the well would cost more than ¥400,000 plus administrative fees.
But we later discovered that buyers of properties in a housing development about a kilometer west of us who did have access to public waterworks had to pay an initial contract fee of ¥200,000 to ¥300,000 just to have their plumbing turned on.
And, of course, thereafter they would be receiving bimonthly bills charging them for water usage. We, on the other hand, have not had any more water-related expenses since digging our well, so it turned out to be a good move from an economic standpoint.