Buying a cheap house in Italy: the real reality.

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In recent years, super-cheap Italian homes have become the stuff of legend.

The Case 1 Euro initiative, launched in 2017, was conceived by the authorities to combat the effects of rural dehousing and rehabilitate neglected buildings. As abandoned houses and apartments were sold in small rural towns across the country, the idea of buying a little corner of Italy for the price of an espresso was appealing to buyers from all over the world. However, despite the lure of a one euro house, the reality turns out to be much more expensive. Most properties selling at this price need major renovations to make them livable. Some are no more than four walls and a crumbling roof.

As a result, many buyers choose to pay more for a home that requires less work. By British or American standards, they are still bargains - it is not uncommon to buy and modernize a property in a beautiful rural village for less than €50,000.

To find out the reality behind the €1 headlines, The Independent met with some low-cost homebuyers to find out about their experiences.

Meredith in front of the view from her property (Meredith Tubbone)

"It was the same village my family was from "

In 2019, Meredith Tabbone had already begun the process of obtaining Italian citizenship through her grandparents when she saw an article online about a lottery for €1 homes in Sicily.

"I read the article and realized it was the same village my family was from," says Meredith, of Chicago.

Within weeks, she became the proud owner of a small two-story townhouse in Sambuca, a picturesque medieval hill town in western Sicily. Although she had visited Italy many times, she had never been to Sicily, but the opportunity to have a place a few streets away from where her grandparents grew up outweighed the risks.

While in some Italian cities you can buy a house for 1 euro, the process was a little different in Meredith's case. Bidding on this house started at just €1 through a secret auction, which she eventually won with a bid of €5,555. Even at such a cheap price, serious work was needed.

"There were no windows, no running water, no electricity," she explains three years later. - "It's a house that was built in the 1600s. "

To carry out the significant renovation, she set herself a budget of €35,000 and contacted a local architect via Instagram before her first visit to Sambuca in late 2019. Despite not speaking the same language, they immediately found common ground on similar ideas, and he went on to spearhead the entire project, which Meredith says saved her a lot of headaches in the long run.

She has since bought the house next door, far exceeding her original budget limit to renovate her €1 purchase. She plans to turn the premises into a dream of a second home and spend every third month in Sicily.

Despite the rising costs, she has no regrets about buying in Sambuca. "If I were building this house in Chicago, it would cost over $2 million dollars, but in Sambuca I can build it for $200,000. "

Meredith's house in Sambuca (Meredith Tubbone)

"I just googled 'Where's the best place to invest in real estate? "

While the appeal of a €1 house is incredibly tempting, it's not for everyone. Some people choose to pay a little more for homes that require much less work.

After receiving an inheritance from a relative, sisters Becky, 40, and Laura Stevenson, 37, from Bradford decided to invest their money in real estate.

"It wasn't enough to put a deposit down on a house in London," says Becky. - "So I started looking for buying opportunities abroad - I just Googled "Where's the best place to invest in real estate?" and I found Sicily. "

The search brought Becky into contact with MyHouse, a real estate agency based in Cianciana, another beautiful hill town in the west of Sicily. Another "one-European city" of Changchang has attracted many foreign buyers in recent years with its efforts to fight deforestation.

The sisters flew to Italy in late 2019 and spent a weekend looking at properties.

They paid the deposit (half the bid) and returned back to England while the agency dealt with the necessary checks. The next time they visited the city was in September 2020, and they already had a home in Italy.

"Sign these documents, transfer the money, and it's yours." - that's all," Becky says. "I remember we had to register in some way, something like a national insurance number, which I did online, it took a couple weeks. "

For the Stevensons, the process probably couldn't have gone better, even though they bought a house during a global pandemic. Becky believes that buying a house at the time actually helped.

"I think there probably weren't a lot of people going through the same thing, so it was pretty quick and smooth," she says.

All in all, the experience was extremely positive for the girls. Only the repair work required some patience as they were getting used to the Italian time frame. While the house was habitable when they bought it, it needed some work to bring it up to a modern standard.

"The quality of work is exceptional. But you just have to get over the timing. If you think something is going to take a month, it's probably going to take six months," Becky says.

The view from Candice and Andy's Sicilian home (Candice Beaumont)

"They accepted us as part of the family. "

Candice, 33, and Andy Beaumont, 39, from Hampshire also found their dream property in Cianciana, Sicily, using the same agent as the Stevensons.

Although they paid more, €35,000, they managed to buy a two-bedroom villa set in the hills just outside the town, with stunning views and 1.4 acres of land.

"The buying process wasn't as stressful as in the UK where you need to take out a £300,000 mortgage," says Candice.

Because property in Italy is so cheap, many people can afford to buy without debt. Aside from the legal red tape that comes with buying a house abroad (legal costs can be up to €3,000), there is virtually nothing holding up the deal - if you have a good English-speaking agent or translator.

Using MyHouse, Beaumont's process was simple. Seeing a suitable property online, they went to see it with their own eyes before placing a bid. The whole process took about four months.

Factually, buying a car turned out to be the only big challenge in their Italian adventure. "We can't buy a car, and if we bring a car from England it will have to be registered in Italy, but we can't switch to Italian registration without Italian residency," Candice explains.

Residency issues are one of the biggest headaches for Brits looking to buy a house in Italy. While it won't prevent a purchase, buying a home in Italy does not give Britons residency after the UK leaves the EU.

In addition, UK citizens can only spend 90 days every 180 in Italy, under the terms of the Brexit agreement. As non-residents, there are also additional taxes on utilities, although Candice says that even with the higher rate for non-residents, they still pay around a quarter of what they pay in the UK.

Besides the positive experience, all five buyers agree that the welcome they received in their Italian paradise made the process even more enjoyable. For many of these towns, whether they are selling homes at a very low price or not, the population is declining. The ability to have new residents part of the year or a steady stream of tourists is considered a huge boost to the local economy.

"Everyone is very friendly. We don't speak Italian, but they are very friendly. We have wonderful neighbors. They have accepted us as part of the family," says Candice.