Sydney couple leave $700 a week rent behind to start new life in van – realestate.com.au

When their $700-a-week rental property in Erskineville was put up for sale, Sydney couple Sam Savage and Jess Jacobs didn’t look for a new lease. They went off, built a house on wheels and came back with a plan to buy land and build container homes in Western Australia.

Savage, 33, a stonemason who was originally from England and moved to Australia more than a decade ago, said Yahoo Finance the vanlife idea went from a “bucket list” dream to reality after their landlord decided to sell.

“We had discussed it before and always thought it would be a bucket list thing, but we never thought we would do it,” he said.

Faced with rising rental costs, the couple bit the bullet.

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They bought a $20,000 bus and converted it into a mobile home, moving into a small studio in Alexandria for $500 a week during construction.

The renovation cost $30,000 and to finance it they used savings and investments.

Savage had used the “round-up” feature of the micro-investing app Raiz to automatically invest spare change, then increased his contributions when they started saving in earnest – “at least $50 a week or whatever spare change” he had.

By the end of the year he had saved about $12,000.

A couple embarks on the journey of a lifetime

In February they left for a ten-month tour of the country.

They spent a combined $32,000 on the trip, mostly from savings.

Savage got stonemason jobs along the way, and Jacobs, a personal trainer, had a few online clients.

The couple bought the bus for $20,000 and spent $30,000 renovating it. Source: Supplied/Yahoo News

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“We swapped our Scottish fillet steaks for mince. We were conscious of what we bought. We tried to save as much money as possible,” he said.

Looking beyond ‘crazy’ Sydney to buy cheaper land

Back in Sydney in December, the couple is saving for their first home – but not in Sydney, where Jacobs is from.

“It’s just insane. The amount of money you need, and then you have to pay it off. That’s it, it’s game over, you’re stuck,” Savage said.

“You’re stuck for thirty years, and me and Jess absolutely don’t want that. We want more freedom and we want to create a passive income.”

During their travels they fell for Esperance in Washington and now want to buy a container-style house there.

They are now selling the bus to buy land in WA. Source: Supplied/Yahoo News

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“When we looked at land, we realized it was actually very affordable. That’s what’s moving now,” Savage said, with parcels he’s currently eyeing for $200,000.

Ideally, he would buy two lots and build two container homes – turning one into an Airbnb and selling the other.

To help fund the plan, they have put the bus up for sale and hope to get between $80,000 and $90,000 for it.