This New Orleans couple moved to Japan and bought an abandoned home for $7,500 — now it’s a guesthouse that’s made $14K in revenue. Is this a realistic path to a 'self-sufficient existence'?

Since Evan speaks Spanish and Japanese, the couple narrowed their options down to Mexico or Japan, both of which have a lower cost of living than the U.S. Ultimately they chose to take advantage of Japan’s Startup Visa, which gives foreigners up to a year to set up a business that then qualifies them for residential status as “business managers.”

Kickstarting a new life

The Bentons decided to set up a guesthouse and were able to keep costs down on their initial property purchase since Japan has about 9 million akiya, or abandoned homes, which can often be bought for little money. They were able to find two of these around the corner from each other on Ōmishima Island, a location that suits their lifestyle and sees tourist traffic.

“Ōmishima felt like home from the moment we arrived,” wrote Dani. They’ve converted the first property into the Benton Guesthouse, a vacation rental for one to six guests, and are using the second property — an abandoned inn that included two plots of unmaintained land — as their primary residence.

They bought the guesthouse property in the spring of 2023 for $9,292, which included $7,500 for the house plus $1,500 in transaction fees, a $212 one-time real estate acquisition tax and $80 annual property tax. They bought the other house for $18,500.

The guesthouse property was built in 1953 and had been abandoned for 10 years, so it needed considerable renovations. Along with the rental license and amenities, this cost the couple an additional $29,000. The Bentons hired local contractors for some of this but kept their costs down by doing much of the work themselves. Their principal residence sat empty for 40 years, and they are in the process of renovating it as well.

Diversifying their income streams

Since opening to tourists in November 2023, they’ve made $14,000 in revenue from Benton Guesthouse. While they’re only getting started, they’ll likely need to make more than this, since average annual expenses for a two-or-more-person household in Japan was approximately ¥3.5 million, or $23,000 in 2023.

While the couple has focused on the Benton Guesthouse to demonstrate financial stability to immigration authorities, they also grow and sell tomatoes, tomatillos and hot peppers, as well as keep bees to sell honey.