This Town In Italy Is Selling Houses, Actual Houses, For €1!

You! Yes, you reading this now! How would you like to become the owner of a house for the price of 2.5 Freddoes?

"But is this house made of delicious, highly-sugared milk chocolate that has been carefully sculpted into the shape of a frog?" I hear you ask. Well, no it is not, but frankly that should not be what concerns you here, let me just reiterate. You can purchase a house in Italy for €1.

Now, time to delve into the specifics of this mother. When we say Italy, we are more specifically talking about the town of Sambuca in Sicily. You get to live in Sambuca. The town is located about 50km from Palermo, Sicily's biggest town.

Their reasons for selling the homes - which are owned by the city itself - at this stupidly discounted rate is to try curb the town's depopulation problem. Emigration and an ageing population have made resident concerned that the town may be slowly dying and so they are trying to lure more people to come and move to the town.

At this point you might be thinking this all sounds well and good. Well, this is also the point where we have to turn our attention to all the many, many strings that are evidently a part of this deal.

Imagine that you are buying the 2.5 Freddoes. You get to own the 2.5 Freddoes, sure, but as part of the purchase you are also obliged to pour sizeable amounts of cash into renovating and upgrading the Freddoes, perhaps through the introduction of caramel, biscuit pieces and some of the more expensive nuts - to the tune of €15,000.

If you purchase one of these homes it is under the proviso that you spend at least €15,000 refurbishing it. You will be asked to place a €5,000 deposit as a guarantee for this, which will be returned to you once any renovations to at least this cost are complete. You will have three years from the time of purchase to complete these renovations.

Some of the houses have already been sold at auction, and each went for slightly more than the starting price of €1 to be fair. The cheapest went for €1,000, with the most expensive eventually being sold for €25,000. Naturally enough, the prices for the other fourteen varied between these two poles.

So what are you waiting for? To acquire €1+€15,000+€5,000 so as to be able to afford this? Well, that is entirely fair.