Why we buy a house in Italy instead of regional Victoria.

Moving to Italy may not seem like an obvious alternative for those who can't afford a property in the Australian housing market, but that was exactly the decision Jarred and his wife Aurora made earlier this year. The couple were looking for a house in the Victoria region, hoping to find a place they could call home for themselves and their two young children. However, after an unsuccessful attempt to buy a home in Castlemaine, Victoria, which sold for $50,000 above the asking price, they decided to remember the plan to move toTuscany, Italy, where Aurora grew up.

In the town of Arezzo, a couple is considering "very nice" homes for $300,000. Much less if they decide to opt for an apartment.

We talked to Jarred about the decision to give up on the Australian dream and look elsewhere. Here are his words. "We didn't want to get stuck."

We were a little downhearted to miss this house in Castlemaine. It only had two bedrooms, and the most appealing thing about it was that it was almost within our means. But then it was sold $50,000 above asking price. We felt like we would need to save more money for a down payment, my wife would have to work more, and we would be under more pressure.

We didn't want to be dependent on a 30 year maxed out loan without knowing what was happening with interest rates. In addition, there were limited childcare options in Castlemaine.

We were planning to move to Italy back in 2020. We already had tickets, we were ready to go. But apparently there was a pandemic then, and we've had another child since then.

We always wanted to move to a country area, so we considered Castlemaine. But we couldn't afford to buy a house there, so we thought, "OK, let's keep it and move to Italy." We realized that it might be easier now while the kids are out of school.

Living in Italy and being close to my wife's family, giving the children the opportunity to experience a different way of life and being bilingual was an important advantage for us.

Big changes

The first three months were pretty awful, to be honest. Aurora's mom knew people who had a vacant house sitting idle and we could move in there. We were grateful that we didn't have to look for rent, but there was a lot of work to be done to make it livable....

Very happy to see my wife's family, to admire the scenery. There are many festivals, social events here - all of them really wonderful.

There have been ups and downs. But now there is beginning to be a sense of "life" and not just preparation for it.

And I am surprised at how resilient the children have been. Of course, my oldest, who is three years old, found it difficult to part with friends, attend kindergarten, and live far from family. But now we see opportunities and positive moments.

Evaluating the options

Our goal is to stay here for at least two years, possibly longer, and we are just starting to explore our options. My wife is looking into various opportunities for teaching English, and I will probably do the same at first. We are still figuring out how much we will earn and what our options will be.

Our initial deposit for housing in Australia is simply much higher here, but we need more time to see what happens with work.

We were looking at two or three-bedroom apartments in the city for 80,000 to 100,000 euros (approximately 115,000 to 145,000 dollars). Or there are really nice houses for 350,000 dollars. Places outside the city, huge old stone villa-houses.

There is also a property that has an old stone farmhouse, as well as apartments that can be purchased separately or all together. Together with friends, we could each spend $90,000 to buy a large place in the countryside.

We just want to be in a position where we can be comfortable and work, but not worn out by all the other stresses of life.