Everything everyone is saying here is true and more… if you follow the stories of people who have invested in one euro houses it generally costs far more than 50k to do the renovation. But the bigger issue is there is insane competition for these offers and the small towns get total overwhelmed with applications so it’s not as if you could just have one if you were willing to take the risk.

One Euro houses in Italy are, yes, essentially a publicity tactic that the towns themselves struggle to get approval and support for to run. It’s a complicated business from both sides.

“If a local doesn’t want to live there why would you…” I don’t totally agree with that thinking and here’s why. Small Italian towns emptied out because of lack of jobs, young went to the cities. And because of complex inheritance laws in Italy a lot of houses just got donated back to towns. This has happened in many places in Italy, not just the One Euro house towns. But for some people, many Americans for example, tiny half-empty little Italian towns are charming to them and exactly what they are looking for, especially for a second home or place to retire.

I do think that tends to be a win-win situation for foreigners and Italians, because the risk of gentrifying a town with population 2000 or something, most of whom are older folks, it’s kind of less likely.

It’d be awesome if people seek out really good fits for themselves and think about what they can offer the town as good members of a new community and not just what the town offers them in amenities and cheap housing. That would be pretty great. And I think People really want to do that typically. It’s just a better experience that way.

(By the way We help with that exact type of match-up between italian towns looking to attract foreigners and foreigners with something great to offer in a new community!)