Aussie dad explains how he bought a three-bedroom house for only $30,000

An Australian dad is candidly sharing how he managed to buy a three-bedroom house for $30,000.

Jay Thursfield and his wife acquired the empty farmhouse in rural Japan at a public auction for about $AU30,000 ($3 million Japanese Yen) – a sum less than an SUV. At the time of their purchase, five years ago, the total, including taxes, was $AU35,000.

Ever since, the couple have been sharing online the renovation steps and the logistics of buying an akiya – an abandoned home – in Japan.

The Aussie national median house price right now is $1,154,394, according to Domain.

When the couple bought the vacant home, they were living in a property in the prefecture of Ibaraki, about 50 minutes by train or an hour’s drive to the capital Tokyo. His wife, who is Japanese, was doing the commute.

The abandoned house, which they have been meticulously renovating inside and out – documenting the process for more than 243,000 followers on Thursfield’s Tokyo Llama Youtube channel – was nearby.

Thursfield says in the video – the most popular of his series, outlining the reasons, costs and risks – that the property was not purchased as an investment.

Vacant houses in Japan are called akiya. They may not be abandoned, but just empty and still managed by an owner or a real estate agent. Falling rural property prices and the preference for modern homes has led to the availability of akiya. However, purchasing one is challenging.

Thursfield explains in the video that 14.6 per cent of homes in his region – including apartments – are vacant, which is slightly above the national average. Of that, 56 per cent are up for rent and 36 per cent are unmanaged and not available to lease or buy. Some are holiday houses and second homes. That leaves less than 3 per cent of akiya for sale.

Thursfield and his wife used word of mouth around the community (his mother-in-law owns a café and has a local network) to source their kominka – a traditional farmhouse for artisans and farmers – which needed some love.

There was water damage but structurally it was sound. Thursfield explains in a Youtube tour of the home that the farmer who lived there died in 2014.

Kominka have lots of character, with intricate wood carvings, deep eaves and a handsome, steep roof.

The Thursfields worked with an architect and the original builder, filming the process, step-by-step, and outlaying the reno costs for fans.

“I grew up in Australia and have fond memories of playing footy and cricket and the like in the backyard with my brother and cousins,” Thursfield says his most-popular video, from 2019, which has been watched more than 3.7 million times.

“I wanted the same for my boys. Right now we don’t even have a garden. So I wanted a lawn to mow, play sports, some space to do some gardening and maybe even grow some vegetables, plus we wanted some outdoor space where we as a family could relax and barbecue.

“I love barbecues but they are kind of frowned upon where we are living now in a built-up space and probably for good reason.

“We also wanted a bigger place for when my parents come and stay with us when they visit from Australia, also when friends visit. So price was a factor of course but it was not the most important thing. Also we wanted to stay in the same area close to my wife’s mother, and so that our boys could go to the same school.”

Thursfield says Japanese builders like to fill the blocks with properties, not leaving much room for a garden, and homes are often constructed close to each other, even in rural areas, which allocates more land for farming.

Japan has an “akiya bank”, which pairs buyers and tenants with vacant properties, for cheap prices, he says.

However, Thursfield explains they did not use the akiya bank, as nothing on offer was the right fit. Subsidies for renovations and tax breaks can be available, depending on various criteria, he says.

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