Man spent £5.5k buying and doing up VAN to live in – and here’s why he doesn’t want to buy a house

THEY say that taking out mortgage is the biggest debt you'll ever be in. 

And because homeowners will end up forking out thousands more than the asking price for the home.

The pay-off is that with rising house prices you'll end up making back more money than you invest.

But with house price growth at its slowest rate for five years, according to the Office of National Statistics, is it even worth it?

What if you didn't have to get a mortgage? We're not talking about buying a house outright but more looking at alternative ways of living.

This week in the My First Home series we caught up with Mike Hudson, 29, who has his own place to call home for just £5,500.

The catch? He lives in a van.

The engineer-turned-author who's originally from Sheffield decided to pack in his job, stop paying rent and hit the road in his home.

The nomad has now written two books about his adventures - 'From Van to Home' and 'How to Live in a Van and Travel.'

Here he shows us around his pad and explains what made him choose the van life.

When did you buy your van and how much did you pay?

In 2013, I got tired of my day job - I used to work on offshore gas platforms in the North Sea - and decided I wanted to do something different with my life.

I had the idea of converting an ordinary van into a home and hitting the open road.

It was August 2013 that I bought the van on eBay, paying £2,500.

I had to spend a bit to get it running and another £2,500 on the conversion. The total cost in the end was £5,500.

How big is it?

The whole van is 5.5m in length by 2.8 in height and just over 2m wide. The living area floor space is 3m by 2m.

It can sleep two quite comfortably and three fairly comfortably (if one person doesn’t mind the hammock). And the most important thing, I think, for a live-in vehicle: I can stand up in it.

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Why did you decide to buy a van rather than a house?

Houses are expensive. They cost a lot to run and maintain. And you have to commit to one location. But also, buying a house isn’t really buying a house.

You have to borrow a lot of that money, spending many years paying it back – plus interest. You are buying a finance product.

I was a point in my life where I wanted to explore and go on adventures and see the world and buying a house would have given me the opposite.

Sometimes I wonder if people just buy a house because they think that’s what you’re meant to do. It’s just the next step.

A van lets me live in the way I want. It lets me test things out. It gives me inspiration and a huge amount of flexibility. Plus, I’m able to save more money than if I lived in a house.

Who do you live with?

Just me. In the beginning I set off with two good friends, but they left after a few weeks.

Since then I’ve met all sorts of people who have come and travelled with me for periods of time. Friends from home will also come out and stay with me sometimes.

When I’m with other vans though it’s like living with other people – it’s a little van - community.

It could be on the side of a road, in a field or by a river. You become much closer than if you were neighbours in a house or apartment.

How did you save up the money for the van and to renovate it?

I had saved the money from my job working as an electronic systems engineer.

I worked 6 days a week in the office and also offshore in the North Sea for up to two weeks at a time.

I was lucky to be able to have those opportunities as they enabled me to save £10,000 in a relatively short space of time.

After spending £5,500 on the van I had the remaining £4,000 to set off and travel with.

That was enough to keep me going for over a year, which was enough time to figure out how to make more money.

What do you do for furniture?

I built the furniture into the van conversion. It’s all custom built by me – it’s the only way to make the most of the limited space in a van.

The sofa pulls out into a bed that sleeps two. At the back of the van is my office with a fold down desk and simple bench seat.

The kitchen and cupboards are all handmade using simple construction techniques.

I built it all using mostly pine wood and hard-topped plywood and finished it all using an oil finish to bring out the natural grain.

I also carry a couple of fold up chairs and a table on the roof for sitting outside.

How did the conversion go?

I felt like it was never going to end. There was one job after another.

I’d fix one thing on the van and another thing would break. I worked through winter in the north of England, outside for over ten hours every day.

When I finally finished, I was relieved and exhausted.

Are there any issues with the van?

All vehicles need regular attention. I pay close attention to any changes or odd noises that it may start making and I see to them straight away before it potentially turns into a problem.

This is my transport and my home so it’s really important I keep it running well.

I change the oil every year and I try to replace parts before they wear out completely.

I’ve broken down a few times since travelling on the road but I’ve managed to fix it myself each time. I owe that to studying the service manual before I set off.

I know where everything is now. I know a lot of the common engine problems, symptoms and solutions.

What are the average running and repair costs for a year?

The running costs are similar to that of a car.

Insurance costs £400, tax £180, an MOT £40, and the fuel cost depends on how far I travel and whether I am able to share the cost with others.

How do you decide on your route?

I never have a solid plan but I do have a rough idea of where I want to go and what I want to get out of the journey.

Sometimes I’ll only decide on the direction after I’ve turned the key and started the engine.

Sometimes it’s easy to decide on where to go, but other times it can be totally overwhelming.

I try to remain in the flow, listen to what I feel and let things take me.

That’s when amazing things seem to happen. In general, though I go south for winter and north for summer.

Other than your income from books, do you have any other way of raising income?

I have skills and interests in quite a few other areas.

The books are just the most recent way and probably most successful – and by far my favourite because they are the most challenging and rewarding.

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