When my husband, Brian, first told me he’s from Laguna Beach, in the US, it took everything in me to play it cool.
“Oh, is that near Los Angeles?” I asked.
Like most elder millennials, I knew exactly where Laguna Beach was — I’d seen every episode of the reality show (I was an LC with a Kristin haircut) and was a superfan of The OC to boot. Seth and Summer forever!
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I don’t know why I pretended. Turns out, Brian’s a Seth-and-Summer fan, too.
I never imagined we’d end up living in the land of beachside cottages and sun-drenched ocean coves I’d seen on TV.
But in 2021, we decided to leave the Bay Area and spend a couple of months in Brian’s hometown. We both work remotely — I’m a writer, and he’s in tech sales — so why not?
We’ve been here ever since. Today, we live in an old-school, 87sqm aluminium-sided trailer across the street from the beach.
Deciding we wanted to stay in Laguna Beach wasn’t hard — I mean, it’s beautiful, sunny, laid-back, and has a thriving art scene.
But figuring out a long-term living situation in such a pricey area required us to get creative.
Finding a creative way to live in Laguna Beach
The median home price in Laguna Beach hovers around $3 million ($A4.5 million) and the median monthly rent is more than $8,000 ($A12,000).
Brian and I were paying $6,200 ($A9,290) a month for our short-term rental — a steep price we could stomach for a couple of months but not something we could sustain.
Luckily, we discovered a quirky little neighbourhood tucked away in a picturesque canyon, across the street from the ritziest hotel in town. It’s filled with mobile homes that sell for as little as $150,000 ($A225,000).
Brian and I are no strangers to alternative abodes — we’d previously lived aboard a 46-foot motor yacht for three years — so the concept of a house on wheels didn’t intimidate us.
When you purchase a trailer in this mobile home community, the structure is yours, but you rent the land it sits on.
We decided to look at purchasing a mobile home as a hybrid solution — part owning, part renting — all for less than what either traditional option would cost.
We paid $212,500 ($A318,410) for the trailer using money we’d saved up.
To rebuild the unstable back deck, fence the yard, re-do the landscaping, renovate the kitchen, and furnish the home — after living on a boat, we didn’t have much more than a TV and a mattress — we took out a $150,000 ($A225,000) home equity loan against the trailer.
All told, we’re currently paying about $5,148 ($A7,713.76) a month, including:
- Land lease: $3,424
- Utilities: $394 (these fluctuate a bit every month, but this is what we paid in April 2024 for electricity, gas, water, sewer, and internet)
- Loan repayment: $1,330
We’re eager to repay the home equity loan to bring our monthly cost of living down even more, and hope to do so within the next two years.
Take a look inside our ‘vintage’ Laguna Beach trailer
Our two-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built in the 1960s. The exterior is original and we love the vintage look.
There’s no garage, just a carport, so we built a storage shed in the side yard for camping gear and holiday decorations.
In our carport, you’ll find a golf cart, which is our favourite way to get around the neighbourhood, pick up groceries or zip across the street to the beach.
When it’s not practical to use the golf cart, we have a regular car and a van for transporting Brian’s surfboards.
We put our own stamp on the kitchen, adding butcher block counters, a tiled back splash, a dishwasher, and a wine fridge.
There are no closets — not one! — in this house, so we had to get creative with storage: My wardrobe is in the living room, our towels are stored in a buffet in my office area, and pots and pans go in the entertainment centre.
It’s unconventional, but we make it work.
Although I have a real desk, I often write on the couch with our 15-year-old dachshund-mix, Indy (short for Indiana Jones).
Brian usually works in the second bedroom-turned-office so he can close the door while he’s on calls. Sometimes he’ll head outside.
We went a little wild with our wallpaper (tropical everything!), including in the primary bedroom.
There’s something so fun about knowing this place is ours to decorate however we please.
The yard is what sold us on this place. It has an outdoor shower and a dining area and gets loads of sun. We added some tropical landscaping, a hot tub, ping-pong table, pizza oven, and a projector screen.
I love sitting outside and watching the hummingbirds dance around our plants.
A ‘less stressful’ version of the California dream
Living in a house on wheels doesn’t exempt us from the typical homeowner headaches. Since moving in, we’ve dealt with an ant infestation, tented for termites, and evicted a family of mice, and we’re currently grappling with a gopher problem.
But keeping our monthly housing costs low (for the area) makes tackling these issues less stressful.
We often enjoy our morning coffee on the deck, take walks down to the beach, and unwind with an evening dip in the hot tub.
We love watching Indy sunbathe on his favourite lounge chair, having friends over for outdoor pizza parties, taking the golf cart into town to grab dinner or hit up the annual Sawdust Art Festival, and turning on the fire pit while we watch a movie under the stars.
In short, we couldn’t be happier here.
We’ve been in this home for two years now, and we don’t plan on moving anytime soon.
Jaclyn Westlake writes books about funny, flawed women trying to find their way in the world. Her debut novel, Dear Dotty, is available wherever books are sold. A recruiter turned career advice columnist, her work has appeared on The Muse, Business Insider, and Inc. You can follow her adventures in writing, beach living, and beyond on Instagram @jaclyn_writing or at jaclynwestlake.com.