Sharing her story with Business Insider , Rubia Daniels (California, USA) said she was very surprised when she first heard about affordable housing in Italy.
To verify this, she personally traveled to Europe and "closed deals" for three houses in a small town in Sicily in mid-2019. Remarkably, Ms. Daniels only spent about $3.30 to own all three properties.
Rubia Daniels is renovating her new home after purchasing it. Photo: Rubia Daniels.
Buy a house at a ridiculously low price.
Commenting on her three homes, Ms. Daniels said that the suburban towns in Italy reminded her of her childhood home in the suburbs of Brasilia (Brazil). However, what surprised her was the incredibly warm welcome she received from the residents. Not only did she love the town's rich history, but Daniels was also enthusiastic about the idea of renovating the abandoned houses.
"This is very good for the environment. We need to stop building and start repairing what already exists," she said.
Currently, Ms. Daniels has different plans for her three homes: one to be renovated into an art gallery, one to live in, and the other to be used as a community health care facility.
Renovations began in 2019 but were temporarily halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Daniels is currently traveling back and forth between the US and Italy to complete the house design.
The house's condition before and after renovation. Photo: BI.
"Eager" for customers to come and buy.
In fact, Ms. Daniels is not the only one who bought affordable housing in the campaign to revitalize uninhabited towns in Italy.
Urbanization has led to a decline in rural populations while cities have become overcrowded due to high population density.
In 2021, nine villages in the south of the country offered to pay $33,000 to Millennials to move in, in exchange for helping to revitalize the towns' populations. The common thread among these places is that they have fewer than 2,000 residents, meaning that without immediate action, they could become "ghost towns."
Previously, another province, Calabria, also attracted attention when it sold 12 houses for $1.14 each in the village of Cinquefrondi with the aim of repopulating the population. In 2019, the town of Cammarata (Cammarata province) even gave away houses for free to anyone who wanted to live there. According to Vincenzo Giambrone, the town's leader, this was part of an effort to prevent the town from becoming "a pile of ruins."
You don't even need to go far from the city center to buy a $1 house; the town of Maenza, near Rome, is selling around 100 houses at similarly low prices. According to CNN , these houses were built in the 1700s and have been abandoned for years, so they need people to live in them to revitalize the town.
Some houses costing $1 in Italy. Photo: BI.
However, living in a $1 house is not easy at all.
According to Business Insider , most homes in that price range are in dilapidated condition and often require significant renovations. Therefore, even if you only spend $1 to buy the house, you may have to spend thousands more on repairs if you want to move in.
BI reporter Tom Murray then toured several $1 homes and found that those without furniture were easier to renovate than those with lots of furnishings. "They looked like something out of a horror movie," Murray said.
However, if you're lucky, you might still find a bargain in the form of a house with a solid structure and not too much damage.
To compensate for the lack of amenities, the towns Murray visited all had friendly people, rich cuisine , and pleasant weather. Residents in Sambuca have even started learning English to boost tourism, so you can easily communicate with them.
Here are some photos of houses after renovation. Photo: BI.
A Business Insider reporter expressed optimism about the future of these small towns, stating, "The day these towns are teeming with Americans, Britons, Russians... may not be far off."
However, Murray also advises prospective homebuyers to gather information about the property's condition and have a reasonable renovation plan in place before purchasing.
(Source: Zing News)
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