To preface this, I hope this brings actual discussion and some light hearted humor on a bloody Friday morning in the stock market.
I'm entertaining the idea of renovating an Italian home in Tuscany. Not looking for the actual €1 homes but those that might cost more, be in semi-decent condition and that needs less work.
Has anyone been through the actual process including the visa/tax implications?
What were some of the highlights/low points of the process you've been up to so far?
I have no idea about this, but I do remember people purchasing american property post 2008 and today they are minted. It was a crazy idea then, so never say never.
Everything (especially council permits and other paperwork) is at least 5x easier, faster, cheaper, better quality, and requires 5x fewer permits and people involved.
One thing to keep in mind though is that if you're looking to buy one of the properties "starting from €1" rather than a normal property for sale, there might be requirements on occupying the property for a minimum amount of time throughout the year, either as an owner/occupier or airbnb or whatever.
yeah It is interesting. the $1 homes really needs a lot of work and as Porker said they have to be restored in a certain way.
I like those little towns. I can see myself living there.
Last night I also read a story about 2 Americans buying an old house (kuminka) in Japan. It wasnt $1 house situations but was interesting to see the construction styles. Talk about building to last as life time.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/japanese-country-real…
Great story. Thanks for the link.
I'm sure I saw this a while back, and vaguely remember about some weird conditions applying that made it not so attractive.
I’d also be curious to understand how this might work. Might do some digging later and see if I can find anyone who has actually done it and how much it cost etc
There was an English TV show aired on the ABC? or SBS? a while back documenting a number of people who had gone this route and some of the issues they faced.
I remember getting permits to do anything was a major issue as well as finding tradies who still had the experience to do the renos to the required standards.
Lots of countries with relatively cheap real estate in the countryside - Portugal, parts of Spain, etc.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Costs are hard to predict
- Time frames are hard to predict
- Language barriers can be real issues
- Planning and permits, heritage requirements etc are hard to get your head around ahead of time, and will probably be worse than you expect
That said. I would love to do something similar and have contacted a few agents specialising in this stuff in the past.
They could probably put you in touch with people who went through it successfully, although note agents always want to sell you something…
Yeah I was concerned about the language and permit barrier. Covid is making projects like this difficult to predict!
I think its doable if you are handy and planning to DIY a lot of the work.
Helps if you can get a good visa because you have EU heritage or similar.
I gather Italian property transactions can be very convoluted, so you will need local representation, and I would suggest you would need to be there in person.
I considered doing something like this, but with a $40k euro house in habitable condition before I realised I am sick of DIY.
It could be an interesting way to spend 10years - buy and renovate the first place, AirBNB it to international tourists and move on to the next and after a decade you could realistically have 5 or 6 properties bringing in good income that you could sell and move onto the next thing.
Quite a lot of the ones advertised have conditions that the local mafia contractors have to do a significant percentage of the work. I guess its a good way of bringing in foreign money and ensuring it is spent on local resources.
You have to live there and become part of the community (for several years). Nice dream, but it's not gonna work for you.
okay, now that I've paid more attention… hey your idea could be nice if you're willing. Might be more of a life enjoyment/experience than anything else. Even then it's probably still worth it, unless it costs a divorce/separation.
I was thinking about this too, but saw (not 100% sure) that those places have to be restored a certain way which the local council specifies.