‘Did I make the right decision?’: 28yo buys motel for less than a house deposit

Alex Mangual, 28, and Mark Matula, 30, with their eldest son, Matteo, gave up life in Sydney to run a motel in regional Queensland.

Did I just make a mistake? That was the question Alex Mengual asked herself after paying $355,000 for the leasehold of a regional Queensland motel.

Fastforward 18 months and the 28-year-old spends her days running a business and saving money, while having plenty of time to spend with her husband, Mark Matula, and their two young sons.

If the couple had stayed in Sydney, they would still be working seven days a week and stressed out trying to make ends meet and save for a house deposit like most other twenty-somethings.

Mark Matula, Alex Mengual, and their son Matteo at the Copper Country Motor Inn, Nanango.

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“I can’t imagine what our life would look like with two kids in Sydney right now,” Ms Mengual said.

“My advice would be to think outside the box. This is a solution I would never have thought of.

“While we don’t own (the motel) outright, we’re on track to own it, and we’re living a more comfortable life while we’re saving to get a property instead of dealing with the stressors of living in the city and trying to survive.”

Copper Country Motor Inn in Nanango in regional Queensland.

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The pair acquired their first motel lease three years ago in small town called, Moruya, near Batemans Bay.

“We always thought about moving out of Sydney because we knew we were not going to get a house and by the time we saved enough, it would be double the price,” Mr Matula said.

“I knew we were capable of buying a house if we moved out of Sydney.”

Alex Mengual documents her journey as a motel owner on social media. Source: Instagram.

A week after their wedding, they packed up and moved into the motel.

After the two-year lease ran out, they looked for another one and found the Copper Country Motor Inn in Nanango, Queensland.

“We saved a lot in those two years,” Ms Mengual said. “When you run a motel, you don’t have to pay rent, electricity, even food comes through the business, so we saved a good chunk of money. Pretty much your whole wage goes straight in your pocket.”

The outdoor pool at the Copper Country Motor Inn in Nanango in regional Queensland.

Ms Mengual has garnered a significant social media following by documenting the couple’s journey, with one post: ‘Did I just make a mistake?? Buying a motel as a 27-year-old girly’ attracting half a million views on one platform alone.

For the past 18 months, they have been slowly renovating the Nanango motel, which has 15 rooms, a 60-seat restaurant, an outdoor pool, and five acres including a vineyard.

The 60-seat restaurant in Copper Country Motor Inn, which is being renovated and due to reopen soon.

“It’s just fun bringing people along on the journey,” Ms Mengual said. “I don’t think people think about motels.

“If you leasehold in a regional or rural spot, you can get a profitable business for a fraction of what you need for a house down payment.”

Their plan is to continue running the motel business for the next five to 10 years.

“We definitely want to get a bigger motel and run it from a distance in the next five years — and get a house.”

One of the rooms inside the Copper Country Motor Inn in Nanango in regional Queensland.

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