We left New Orleans for an island in Japan and bought an abandoned house for $7,500: Take a look inside

In 2021, my husband Evan and I sold our small urban farm in Louisiana and set out on a continent-spanning adventure that would change our lives.

We spent five years on the outskirts of New Orleans, where we taught ourselves how to garden, keep honeybees and raise chickens, selling our honey and eggs. I ran my photography business, and Evan worked as a licensed massage therapist. 

We liked aspects of our life in the city, but over time, we realized how much we wanted a more rural, self-sufficient existence. We couldn't afford to do something at the scale we wanted in the U.S., so we decided to dream big and look at other countries.

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Evan speaks Spanish and Japanese, which narrowed down our search. We spent the next 15 months traveling through Mexico as full-time house- and pet-sitters before ultimately deciding to plant our roots in the Japanese countryside, arriving at the beginning of 2023. 

Today, we run a small guesthouse and honeybee farm on Japan's Ōmishima Island and own two formerly abandoned homes that we restored back to life. The move is the best decision we ever made.

Buying and renovating property in rural Japan

We emigrated to Japan on a Startup visa, which is meant to help foreigners set up businesses here. 

The home that is now Benton Guesthouse was built in 1953. It had been sitting abandoned for 10 years when we bought it in the spring of 2023. It is built in the traditional Japanese style, with massive wooden beams, interlocking joinery, tile roofs, sliding screen doors and tatami mat flooring. 

We purchased the property for $9,292 — $7,500 for the house itself, $1,500 in transaction fees, a $212 one-time real estate acquisition tax and an $80 annual property tax.

When we got the keys, it needed a lot of cleaning and restoration to make it inviting once again. We did much of the work ourselves, to help keep costs low. We also hired some expert local contractors. 

We lived in the guesthouse throughout the renovations, and completed the work in under six months due to the time constraints of the Startup visa. We wanted to show that we had a viable business and host our first guests before our visa extension application at the five month mark. 

All told, the renovation, including the rental license and amenities cost $29,000. 

We pay about $40 for the internet, $15 for water, up to $120 for electricity and $10 for gas. We spend about $400/month on groceries, and $100 for our phone bill.

We have a small truck that we bought for $2,000 and pay $300/year for car insurance. 

We bought our second abandoned house, around the corner from the guesthouse, in September 2023, for $18,500. The property, which used to be an inn, includes two plots of unmaintained land.

This home is now our primary residence, and we are in the process of renovating and rehabilitating that space as well. 

Take a look inside Benton Guesthouse

We opened our doors to travelers in November 2023 and since then we have maintained a near 5-star rating. To set ourselves apart, we offer a private full-house rental.

To date, we have earned approximately $14,000 in revenue from Benton Guesthouse.

Great care and effort went into decorating the house in Showa-era style, which lasted from 1926 to 1989. We wanted our guests to feel like they were walking into a Japanese grandmother's house.

To us, even the smallest details can make a space special. We sourced a Nintendo Famicom system from the 1980s, for example, for our entertainment room.

We have so many ideas for future renovations, including restoring the former wood-fired bathtub, adding a second bathroom and building an outdoor barbecue patio.

We plan to plant a garden for the guests to enjoy and set up an educational hive on the outskirts of the property. 

Once these additional renovations are complete, we will be able to comfortably increase the number of guests we host from six to 10, which will boost our revenue.

Over half of our bookings are cyclists groups, but there are some couples and solo travelers, too.

We also plan to turn the guesthouse's detached garage into a retro-style roadside farm stand, where we will display and sell vintage items, including antiques, furniture, tools and cookware — many of which actually belonged to the previous owners of both properties. 

Growing our business and looking to the future

We started with 10 honeybee colonies, and by next spring, we will have 20. We plan to increase each year. 

Beekeeping in Japan has a bit of a learning curve, so we're fortunate that a local beekeeper has taken us under his wing to help teach us about the different challenges and predators honeybees face in Japan.

The area is known for citrus orchards, and our first batch of honey this spring had a delicate citrus flavor that people seemed to love. It sold out very quickly.

We also sell tomatoes, tomatillos, and various hot peppers at local farmer's markets. The long term plan for Benton Homestead is to make hot sauce and salsa, in addition to our honey.

In hopes of sharing as much helpful information as possible, we've been documenting each step of our journey on the Benton Homestead YouTube channel and blog.

On our budget, it wouldn't have been possible to do this in the United States.

Ōmishima Island felt like home from the moment we arrived. At this point, we can't imagine living anywhere else.

Dani Benton is an award-winning photographer and the owner of Dani Benton Photography. She lives with her husband Evan, cat Ponkan and dog Bosco on Ōmishima Island, in rural Japan. Together, Dani and Evan run Benton Guesthouse and their growing honey business. To learn more about their homestead and home renovation experience, follow them on YouTube and Instagram.

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