• Eight years ago, Debbie Welsch moved to Bali, Indonesia, after being laid off from her job in Los Angeles.
• Welsch wanted to escape the rat race and live a simple life where she'd be free from constantly thinking about money.
• Last year, her mother — now 81 — joined her in Bali. They live across the street from each other.

Debbie Welsch never thought she'd be retired and living in Bali, Indonesia, across the street from her mother.

Eight years ago, in 2018, Welsch was laid off from her dream job as an interior designer for a developer in Los Angeles. Although she managed to secure some contract work after — sometimes even making $100 an hour — she was always worried about not having enough money.

"Everything just seemed like I was not moving my life forward," Welsch, now 55, told Business Insider.

It reminded her of her struggles in 2012 when she was forced to shut down her home improvement business because of the financial crisis.

Back then, Welsch had to lease out her house because she couldn't afford her mortgage. She then started living in a room she rented from a friend.

Over the years, anxiety kept Welsch from moving back into her own home even as her financial situation improved.

This time, being laid off made her realize she had an unhealthy relationship with money, one in which she would always worry about not having enough.

Several hypnotherapy sessions helped her let go of her fears, but Welsch knew she needed a fresh start — away from the rat race — if she wanted to change her life.

The idea of leaving the US started to take root, and by the end of the year, Welsch had sold almost everything she owned to move to Bali.

Trading LA for Bali

Welsch had considered various locations before deciding on Bali.

"I actually looked at the Yucatán in South Mexico. I looked at Costa Rica, I looked at Tulum," she said, adding that none of the places appealed to her because "the vibe just wasn't there."

But Bali was different: Welsch had been there for vacation multiple times before, and she always loved the pace of life on the island.

"The vibe, the energy, the local Balinese culture is so soothing to me. I feel comfortable," Welsch said.

Before she made her decision, Welsch thought it'd be a good idea to visit a friend who was already living in Bali with her husband.

"I spent three weeks just trying to live as a resident versus a tourist, just to see where I would live, what I would do, all that kind of stuff," Welsch said.

Within six months of that trip, Welsch was back on the island — this time for good.

"When I came here, I felt safe, and I felt like it was where I needed to be, even if it was for a few years," she said.

House-hunting took a couple of months.

"I didn't need a big house or anything like that — the bigger the house, the more maintenance required," Welsch said. "I also wanted to be close by to the cafés and things like that."

Through word of mouth, she eventually found the perfect one-bedroom home in Seminyak, just an eight-minute walk to the beach.

Welsch's lease was for 10 years, and she preferred to keep the amount she spent on rent private.

With permission from her landlord, she was also able to renovate the villa.

"It was all just concrete — gray concrete floors, gray concrete walls. It was dingy. There were no windows in the back, and there was no breeze coming through," she said.

Welsch spent six months transforming the entire villa, adding new floor tiles, and even installing a new bathroom upstairs.

"It just needed a lot of work," she said.

Her mother followed in her footsteps

In February 2023, Welsch's mother, Linda Puzio, decided to join her in Bali.

Puzio — then 79 — had just been laid off from her job as a legal secretary in Palm Springs.

Even though her daughter had been trying to convince her to move for over a year, Puzio said she finally relented due to financial reasons.

"My boss retired, and I didn't have a job anymore. All I had was my Social Security to live on," Puzio, now 81, told BI. "I couldn't live in Palm Springs anymore. My rent was going to be $1,500 a month. My Social Security is $1,900 — that meant I had $400 for car insurance, gasoline, food, clothing, electricity, things like that."

It made more sense for her to move to Bali, where the cost of living was much lower.

Now, Puzio lives in a house across the street from her daughter, and the two of them get to spend quality time together.

"She's like my best friend. If anyone's going to hang out with me morning, noon, and night, it's her," Welsch said. "She's in her senior years and needs support, and I have the opportunity to help her with that, just making sure she's taken care of. But there's also a reciprocal thing. I have family here now, so it works well for us."

Living a simple island life

Welsch and her mother aren't alone in their decision to retire abroad.

With the rising cost of living, more and more Americans are being priced out of the US. A single person would need to earn more than $111,000 to live comfortably in LA, while the average household would need to save for 36 years to afford a typical home in LA.

In recent years, thanks to its relative affordability, Bali has become a popular place for people to live — especially digital nomads.

The cost of living — inclusive of rent — in Bali is 52% lower than in Los Angeles, per Numbeo, a platform that uses crowdsourced data to compare the cost of living in major cities across the world. A person would need around $2,400 in Bali to maintain the same standard of life that they can have with $5,000 in LA.

However, the influx of digital nomads has drawn the ire of some, who accuse them of gentrifying the island and driving up the cost of living over the years.

As much as Welsch appreciates her life in Bali, there are still things that she misses about LA.

"In LA, I had a lot of friends, and there's always an art gallery to go to or just a gathering with my friends and sleepovers — all that stuff. I miss the connection with my friends there," Welsch said. "Even if you have friends here, you're still living an independent life."

She also misses her other family members — like her brother and nephews — and some of the beaches in LA.

However, Welsch doesn't think that she'd go back to living there, although her mother feels differently.

"I'll go back in a heartbeat, because why? It is OK here and all, but I moved here when I was 79. I really kind of am set in my own ways, in what I want and what I like. I'm used to certain things, and I miss them," Puzio said.

However, both of them are happy where they are. Living a simple life in Bali has allowed Welsch to stay present instead of constantly worrying about money like she used to.

"I can just be, instead of waking up and going, 'OK, how am I going to make money or what's the money situation in my life?' Money is the first thing I'd think of when I wake up, and money's the last thing I'd think of when I go to sleep. It's not like that anymore," Welsch said.

These days, she doesn't feel the need to keep up with the Joneses either.

"I'm satisfied with a basic life, not being fancy, dressing up, going out, looking a certain way, having a certain car," Welsch said. "We don't have to worry what people think."

Have you recently relocated to a new country and found your dream home? If you have a story to share, contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Deborah and Jason Brawn bought an abandoned house in rural Japan for about $23,000 in 2023.
• The Australian couple plan to restore the property in the coming years as they transition into retirement.
• They say that integrating into the local community is a crucial part of being a homeowner in Japan.

Deborah and Jason Brawn's shared dream was to buy a house in Japan.

The couple — from Brisbane, Australia — had long been interested in Japanese culture and its way of life, having visited the country multiple times over the years.

In 2023, they finally decided to take the plunge. With their four kids all grown up, they were soon-to-be empty nesters — it was now or never to follow their dreams.

"We knew that Japan had an issue with akiya, and because we really love the Japanese lifestyle, the people, the culture, and the old traditional houses, we thought, why not?" Jason, 51, told Business Insider. "Everyone else seemed to be following their dreams. Why can't we?"

A lifelong connection to Japan

The couple's love affair with Japan started with Deborah, who studied Japanese at university in the '90s. After graduation, she moved to Tokyo for five years, where she worked as an English teacher. For three decades, she also practiced karate.

Her love for Japan eventually rubbed off on Jason.

However, it was during the pandemic that the couple first learned about akiya, or abandoned houses, in Japan.

Due to the shrinking population and internal migration toward cities, there are millions of unoccupied houses in rural Japanese towns.

In recent years, the Japanese government started offering incentives — such as renovation subsidies and even free properties — in an effort to lure residents to these "ghost towns."

"I'd actually looked at foreclosed properties years and years ago, wanting to buy a property in Japan before the word 'akiya' had become popular. But I was in a position where I had young children," Deborah, 52, told BI.

Now that their youngest is 18, it made sense for the couple to start planning for the next stage of their lives, including retirement. That's where buying an akiya comes in.

"We wanted a project. Like the word 'ikigai,' we wanted to be able to get up and say, that's our passion now. We've raised kids, we want to go there as much as we can and just tinker," Deborah, a business analyst, said.

However, since Japan's borders were still closed at the time, the couple did most of their initial research online. They joined Facebook groups and spoke to like-minded people to learn more about the process.

They knew they wanted to be outside the city and close to nature. While browsing online listings, they put together a list of potential houses they wanted to see in person once travel resumed.

"We were sort of matching them against what we are looking for — something old, very traditional," Jason, a construction workplace health and safety inspector, said.

In November 2022, after the borders opened, they jumped on a plane to Japan for a quick visit.

In April 2023, they returned to the country for a six-week trip, where they drove around and looked at all the houses on their list.

It was in Mitocho, a small town near Masuda city, where they found the perfect akiya — a traditional Japanese house constructed in 1868, during the Meiji era. Masuda city is about a two-hour drive from Hiroshima, and a 90-minute flight from Tokyo.

"We drove over there, and when we saw it, we just knew that was the one, and we didn't look anymore after that," Deborah said.

The property had been vacant for 12 years before they came along. The couple was told it had served as a sake brewery until the early 1900s.

In order to inspect the property, they had to fill out a couple of forms for the local akiya bank. An akiya bank is a database maintained by the local municipalities for abandoned or vacant houses.

"They were very serious," Deborah said. "It was all in Japanese. We had to fill out a form with all our details, our families, what we do for a job, all that stuff. And then another form about our intentions and what we want to do with the house."

A retirement project

The couple paid 3.5 million Japanese yen, or $23,000, for the akiya in August 2023.

It was a 7LDK, which in Japanese housing terminology means that the house has seven bedrooms, a living room, a dining area, and a kitchen.

There are about 300 houses in their village, and their akiya is situated along a street leading to the community center. There's also a 7-11 across the rice field from their akiya.

So far, the couple has fixed up the front of the house by tidying up the garden, as well as adding a new gravel driveway and car park. They've also restored the kitchen, and gotten rid of the old toilet in favor of a modern bathroom.

"The intent is to bring the house back to its former glory with one or two modern touches," Jason said.

While they were prepared for the challenges of fixing up the old house, they were surprised by the amount of wildlife they encountered, including both spiders and snakes.

"And we've got monkeys, we've got centipedes, we've got bears, and killer hornets too. I was chased by one inside the house, so that was really scary — even though it makes a funny story now," Deborah said.

The language barrier was also a bit of a challenge for Jason, even though he's taking Japanese classes now.

"I can't really speak Japanese, whereas Deb can. So it puts a lot of pressure on her too," Jason said. "It's not like being in Tokyo or Kyoto where a lot of Japanese speak English."

The couple expects to spend the next few years chipping away at this project. They have also started documenting their restoration progress on their YouTube channel.

"We've got no urgent timeframe, and we're not trying to make money out of the property. We don't want to Airbnb it or anything like that. This is for us," Deborah said.

The couple still lives primarily in Brisbane, where their jobs are based. They plan to continue splitting their time between Japan and Australia until they fully retire in "hopefully five to eight years," Deborah said.

Integrating into the local community

When they're back in Australia, the akiya sits empty, but Jason said they've installed cameras around the property so they can monitor the yard.

The couple has also become friends with the real-estate agent who handled their akiya transaction — so much so that he even drives by their property once a week just to check on it on their behalf.

Building relationships with their neighbors and the wider community has been the key to the success of their akiya project.

"We've got a good support network there, but that doesn't just come along. You've got to work at that," Deborah said.

She added that they've been involved in the local community since day one, and even joined the neighborhood association.

In fact, the couple says that participating in the local community is one of the most important aspects of buying an akiya in Japan.

It's also why the local akiya bank was so invested in knowing why the couple wanted to buy the property, Jason said.

In recent years, foreigners have been snapping up these old, abandoned homes, in part due to the low price tags and the lack of restrictions on foreigners purchasing property in Japan. For many of them, it's more affordable to own an akiya in Japan than to own real estate in their home countries.

"In most cases potential buyers are asked their intentions before attending a viewing or submitting an application," Alex Shapiro, the cofounder of Blackship Realty, a Tokyo-based real-estate agency, told BI.

The local municipal governments may prioritize potential buyers who intend to live there, contribute to the local community, and pay local government taxes, he said.

However, each local government sets its own rules, Sami Senoussi, the cofounder of Akiya Heaven, which offers consulting services for akiya purchases, told BI.

"Some rural communities, especially those with aging populations, impose stricter guidelines in an effort to preserve the character and culture of their towns," he said. In more urban areas, including Tokyo, it's less common, he added.

Additionally, potential buyers may also be asked to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to fund the renovations, especially if the akiya in question requires significant repairs, he said.

Indeed, while buying an akiya may be relatively affordable, the cost of fixing the house up can balloon quickly, Jason said.

"There's a lot of time, effort, and money that needs to go into them. And commitment — you can't just turn up in the community and play no part. You've got to put an equal amount of time into the house as much as you've got to put it into the community, and forge those relationships," he added.

Have you recently relocated to a new country and found your dream home? If you have a story to share, contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Dani and Evan Benton moved to Japan on a startup business visa in 2023.
• They bought an abandoned house for $6,500 and turned it into a guesthouse.
• The couple has also started a homestead with a farm and a beekeeping business.

After six years of running an urban farm and renting an Airbnb in New Orleans, followed by 15 months of travel and house-sitting around Mexico, Dani and Evan Benton were ready for their next adventure.

They knew they wanted to live a simple, rural life but still have access to modern amenities. Ideally, they would also be in an area with a nice climate where they could grow as much of their own food as possible.

Their goal had always been to start a homestead similar to what they had back in the US, and doing this in Japan seemed feasible, especially considering that the country has 8.5 million akiya, or abandoned houses, in rural areas for sale.

It helped that Evan also speaks Japanese, having studied the language in college.

Since they always loved old homes and were keen on the idea of renovating an akiya, they decided to take the plunge.

Applying for the startup business visa

In early 2023, the couple started working toward getting a startup business visa in Japan.

Their visa application required them to submit a proposal detailing their business plans.

In addition to their homestead — which would include honey production and a small-scale farming business — the couple also wanted to open a guesthouse. On the side, Dani, 40, was also planning to offer photography services.

They were drawn to Omishima island, which is over an hour away from Hiroshima airport, partially because it's one of the few areas where the startup business visa is offered.

"What the startup visa does is it encourages foreign people to move to Japan specifically to start small businesses," Dani, a professional photographer, told Business Insider. "You get residency, and you have six months to do things like open your bank account, incorporate your business, get everything funded, and obtain whatever licenses you may need."

One of the main visa requirements is that the couple invest at least 5 million Japanese yen, or around $32,450, into their business bank account or hire a minimum of two employees.

Their proposal was approved after a few revisions, and they were granted their startup business visas by the end of June 2023.

Transforming an akiya into a guesthouse

While they were sorting out their visa applications, the couple also purchased their first akiya, which would be turned into the guesthouse.

Their property-hunting process was smooth because they had been looking at listings even before they left the US. Their eventual plan was to have two akiya — one for the guesthouse and one as their own residence.

"We had a list of houses on Omishima that we wanted to check out in person when we finally made it here," Evan, 41, told BI.

While viewing an akiya — which they would eventually purchase as their residence — their real-estate agent showed them another akiya nearby that hadn't been listed online yet.

The latter was owned by a 75-year-old Japanese man who still lived in the neighborhood. His parents used to live in the house, but they died a decade ago. The house has been untouched ever since, and there were even pieces of furniture left behind.

"That ended up being the guesthouse that we bought," Evan, a former massage therapist, said. "We found our house first, but then we bought the guesthouse first."

They paid 1 million Japanese yen, or about $6,500, for their guesthouse.

"It's like the ultimate recycling project," Dani said. "It's literally saving a whole house and as much of the contents as we could."

Thankfully, the akiya was in pretty good condition, and they were able to live in it during the renovation.

"It was mainly cosmetic, so it was just a lot of things that took so much time to clean," Evan said.

The akiya even had a modern toilet that was already connected to the city sewage system.

"But we didn't have hot water for a long time, so while we were doing the renovation, we would have to go down to the public bath," Dani said.

The couple did the bulk of the work themselves and even documented the renovation process on their YouTube channel.

However, they did hire some contractors for assistance since they had a six-month deadline to get their guesthouse up and running.

"If we had had a whole year to do it, we could have done it ourselves," Dani said.

The couple says they spent about $19,000 on the akiya renovation and $5,000 on furniture, appliances, and other household items.

Guesthouse for rent on Airbnb

Dani and Evan aren't alone in being drawn to these old, vacant homes in the Japanese countryside. Due to the shrinking population and internal migration, Japan has millions of unoccupied houses in rural areas.

However, thanks to the low prices and the lack of restrictions on foreigners purchasing property, more and more foreigners are choosing to buy these old homes and breathe new life into them.

The couple's guesthouse is available for rent on Airbnb from 20,000 Japanese yen a night.

They hosted their first guests in November last year, and when their six-month startup business visa was due the following month, the couple obtained a business manager visa.

Omishima is in the middle of a series of six islands that are connected by a long suspension bridge known as the Shimanami Kaido, a famous biking route and tourist attraction.

There is a grocery store and a few local restaurants nearby, as well as a popular shrine and a samurai museum on the island, Dani said.

Like many places in Japan, Omishima is also very safe, Dani said: "We never lock our doors."

Now that the couple has gotten their guesthouse up and running, they'll be focusing their energy on turning the other akiya they bought — which is two minutes away — into their home.

"It was abandoned for 40 years, so it has a lot of work needed," Dani said.

In addition, they're working to establish their farm and honey production business.

"We enjoyed Mexican food and really missed it in Japan, so essentially, we're focusing on Mexican vegetables, growing tomatoes, tomatillos, and all kinds of hot peppers," Evan said.

As for honey production, the couple just harvested their first batch of honey from their 12 bee colonies, he added.

The couple has been living in Japan for almost two years, and the biggest lifestyle change they've noticed is that they're more connected with their local community than they were back in the US.

Not only do they know more of their neighbors, the couple also has closer relationships with them.

"Everyone lives in the same sort of concentrated area, and then they all go out to their fields and meet each other on the way," Evan said. "So we're always having saying hi to people in the street."

Have you recently relocated to a new country and found your dream home? If you have a story to share, contact this reporter at [email protected].