Lifestyle

Family tired of paying £23,000 in rent a year build their own tiny home and travel the world


Four years ago Spencer and Bela realised they wanted to make a change (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)

A family fed up of paying thousands on rent each year have done what we all fantasise about and built their own house.

Now they get to travel the world by renting out that tiny home to tourists. Genius.

Bela Fishbeyn, 34, and Spencer Wright, 32, worked out that they were throwing around £23,000 just to rent a home with their daughter Escher Kamalova, three.

Four years ago Spencer was working full-time while Bela worked in an office four days a week. They were tired, rundown, and working hard just to spend the majority of their money on rent.

While most of us just despair over the reality of renting, Bela and Spencer chose to make a change – and they say anyone can do the same.

They set about making a tiny home for the grand cost of £100,000, naming it The Escher after their daughter.

They gave up renting to build The Escher, a tiny home named after their daughter (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
The house cost £100,000 to build (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)

The end result is pretty glorious – what the house might lack in size it makes up for in stylish design, a hideaway bedroom, and a proper kitchen with all the mod cons you could want.

The family now rent out the home, which sits in Boulder Creek, California, with amazing views of the valley, for half the year so they can travel the world with the money they earn.

Bela, who is now the executive managing editor of The American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB) at Stanford University, said: ‘I don’t think we’re outliers in too many ways… we’re a young family, interested in our health, freedom, and opportunity.

‘We’re tight-knit and love taking on projects together as a way to learn and develop our futures.’

Bela is able to work remotely while Spencer stays home and looks after the family, giving them the freedom to travel in the summer and winter.

The Escher’s living space – a large ‘garage door’ system allows the inside and outside to flow seamlessly (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
The kitchen (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
The home makes the most of its limited space (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
Look at that little dining area! (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)

Spencer says: ‘This big thing that sets us apart came about because we’ve taken small steps, over and over again, that each time gave us more control over our lives.

‘We’ve slowly increased Bela’s ability to work remotely – now she’s fully remote. We also decided that I should stay at home and work on family projects so that we could make the most of Bela’s remote work.

‘We built a tiny house in order to beat a terrible housing market in the San Francisco Bay Area.

‘These are decisions that most people could push for and accomplish over three to five years. It’s just about prioritising freedom and hustling on margins to make it happen.’

A ladder leads up to Escher’s bedroom (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
A cosy hideaway for the three-year-old (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
A king-size bed in Spencer and Bela’s room (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)

The family originally lived in the tiny home full-time, but after eight months listed the property on Airbnb for between £150 to £275 a night.

Along with a stay in a beautifully decorated tiny house, guests get access to over 20 acres of woodland and hiking trails, a furnished canvas Belle tent, and a 300 square feet deck with panoramic views.

They’re also planning to add a new cedar soak hot tub this year.

Renting out the home has given the family the freedom to travel all over the place.

‘While we were first bringing the house online as a rental, we played things pretty conservatively, keeping our travels fairly limited to California and visiting family in North Carolina, with some short trips to Mexico and the like mixed in,’ Spencer explains. ‘But now that the house is stable and renting well, we’ve been a bit more adventurous.

‘We just got back from a five-week trip to Spain and in February we’ll be touring a fully-loaded Sprinter van for a whole month.

The house sits in Boulder Creek in Californi (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
The family rent the home out on Airbnb for around two thirds of the year (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)

‘In the background, we’re also trying to develop an A-frame home outside of Asheville, North Carolina as a second property.

‘Our long-term goal is to get short-term rental homes set up in five different places, three domestic and two international, so that we can still travel but do it to our own homes, rather than renting while we travel.’

Bela and Spencer say that giving up renting and overhauling their lifestyles is the best decision they’ve ever made, and they haven’t looked back since.

Bela says: ‘Our favourite thing about the property is sharing it with others. It’s a home that really shifts your perspective. You feel the transition into a different style of home and a different pace of life,” added Bela.

‘Most of all, I think people are blown away by how spacious 300 square feet can feel. With the right design, you never even notice. Instead you’re drawn in by the quality of the home and the openness to the outdoors.

The family say they’ll never go back to renting traditional properties (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)
They’re able to go on so many adventures (Picture: Mediadrumimages/TheEscher/RyanTu)

‘In many ways, the idea of a tiny house has been on our minds since our honeymoon nine years ago.

‘We stayed in a tiny cabin on a farm-stay in the North Carolina mountains with an incredible view and a dreamy outdoor cedar soaking tub.

‘It was so perfect, we actually tried to cancel a trip we had planned to Chicago just so that we could stay longer. In that moment, we fell in love with simple homes that over-deliver on views, tranquillity, and luxurious amenities – and now we want to share that experience.

‘When we were in the housing market, we were in a one-bedroom cottage in a suburb, then we moved to a slightly bigger duplex in Oakland, California.

‘I wouldn’t say that either was better in any way to our tiny house, but they were bigger and a lot less work.

‘But what can I say… the view, the freedom, the value, the beauty. There’s no way we’d ever go back to renting those sorts of places, now knowing that tiny houses are an option.

‘It’s a very peaceful place to have a home, it’s way beyond where we thought we’d be living in our thirties. It’s truly a dream home, not a starter home.’

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