Name: Was Italy's $1 Home Scheme Worth It? | True Cost | Insider News
Uploaded: 2024-02-22T03:15:05.000Z
Duration: 13 min 45 s
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Imagine paying as little as €1 for a home like this.

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That's what happened in Italy a few years ago, in parts of Italy, they are practically giving houses away.

The plan was to inject life and money back into dying towns.

But for many foreign buyers, it wasn't smooth sailing.

We met Tamara and Gary Holm in 2019 when they had just bought their home in Sicily, words are failing me.

The couple had their work cut out for them.

It seemed the house had gone untouched since the 19 sixties.

We went back to Sicily to see the transformation and find out exactly how much they spent on it.

Ok, let's talk money because that's what everybody wants to know.

So a lot of my friends were saying to me, look, it seems like a scam and it's, it's probably too good to be true.

And beyond the one year old price, how much did buyers actually end up spending?

The lock works they began their search for a Sicilian home, like many others.

After seeing the media hype surrounding the scheme, we heard about it through the uh CNN article.

So I think we definitely had some doubts of like, are they really selling houses for a dollar?

The couple narrowed their search to the town of Sambuca in central Sicily, like hundreds of towns across Italy, its population had been shrinking for decades as younger generations left the countryside for bigger cities.

Originally, the local government put up 16 homes in Sambuca on sale for €1.

Most sold for that amount, but some in better condition went to auction.

That's what happened in Tam and Garry's case.

I kind of knew that what we ended up buying was the one just in my gut.

More than 600 year old townhouse with two bedrooms and a roof terrace with views over the town.

At first the couple thought they'd just spruce it up and have a place livable.

We went in thinking we're just gonna paint it nice.

Yeah, just some new new furniture, some new appliances, but a bing.

But they soon realized they'd have to spend a lot more money than planned.

There was definite work that needed to be done on things like repairing a leaking roof that had caused mold throughout the house and moving walls to create a more modern living space.

On top of the €19,000 for the house, they paid €4000 for the agent fee.

Then a one bedroom house next door came up for sale at €8000.

So then we had to buy that, of course, which added another €4000 agency to join the two properties.

They needed to tear down a 3 ft stone wall.

The central staircase needed reengineering.

Then we go from here into this room and this room and they put new support beams in place.

You gotta make sure the place doesn't fall down.

And so that restructuring definitely was a bigger expense than we had anticipated after four years, this is how it's been transformed, refinished walls, new tile in the bathrooms in a refurbished rooftop terrace that will eventually hold an outdoor kitchen.

As for the total cost of the renovation, we'll let Tam and Gary do the math later.

It wasn't just young people moving into the cities that emptied out towns like Sambuca.

An earthquake shook Sicily in 1968 reducing thousands of properties to rubble and leaving many more, too unsafe to live in devastation in Sicily where earthquakes have obliterated old towns and villages south of Palermo, the capital.

Now more deaths and injuries have brought about a mass exodus to the Italian mainland.

New settlements were built outside but the old town centers were neglected.

Italy was also hit hard by the global economic crisis.

In 2008, many residents left the country altogether.

So the more people come the better we are.

Italy's first one year home scheme started in semi a town in western Sicily.

In 2008, the town had around 4000 old crumbling homes.

At the time, many owners couldn't afford the cost of renovations or the tax they had to pay on a second property.

So they simply handed them over to the city to sell the scheme spread across Sicily and to the mainland.

And by 2019 headlines were attracting buyers from around the world, but as quickly as news spread about the one year old homes, so did reports that the scheme might be too good to be true.

On top of the purchase price, home buyers face added costs like legal expenses and agent fees that can range from 2000 to €5000 to make sure buyers actually stick around and invest in the property.

Some schemes also ask for a deposit of several €1000 which will be returned if the renovation work on the facade is completed within three years.

But there was also the state of these homes while some homes could be restored and made livable for between €45,000.

Danny mcgovern bought a one year old house in the Sicilian town of Mussa Meli in January 2020.

Now, I wanted to live somewhere that was quiet and tranquil.

I guess the antithesis of London cos I'd been there for 23 years.

Danny spent several months looking at more than two dozen homes before settling on this one which he bought for €1.

But then the pandemic struck, Danny was stuck in London and the property suffered.

And then when I returned to Muss Mali, there was a lot of extra damage that had been done to the house.

A leaky roof in the house next door caused a massive amount of water damage in Danny's home.

The cost to renovate it went were doubled.

So this was the original €1 house that I bought.

You can see though because it hasn't been looked after.

Danny sold the house back to the agency for €1.

So even though you might find one, that's a €1 you've gotta be really careful to look at, you know, what are the houses next door?

What he eventually found was this house I got this house for under 10 grand.

You know, I still need to do quite a bit of work on it.

The bathroom needs to be totally renovated.

The house was also furnished, which is amazing.

The main things for me and what you need to look out for is are the foundations good.

Are there people living in the houses next door?

Um it seemed to be fine and perhaps the best part of the house, the stunning view over the Sicilian countryside.

Before buyers like Danny started snatching up homes in Mussel, the population had fallen to about 10,000.

But if you counted all the empty homes, there was enough space for 40,000.

This is Tati Negrelli, the deputy mayor of Mussel.

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Was Italy's $1 Home Scheme Worth It? | True Cost | Insider News

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