Would you buy a house for 1 Euro?

[tempogain]

It’s happening in one village, a literal ghost town that has never come back from an earthquake 50 years ago because it’s dangerous.

[BiggusDickus]

@Taiwan_Luthiers

It’s a scam. Why would someone sell you properties for 1 euros? If it’s too good to be true it is!

Yes you must use approved contractors, no you may not do the work yourself.

It’s basically a bunch of guys that goes, “that’s a nice flat you got here, it would be a shame if something bad happened to it”.

You’re talking about Italy, which is a pretty corrupt country.

A competent government would not go sell properties for 1 euro, dollar, or whatever the local currency is to try and bring in some rich folk into their ponzi scheme. A competent government would make their country a place someone would want to invest into it, like by having a stable, strong economy, low crime, good social system, strong rule of law, fair competition for all, etc.

They would try to get companies to move in to create jobs to bring people in. With good jobs properties there would automatically become more valuable and people would pay big bucks to move there.

It’s not a massively big scam. Maximum is 15,001 Euros.

[BiggusDickus]

@tempogain

It’s happening in one village, a literal ghost town that has never come back from an earthquake 50 years ago because it’s dangerous.

Caveat emptor will be strong, but it still seems very low risk. If one works online, it seems like a low-risk possible winner.

[tempogain]

I can imagine a lot of potential problems, but it doesn’t seem to be a symptom of any kind of social breakdown in Italy. Unless these deals are more common?

[BiggusDickus]

@tempogain

I can imagine a lot of potential problems, but it doesn’t seem to be a symptom of any kind of social breakdown in Italy. Unless these deals are more common?

There are similar deals in northwest Spain.

[nz]

@tempogain

Unless these deals are more common?

They’re all over Italy. Maybe not 1 Euro, but certainly in the “a few thousand or less” range. Some places will even pay you, if you meet their requirements. Its funny to watch videos from people who bought them. Reminds me of many of the abandoned villages in Kinmen — cats, rats the size of cats, trees, etc. have all made their homes in these houses.

[BiggusDickus]

If you can make money online it seems a pretty low risk punt to me.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

The fact is homes are abandoned for a reason.

If you want to attract people there you make the place desirable. There are plenty of places in the US where home prices are VERY low, as in less than $100,000, but they are losing population like crazy. Usually the reason is lack of jobs, high crime, old infrastructure, or combination of all of these. You could sell these house for 1 dollar and you are still not going to attract anyone.

I mean honestly any digital nomad could think of just moving to places where you could literally buy a home for about 30,000. But even at that price nobody buys, and there’s a reason for this.

[nz]

You’re assuming these are places with internet. There are plenty of places in Italy without running water or steady electricity. Sure, you can set up a water tank and solar panels, but do you really wanna rely on satellite internet for remote work?

[BiggusDickus]

@nz

You’re assuming these are places with internet. There are plenty of places in Italy without running water or steady electricity. Sure, you can set up a water tank and solar panels, but do you really wanna rely on satellite internet for remote work?

There are many risks, but low cost risks.

[nz]

@Taiwan_Luthiers

There are plenty of places in the US where home prices are VERY low, as in less than $100,000, but they are losing population like crazy.

Oh I’ve mentioned these houses in Italy to my mother before. “There are houses in the hearts of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis that are going for less than a thousand USD too”, she reminds me. USD$100,000 is insane to pay for the neighborhoods she’s thinking of.

[nz]

@BiggusDickus

There are many risks, but low cost risks.

I guess that depends on your definition of “risk”. Italy isn’t exactly known for efficiency. If you choose to live in one if these places, you’re assuming you’re planning to truly live “away from it all”. That means you might need to drive for hours on unpaved roads just to get to the “grocery” store — Amazon grocery will not be jumping to save the day when you run out of butter!

[BiggusDickus]

@nz

@BiggusDickus

There are many risks, but low cost risks.

I guess that depends on your definition of “risk”. Italy isn’t exactly known for efficiency. If you choose to live in one if these places, you’re assuming you’re planning to truly live “away from it all”. That means you might heed to drive for hours on unpaved roads just to get to the grocery store — Amazon grocery will not be jumping to save the day when you run out of butter!

The politicians who came up with this won’t want it to fail. Although perhaps in Italy who knows.

Obviously there are many possible negative consequences. However, the investment is low.

[rooftopclown]

Thinking about it, this might not be a bad way forward for our dearest @Taiwan_Luthiers:

1. Get to get out of Taiwan.
2. Probably get an Italian/EU residence permit.
3. Sounds like a great place for the cats to roam around. And the old ladies in the neighborhood could watch the cats when away.
4. Guitars made by an artisan in Italy should be easier to market than guitars made in Taiwan.
5. You can probably fix up the place pretty well with your engineering mindset and skillful hands.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Italy is not known for having competent government.

If you look on the internet a lot of sellers will NOT ship to Italy, you know why? It seems Italy post “loses” stuff all the time.

If there’s any Italian with the drive to succeed, they will be in Germany or France. Currently no rule stop them from just getting up and move there apart from learning German.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

I don’t know. Maybe if I can get a place in Rome or something…

If I’m required to use “approved contractors” and not allowed to do anything myself, then it’s no go.

You’ll be spending probably at least 100,000 Euros. That’s the whole idea. Get gullible idiots to pay contractors money.

[rooftopclown]

@Taiwan_Luthiers

If I’m required to use “approved contractors” and not allowed to do anything myself, then it’s no go.

I didn’t see anything about “approved contractors” in the articles posted.

[ChewDawg]

@rooftopclown

• Get to get out of Taiwan.
• Probably get an Italian/EU residence permit.
• Sounds like a great place for the cats to roam around. And the old ladies in the neighborhood could watch the cats when away.
• Guitars made by an artisan in Italy should be easier to market than guitars made in Taiwan.
• You can probably fix up the place pretty well with your engineering mindset and skillful hands

EU residence?
No–183 days
on non EU passport

[BiggusDickus]

@Taiwan_Luthiers

Italy is not known for having competent government.

If you look on the internet a lot of sellers will NOT ship to Italy, you know why? It seems Italy post “loses” stuff all the time.

If there’s any Italian with the drive to succeed, they will be in Germany or France. Currently no rule stop them from just getting up and move there apart from learning German.

First paragraph I agree. After that it’s a stream of nonsense

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

In fact there are many forum members here who are more than wealthy enough to do this, but none of them do that. They might own a house in Japan (which is apparently not that unaffordable compared to Taiwan), but not Italy, I wonder why.

I mean if you could get a house in say Rome you could rent it out to tourists, but I suspect such a house won’t be 1 euro.