Do You Want In On A $1 Italian Dream House?

“Honey, pack up your things, we’re moving to Italy!” Two villages in Italy are offering homes at little more than one American dollar to lure new residents to their towns in the hopes of offsetting their declining populations. They’ve even launched websites to best match potential home buyers with their “dream” property. Amazingly, potential suitors are even able to apply to purchase one of these homes even before setting foot in the country.

Paolo Caruso, the mayor of Zungoli, one of the villages offering this insane deal has stated “I’ve created a special task force of young volunteers who assist buyers, leasing with convenient construction firms on the restyle… Transparency is key but people must really come see for themselves the beauty of the place, taste the great good and breathe the fresh healthy air.”

Simplicity

The best part about this home-buying process… it’s super easy to get started! Even if you’re not interested, it might be fun to explore the numerous offers. To start, head over to the city of Zungoli’s official website – www.comunezungoli.it – on the left column, look for a bright link entitled “Case in vendetta a E(Euro)1”. Once you open the link, you will be greeted with a list of 50 – 100-meter homes available. They all require some renovation and restyling, which is demanded in the $1 agreement, but this cost is largely tax deductible. From there, download the application form for the properties you could imagine yourself moving into. It’s at this portion of the application at which you must decide if your home will ultimately turn into a private house, bread & breakfast, or artisan shop. Heads up, you must renovate your property, if chosen, within three years. Next, simply attach a copy of your ID and send all accompanying documents to the mayor’s office – email or normal postage is requested. Lastly, when all applicants have been picked, Caruso will send you an official contract regarding the property. This step requires you to actually fly to Italy and close the deal in person.

The fine print does require a 2,000 Euro security deposit and agreement to refurbish the property, but once the property is properly taken care of, the deposit is returned.

A Second Opportunity

There is also another larger town, Mussomeli, in Sicily, which has made this 5 step process even easier. They invested in a new, multilingual real estate agency to handle their own version of these 1 Euro deals.

As above, Mussomeli homes can be seen at www.case1euro.it. Even better, this site is in English. Take a second to look around and view the homes with tremendous potential.

Mussomeli Heritage councilor Toti Nigrelli has stated “Original owners calls us each day to dispose of their old houses. There are 100 on sale now and potentially another 400 are suitable… This project is my life mission but had I dealt with it on my own, I would have gone nuts.”

Clearly, this opportunity is an important call of the mayors and people of Zungoli and Mussomeli. The $1 is much more a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, it’s an investment into their towns for years and decades to come.