The True Cost of Buying an Italian “One Dollar Home”
During the first half of 2020 many of us found ourselves quarantined, trapped in tiny apartments, and dreaming of running away to live in an old rustic Italian village.
While we were simply dreaming of a fresh start there were a select few people from all over the world that had actually decided to make the jump, enticed by an unusual policy that advertised the opportunity to buy Italian real estate for just one dollar.
I know, this sounds like an advertisement you’d see while scrolling down a sketchy website. You’d be surprised to know it was actually a legitimate offer introduced a few years ago by certain municipalities that promised anyone a home for practically no money at all, or so it seemed..
Having been born and raised in Italy I wasn’t convinced of the legitimacy of these seemingly too good to be true offers and I tried to figure out how to spring the usual tourist trap but as I went down the rabbit hole of information about these “One Dollar Homes” I found out they were an elegant solution to a seemingly impossible problem, even though I discovered that their real cost was significantly higher than advertised.
Why would anyone sell a home for one dollar?
This is probably the most common question that popped into your head when you first heard of this (virtually) free real estate. The answer lies in the demographics of the villages where we find these listings. Although places like Sambuca, Sicily, have a rich history dating back to the Ancient Greeks they have been slowly succumbing to depopulation. These villages have been shrinking in size since the late 19th century when the great exodus from an impoverished south led many Italians to either cross the Atlantic into the New World or move to the industrialized north in cities like Turin, Milan and Genoa in search for better opportunities.
Although the American dream has now been replaced with the aspirations of a German or Belgian paycheck we still see many of the youngest inhabitants of these regions (that are) moving away from home in search of better education and job opportunities both in the Italian north as well as the higher paying European Member States.
This lengthy period of emigration coupled with a low fertility rate has reduced the population of many rural towns, leaving many homes empty and neglected. In order to breathe some life into these picturesque hamlets some mayors are trying to repopulate their towns by giving away some homes that had been left vacant for generations.
You get what you paid for
While it’s true you can have the keys to these homes for one dollar you certainly won’t find yourself moving in straight away. As I mentioned before, many of these properties have been left vacant for decades and will need a whole lot of love to introduce them to the 21st century lifestyle. Giving these houses away for virtually nothing is a type of investment not only for buyers but also for the city that gives away an unused asset to attract new, typically wealthy, citizens that can inject some life into the local economy.
The conditions these houses are in is made immediately clear to potential homeowners from the start and any sale is contingent on the commitment of the new owners to spend at least 15,000 euro to refurbish the property within three years of the sale, further motivated by a 5000 euro deposit that the city keeps if work isn’t well underway within the three year deadline.
Are these “One Dollar Homes” just a myth?
Although the effective price of the four walls and, hopefully intact, roof does come around to just 1 euro (1.18 USD) there are the obvious costs related to transfer of ownership that can go from a few thousand to a maximum of five thousand euros and the aforementioned deposit equivalent to the top of that range. In addition, these houses are definitely not ready to live in and buyers are required to draft a renovation budget for a total of at least 15,000 euros.
These caveats run up the cost of the One Dollar Homes significantly to a point where some foreigners have visited the villages where there are such offers and found themselves choosing to purchase a regular, functional home.
Karl Pierre, a lifestyle blogger with a passion for international real estate, went through the process of finding these one dollar homes while sharing it to his Youtube audience and he eventually decided to buy two, relatively functional properties in Mussomeli, Sicily instead of a single One Dollar Home.
All in all I wouldn’t say that these offers are a scam but over the years programs like these have been launched many of the higher quality listings have already been awarded to new homeowners. It is still possible to buy these One Dollar Homes, or rather these 25,001 euro homes but if you do venture down this path you have to set your mind at ease and understand you are starting a passion project.
Just as giving new life to antique furniture or working on your project car, there is something quite romantic about revitalizing these rustic monuments at the heart of ancient Italian towns but if you are worried about the returns from a project like this you’d probably be more content going down Karl’s route and buying a home that is 45% complete and just in need of a remodel rather than starting from scratch.
If you have always dreamed of living in an Italian “paesino” and want to get your hands dirty to build your new home from the ruins of an antique residence, dive right in to this purchase of love.
