If you could purchase a house overlooking idyllic streets, sun-kissed gardens, pristine streams, and quaint bridges of bucolic Italy, then wouldn’t you close the deal as soon as possible and choose to spend the rest of your life standing on the balcony, gazing at the cosmic, green beauty right in front of your home?
I know I would, thanks to the dull, grey, concrete jungle that I am tired of seeing from my actual balcony.
Just the thought of leaving the urban rat race to lead that provincial life can be so alluring that the milieu as suburban Europe is icing on top.
Turns out, anyone who has a dollar for a spare can buy a house in rural Italy. So, if you were going to spend it on something else, then hold that dollar because I’ve got just the deal for you.
$1 Houses In Italy
Numerous small towns across Italy, from the Alps in the north to Sicily in the south, are offering this unbelievable bargain in hopes of drawing new inhabitants to revive their dying community.
Their population has decreased so much that a new birth is a matter of celebration for the entire village. More and more people are leaving these small communities behind.
“Original owners call us each day to dispose of their old houses. There are 100 on sale now and potentially another 400 are suitable”, says heritage councilor Toti Nigrelli.
Zungoli is a province in Southern Italy that is offering bargain-rate houses.
Its mayor, Paolo Caruso, said in an interview with CNN, “I’ve created a special task force of young volunteers who assist buyers, liaising with convenient construction firms for the restyle. Transparency is key but people must really come see for themselves the beauty of the place, taste the great food and breathe the fresh healthy air.”
Zungoli is imbued with hills to hike and scenic streets to cycle around town on. The vista is wild and unsullied.
“We want to make things easy for new buyers“, Caruso added. “My town has upgraded infrastructure, public LED lights and great Wi-Fi. Piazzas and pavements have just been revamped. Life quality is important.”
Also Read: The Decline Of Serie A, Italy’s Premier Football League
The Catch
The ‘bargain homes’ do come with a price. The buyers have to pay a security deposit of $2000 and pledge to revamp the dilapidated property.
The renovation work must begin within a few months and the purchase deed will only be drafted once the work is done. Post this, the security deposit is refunded.
Needless to say, the renovation alone will cost you a fortune.
The silver lining is that for the redesigning work, there are up to 85% tax deductions.
Meredith Tabbone purchased a 600 square-feet home in Sicily. Since her grandfather was born in Italy, she bought the three-bedroom townhouse to reconnect with her ancestral roots.
In an interview with Forbes, she said, “the council-mandated minimum renovation expense is 15,000 euros”. According to her estimates, the entire renovation will cost her about 50,000-60,000 euros.
Massoud Ahmadi bought a three-story home, which is set to have three bedrooms, an enormous rooftop, and entrenched historic features, in Sicily. “I am interested in the process of rebuilding these homes and giving back something to the community”, he said. He expects the renovation fee to be around 60,000-70,000 euros.
Has It Been Worth It For Buyers?
“You can lead a cool lifestyle. It’s simply great”, said Morgane Guihot, who was among the first buyers of these bargain homes.
“The town is close to beautiful Sicilian destinations and not isolated as opposed to other villages. Here you’ve got everything you need, shops, supermarkets. It went better than expected. And even our home — we thought it would be in a worse shape. Oh, we’d do it over and over again.”
Some people, however, were steered away by the run-down state of the houses and chose not to make the purchase. Belgian businessman, Patrick Jensen, was one of them.
He took a long tour of the $1 homes in Mussomeli but decided to buy a more expensive, “superior” abode.
“We were shown something like 25 old buildings, some badly in need of repair, so at the end we opted for a three-room decent building for €10,000 and I invested more money in the renovation. I thought, if I buy a nice home, not crumbling down and I neatly fix it making it brand new again, it would last many more years”, he said.
If you had this choice, then what would you choose? Let us know in the comments below!
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Sources: CNN, Forbes + more
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