The truth about those $1 homes in Italy

Ever travel to Italy and wish you could stay for good? This is what inspired Australian expat Nikki Taylor to move to Italy in 2014 and establish Italy Property Consulting to help other foreigners follow in her footsteps. Taylor’s work helping her clients purchase property in Italy has been featured on reality shows, including HGTV’s House Hunters International and Mediterranean Life. Here’s what she’s learned about buying homes in Italy, including her own.

Where do you live in Italy, and what’s it like? “I am based in Puglia, the number one place for tourism and foreign investment in Italy at the moment, and life is very chill and laid back. I plan to stay here, as I feel totally at ease and at peace, and I’m also raising two little boys.”

How did you end up purchasing your property in Italy? “I have bought two homes in the region—my previous property in Ostuni and my current home in Martina Franca, which I bought in 2023. Valentine’s Day was the day I made the offer, the best romantic gift I could ever give myself and my two little boys. I was walking around my neighborhood and I came across the house. I was so specific about what I wanted for my dream home: a swimming pool, a view of Locorotondo, and a flat garden for my boys. I have done some renovations to the property and still have quite a bit to do to modernize it, but it’s a great blank canvas. It has already gone up considerably in value.”

There must be a steep learning curve to buying a home in Italy. Did you make any mistakes in the early days? “If I could do it all over again, I would have worked on my poker face when doing the initial viewing, as the sellers could see how in love with the house I was... so much so that I ended up paying over the asking price! Not by much, but it was all worth it.”

What’s up with those $1 homes everyone sees for sale in Italy? “The topic of the $1 homes always amuses me, as I really do believe it’s a clever marketing tactic, but also something that is really a terrible investment. The properties are located in areas that are so remote, lack services and amenities, and are not interesting from a tourism perspective. Most of the towns that are offering these homes require that you live there as a main residence, and the restoration needs to be done within a certain time frame. You could easily invest between €50k–€100k [$57,847–$115,694] in restoring these properties, and it would be extremely unlikely to recoup that investment should you need to sell the property down the line.”

Even if the $1 homes are bad investments, are there bargains? “It was off the back of the $1 homes that I launched the very first weekly digital property magazine, La Dolce Vita Lifestyle, where I showcase affordable homes throughout Italy that do not have the restrictions and limitations of the $1 homes, and that are already turnkey and ready to rent out on the tourist market. There are a lot of properties located in excellent areas that are extremely well priced. In high-demand regions such as Tuscany, Puglia, and Sicily—which are the top three regions to invest in from a holiday rental perspective—you can find doer-uppers at excellent prices.”

What advice do you have for others who want to buy a home in Italy, especially an investment property? “Buying a property to use for investment purposes is something that has grown in demand over the last 10 years, given the popularity of Italy for weddings, retreats, wellness, and culinary tours. Someone who buys a property in Italy could not only utilize it for a holiday rental perspective, but also to run retreats and events, which would further enhance their ROI.”

What’s the renovation process like in Italy? “Even if you have the skills to renovate the property, you wouldn’t be able to restore it yourself without the proper building licenses. The permit process depends on which region you invest in and also on how good your contacts are at the local municipality to get a permit approved quickly. In Puglia, it can take up to two years, depending on what you want to do. Flipping in Italy is not really a thing, as the properties do not go up significantly in value, unless you’re buying at an extremely low price in a top area for tourism.”

Got any crazy homebuyer stories to share from the front lines of Italy? “This was a doozy, and hopefully something I never ever have to see again: I was on a scouting trip with one of my private American clients over in Umbria and Tuscany. When we arrived at the property, the agent was looking very sheepish next to the seller, an elderly lady who had been visibly crying. She was explaining to us about the decline in her husband’s health and how the children never visited. We didn’t think anything of it at the time, and she started to show us the property. It is very common in Italy for the seller to be present at the viewing. When she opened the French doors to the bedroom, we saw her husband on the bed, eyes closed, hands stiff as a board! My client, braver than me, checked his pulse—he was gone. I wonder to this day whether the seller knew he had passed away just before we arrived and hoped that my client would want to buy the property, so she went ahead with the viewing all the same. Nonetheless, it was a very surreal experience.”

Need more of la dolce vita? Check out more properties and stories from Taylor below.