A CALIFORNIA man inspired by Finnish cabin culture has bought a mystery island – and it costs less than a car.
Finnish-American Oliver Russell, 24, sold his Colorado condo before he bought the secluded island where he plans to build a sauna.
Although he was raised in upmarket Laguna Beach, Oliver’s always had strong ties to Finland where he travelled most summers.
A payout from a bike accident when he was 19, paired with his infatuation with Nordic sauna culture led to the big buy, according to Business Insider.
The truck injured him so badly he broke his leg, forcing him to leave his warehouse job.
The trauma sparked his decision to leave his home state, where he’d been studying at a community college.
Oliver moved to Fort Collins, Colorado in 2020 and bought a condo, where he enrolled into a local university and landed a sales gig.
But the cross-country move wasn’t enough for him so Oliver opted to move further afield – to the motherland.
He realised that he could study at university for free as a Finnish citizen so felt it was a no-brainer to move there.
Finnish saunas are traditionally enjoyed naked, but being on the quieter side motivated Oliver to pick a secluded space to build one.
In a recent TikTok video on his channel @off.grid.island1 he said: “I speak both Finnish and English so the process was pretty simple.
Russell told Business Insider: “My [Finnish] mom really wanted me to come to school in Finland out of high school, but I felt like I wasn’t ready.”
He sold his place in Fort Collins for around $80,000 (£62,000), taking advantage of low mortgage interest rates while only 22 years old.
The wise student also had some tech stocks, later selling his Tesla shares when they were valued very highly.
Pleased with his financial situation, he moved to Finnish capital Helsinki and spent around two years glancing over real estate listings.
He then stumbled across the private island, whose location he refuses to disclose – and it only set him back a measly $30,000 (£23,000).
Russell told Business Insider: “For land, especially coming from California, you cannot buy anything for that price. It’s less than the price of a new car!”
While it was cheaper than many other holiday lots in the area, this status means the two can’t live in it full-time.
Russell and his girlfriend Helena are now in the process of building a cabin and sauna on the island.
Both are students at a Helsinki university with no experience in manual labour but have done their research via YouTube videos.
They’re now confident they can pull off the DIY projects and have already managed to put up a tent with a bed, table and chairs.
It has storage compartments for their clothes and food but they have to bring any supplies over by boat.
Now the young couple are keen to set up a floating dock so they can transport bigger items.
Oliver and Helena will fell some trees so that they’ll have a steady wood supply to build the sauna next summer.
They want it to be 100 square feet and close to the shoreline so they can take cold dips after sunbathing.
It comes at a good time as Finnish laws are making planning permission a little easier, meaning he won’t need to get a permit if the building is under a certain size.
If their sauna project proves successful, the pair will try their hand at building a cabin which may need a pesky permit.
They want the end result to be a traditional, rustic log cabin featuring two bedrooms, a kitchen, loft and spacious living room.
Russell also wants to add indoor plumbing and solar panels but knows he won’t achieve his ambitions overnight.
