Woman buys three abandoned houses in Italy for $5 - check out what she did with them

Updated May 29, 2023, 9:31 am. First published May 25, 2023, 1 p.m. News Corp Australia Network.

American Rubia Daniels bought three crumbling houses in a small Italian town for about $5 in 2019.

Photo: Facebook/Instagram.

When Rubia Daniels saw a lucrative offer on homes in Italy in 2019, she was on a plane within days. This American woman, originally from Brazil but living in California, now owns three crumbling homes that she bought for $3.30 (about AU$5) combined, The Post reported. However, the condition was that buyers must repair the properties within a certain time frame, and the 49-year-old woman is just about managing that.

When Mrs. Daniels, who works in the solar industry, first heard about the cheap houses offered to help populate abandoned towns in Italy, she felt an inner flame. "I was so amazed. It was one of those things you have to see to see if it's true," the San Francisco resident told The Post. "I did my research and within three days I already had a plane ticket, a rental car, a hotel and I was off."

The place she was heading to was Mussomeli, a town of about 10,000 inhabitants in the center of Sicily. She plans to turn one of the buildings into a wellbeing center to pay tribute to the community that has embraced her arrival.

Rubia Daniels bought three crumbling houses in a small Italian town for about $5. Photo: Rubia Daniels/Facebook.

Mussomeli is just one of many towns and villages in Italy offering real estate at token prices in an attempt to counter the dwindling population. It's a trend that predates the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, for example, the Sicilian town of Sambuca di Sicilia became famous for selling its abandoned houses for €1 (about AU$1.60 at the time). Two years later, houses reappeared there, but the price doubled to €2.

Daniels now owns three buildings in the small Sicilian town, two of which have had exterior repairs done. However, despite the low prices, the restoration required between A$35,000 and A$135,000 and the owners were given three years to complete the work.

In Mussomeli, Mrs. Daniels has different plans for each building she owns. One will be used by her while in town. At the same time, to give something back to the community, she will turn the second building into an art gallery and the third into a wellbeing center. The wellbeing center will be her biggest renovation.

Three properties in a small Sicilian town were cheap to buy, but the work to restore them will be expensive. Photo: Rubia Daniels/Instagram.

After purchasing in July 2019, Mrs. Daniels began the renovation process that same year. So far, the exterior of two buildings is complete and the third has yet to be started, but 2020 proved to be a bad year for initial progress. "There was a Covid-19 pandemic and we weren't allowed back in, so I didn't start renovations again until last year," she told the magazine.

For Mrs. Daniels, the town of Mussomeli reminded her of her hometown near the Brazilian capital, Brasília. In addition to buying property for a pittance, she also found warm neighbors. "The people were very welcoming, and everyone wanted to have coffee with me," she told Insider. "The realtors treated me like a sister - they were with me every day while I was there."