"If you've ever wanted to live in a picturesque Italian village, now's your chance – you can buy a house in one for less than £1.

Ollolai, nestled in the mountain region of Barbagia on the island of Sardinia, is offering 200 abandoned stone dwellings for the bargain price of just €1 (90p) each.

The town’s population has halved over the past three decades, with just 1,300 people – mostly middle-aged childless couples – left, according to thelocal.it.

With just a small number of babies born each year, Ollolai’s mayor decided to prevent the population plummeting further by launching the ‘houses for €1’ scheme in 2015.

But there is a catch – as well as purchasing costs, buyers must commit to refurbishing each dwelling, which are all in a poor condition, within three years at an estimated cost of up to €30,000 (£26,000). They can sell their home after five years if they wish...

But unsuccessful applicants have another option – a number of others towns threatened by depopulation are running the scheme, including Montieri in Tuscany, Patricia in Lazio and Lecce de Marsi in Abruzzo." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...illage-90-PENCE.html

Tempting. Very tempting. Darn, is that tempting!

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Originally posted by jehzsa:
Tempting. Very tempting. Darn, is that tempting!

Seems so on the surface. I wonder what they aren't telling us.

As someone once said, "There is no free lunch".

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"There is no free lunch".

But for sardines.

Yummy!

I could make Sardinia my home in a heartbeat.

Did someone say, "Pizza!!!" ?

You have to renovate the house, and they need a lot of work - the article estimated and additional 30,000 euros. And you can't sell for five years. It may still be attractive, but that is the "catch."

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Originally posted by jhe888:
You have to renovate the house, and they need a lot of work - the article estimated and additional 30,000 euros. And you can't sell for five years. It may still be attractive, but that is the "catch."

STILL, if someone's handy and can do some of the work themselves and retired and has an income, I could think of much worse places to live.......Where else can you own a home for $30k Euro's????

Gustofer,

It’s not that hard to see the catch. Besides renovating the house you buy, you have to live there, in a remote mountain village in Italy. Here are the catches:

1. Income - how will you support yourself?
2. Taxes - you will have to pay Italian taxes - these aren’t cheap!
3. Language - if you don’t speak Italian, this may be an issue
4. Medical - where will you get care?
5. Shopping - how/where will you shop? Groceries?

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STILL

Beyond that...it's Sardinia.

A slice of heaven...

I think the idea of hard work is lost on many young folks today, so it seem like a lot. But I bet most could be done by hand for much cheaper than 30,000

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cheaper than 30,000

The article states "up to...".

I guess it all depends how much you want to "rough it out".

It would be great there- though I know Sardinian is a whole other kettle of fish with regards to the dialect. malloreddus is gnochetti and I remember my boss telling me about casu marzu where he was growing up. That said, it would be great to buy a place and use it for a vacation home. Keeping the squatters out would be a major pain!

How many days of the year must one live there? That could be a vacation home for most anyone. No only that, the equity in the property should increase as well.

What is available for local lumber, plumbing and electrical supplies? Any Lowe’s in the neighborhood?

Buying a truck for the job? My Dodge Ram 2500 is a great truck, but it is likely a giant on their roads. Diesel fuel costs? If it is a smaller, locally purchased truck - reliability? Fuel? Insurance? Service availability?

Building codes and inspections? My understanding (extremely limited) is that things go smoothly in a number of European countries as long as palms are greased.

Bringing your own tools? I would in that case, but aren’t they running everything on 220v and 50 cycles? Shipping tools to Europe? Customs?

Hate to blow holes in a neat idea, but the above would be concerns of mine. Much less having to learn the language...

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1. Income - how will you support yourself?
2. Taxes - you will have to pay Italian taxes - these aren’t cheap!
3. Language - if you don’t speak Italian, this may be an issue
4. Medical - where will you get care?
5. Shopping - how/where will you shop? Groceries?

People must be leaving for a reason. The article says nothing about why people are "leaving for the big cities."

So, Italians are leaving. Strike #3. What's the reason people are bailing? Income/jobs, taxes, medical, shopping, rural sh!thole attitude, HOA fees, no taco Tuesdays, bad internet, etc.?

Spain has the same thing going on. It was in the news a couple years ago. The first google hit is NPR (spit!) about northwest Spain. I won't link to NPR but reasons people are going to big cities because they offer little things like jobs, education, health care, public transit, etc.

I guess western civilization does not fancy just barely getting by working farms on remote rocky hillsides where access to facespace is difficult.

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People must be leaving for a reason. The article says nothing about why people are "leaving for the big cities.

One of the issues is the twenty-somethings are bound by a socially conservative culture. There's very little room or acceptance to do things differently or, new. What we long for or, find charming as American's, they find to be stoggy and stifling. Thus, they escape to the cities where they can open a restaurant or store 'their way' or, not the same way as their grandparents and their parents.


Not having read the book and saw the movie once in it's entirety but, a large chunk of the story to Under the Tuscan Sun is an American ex-pat dealing with and navigating all the issues with Italian building codes along with securing materials and contractors. Granted, it's set in a charming and romantic framework but, the point remains.

One book that is on my short list to read is A Vineyard in Tuscany. Simply, an American and his family, move to Italy and fix up an old priory and raise their family. Along the way, they deal with and figure out all the issues with transplanting themselves to a new culture and fixing an old historic building. His interviews I enjoy and I understand his writing is very captivating.

How are you going to support yourself and float the renovation costs, while you're doing what is likely a full time job renovating the property? And are you going to live in the construction site?

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Originally posted by fatmanspencer:
I think the idea of hard work is lost on many young folks today, so it seem like a lot. But I bet most could be done by hand for much cheaper than 30,000

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Originally posted by BBMW:
How are you going to support yourself and float the renovation costs, while you're doing what is likely a full time job renovating the property? And are you going to live in the construction site?

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Originally posted by fatmanspencer:
I think the idea of hard work is lost on many young folks today, so it seem like a lot. But I bet most could be done by hand for much cheaper than 30,000

It's the perfect situation for a retired guy/family that is handy with tools. Someone that has some fixed income coming in and a little money in the bank and wants a different adventure.

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It's the perfect situation

Bingo! Or shall I say, Tombola!

Plus, the endless supply of sardines. We can't forget about the sardines.

Single 18-35 year old females are probably a bit hard to find there so I'm out.

Hey, it's a relatively small island...