3w ago

The life swap dream – or a marketing gimmick? The Italian towns selling houses for €1

www.theguardian.com

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1w ago

The Italian towns selling houses for €1

www.theguardian.com /society/2025/jul/08/the-life-swap-dream-or-a-marketing-gimmick-the-italian-towns-selling-houses-for-1

17 comments

Spoiler: the houses are run down or abandoned and need expensive renovations to be habitable and up to modern standards.
- Also, the houses are in poorer towns that are depopulating.
  
  Great; i hate people!
- "expensive" is relative.
  If you compare it with price in the US coastal areas or overrun European metropolitan areas, it is still quite cheap.
  Obviously you shouldn't expect to just move to Italy, hit up a restaurant there for a waiter job and make enough to be able to pay for the house and renovations.
- stardew valley, you say?
Man this with a decent remote work job might actually be enough for me to live outside of canada
- You're glancing at the glossy brochure and assuming the fine print won't fuck you into the mud.
  You're perfect! Sign right here!
  
  I read the article I'd be expecting fine print and wouldn't be accepting anything outrageous, there's a reason I mentioned a good job because I know I'd need a good paying job to keep up with that scammy system
  Honestly I'm more worried how sea currents and jet streams affected by climate change affects things there as I think I'm technically better off where I am now in that regard
It's essentially the Golden Visa, no?
You need a decent chunk of money to renovate, except now you're living far away from city life (which could be a plus or a minus).
I liked the article. The question of what such an influx does in changing a place is explored quite a lot. However ultimately i think that letting a place die out is not in the interest of anyone. At worst it will just lead to a bunch of ruins and at best these ruins would be rediscovered by a new wave of people later, who would have more issues renovating and little connection to the region.
In Germany it seems many dying places are bent on dying, rather than to welcome new people, no matter whether other Germans or god forbid refugees. The same people then complain why the next hospital is an hour away and the bus line is closed.

17 comments