For the last while we’ve been seeing some very intriguing adverts for €1 houses in Italy. Yes, one single Euro.

My partner and I seriously considered looking into it. He speaks fluent Italian, and we have a few friends who live over there, so why not?

If it sounds too good to be true it usually is, though, so we were reluctant to invest too much energy into what was potentially a scam.

Well, it isn’t quite what it appears, but it’s still a bargain. We know this because CNN tracked down a couple who decided to go for it.

Let’s hear from them:

Morgane Guihot, who hails from near the city of Nantes, France, was among the first buyers to snap up the €1 deals being offered in Mussomeli, a beautiful town deep in the heart of Sicily where narrow, ancient streets cluster around a crumbling hilltop citadel.

The home she and her husband paid pocket change for is intended as a second family home.

Most of the deals require the new homeowners to renovate the property.

Over the past year or so, numerous small towns from Sicily in the south to the northern Alps have been offering such bargains in the hope of attracting new residents to revitalize dying communities.

Italy is hoping that foreigners coming into the various rural villages where the houses are on offer will improve the economy and up the market value of existing properties through renovation.

The properties do need a fair amount of work, but Guihot, 27, and her husband, 31, have wasted no time in getting underway.

They’ve nearly completed restyling their 50-square-meter Mussomeli abode, having painted the walls and fixed the floors.

“We just need to finish the bathroom,” she says. “As we’re both artisans and renovators we did most of the work ourselves, which was minimal, and it was great seeing our two-room house come to life again.

It’s all worth it for this view:

They plan on using the property as a holiday home.

They also aren’t the only couple that has successfully secured property on the cheap. You can read about some of the other success stories and wild gambles here.

I might give it another look. Owning a holiday house in Italy doesn’t sound too bad.

[source:cnn]