Newsweek Exclusive Feature
Can moving to Italy wipe away your mortgage woes and land you a property faster? One U.S. couple spoke with Newsweek about how their big move paid off.
Plenty of people in the U.S., and indeed all around the world, can't help but feel drawn to the slower, simpler and more tranquil life on offer in Italy—a nation famed for its beautiful countryside, medieval cities, azure shorelines, culture and cuisine.
Kristina and Paul, a British-American couple who'd prefer to keep their full identities private, looked to Lago d'Iseo in search of their first home in 2020, despite focusing their initial house-hunting efforts on Chicago. They made the decision after setting their sights on a derelict villa that totaled just 23,000 euros ($25,000)—a far cry from the upwards of $300,000 they'd likely have needed to spend if they had purchased a home in the Windy City.
The Millennial couple were confident that purchasing the Italian property would serve as a speedier ticket to home ownership. The median listing home price in Chicago, as of April, was $375,900, and the couple knew that they'd have to wait and save up for a long time to get their foot on the property ladder there.
"We are both teachers and met while living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, back in 2013," Kristina, who is American, told Newsweek.
"We adore Vietnam, but after three years of living there, we decided to take teaching jobs in the United Arab Emirates. Our plan was to save up for a deposit for a house in Chicago while working in the UAE."
"While scouting Chicago properties through a real estate agent, and trying to secure a mortgage, we took a road trip through Europe. During this trip we stumbled upon Lago d'Iseo in northern Italy and absolutely fell in love with the place. For fun, we searched how much properties in the area cost, and realized that we could afford to buy a fixer-upper with the cash that we had started to save for our future Chicago home," she added.
Kristina, 38, had been living in Chicago before she moved to Vietnam and met her husband, who holds British and Polish citizenship. He quickly fell in love with the city after a few vacations and got onboard with the idea of purchasing a family home and laying roots there—but life had other plans.
These plans proved demanding to say the least, but the couple knew that even though their aspirations for their Italian property were ambitious they'd eventually be able to get the job done, thanks to Paul's handy skills in construction work.
"Paul has a background in home renovation, so we were excited by this idea of creating something that is totally our own," Kristina said.
"We closed on the house in 2020 and spent the next few years planning what to do with it from the UAE, where we were still working and saving up more money for the renovation. We finally made the move to the lake in August 2023, after used the area as a wedding destination in 2022 and starting renovation work on the property in March 2023."
The pair are now documenting their renovation journey on TikTok, where they go by @worldsyouroystermushroom and have amassed millions of views.
"We were saving up for a down payment for a house in Chicago, but being a bit impulsive, the opportunity to own an entire house with no borrowings in our favorite place in the world ultimately trumped our dreams of a Chicago greystone," Kristina said in one of the couple's viral videos.
The couple's journey from saving for a house in the U.S. to renovating an Italian ruin underscores a growing trend among Americans who feel disillusioned by the state of the domestic housing market.
Kristina and Paul were fortunately able to find a home that they loved and that had plenty of potential for improvement.
While their home is in the north—in the same region as Milan—and boasts a heavier price tag than the internet-famous "one-euro houses" of the late 2010s, it has turned out to be a good deal for the couple.
Why Are Americans Moving to Italy?
Kristina and Paul's adventure connects to the broader phenomenon of regional authorities in Italy's deep south, like Calabria and Sicily, selling homes for as low as a few euros, all in an effort to attract foreign investment and combat the population decline that has been unsettling the Italian government for years.
While the towns often listed in the "one-euro home" lineup tend to grapple with economic challenges and underinvestment, they offer a unique appeal to people from overseas, like Kristina and Paul, who are drawn to a slower, more community-focused lifestyle away from the urban frenzy of large cities.
Italy's "one-euro homes" began going viral in the late 2010s. Proprietors had started selling off crumbling, abandoned homes for headline-grabbing fees to attract foreign investors that they hoped would rehabilitate these forgotten townhouses, and inject some economic movement into the area they're situated in.
Some of the Americans who got in on the deal sought the homes out with the idea of creating a retirement or vacation property, others were keen to flip the homes and generate a healthy profit.
While homes that were being auctioned off for alarmingly low prices could be found across Italy, the majority were based in the central and southern regions of Calabria, Abruzzo, Sicily and Molise. Some small towns in these regions have suffered from plummeting inhabitant numbers and a brain drain, as younger Italians seek out cities in the north like Milan for a wider range of educational and employment opportunities.
"We realized that we could afford to buy a fixer-upper with the cash that we had started to save for our future Chicago home."
Their older relatives may have then found themselves with no one to bequeath their properties to, which led to them being passed off to local authorities.
Parts of these regions had also fallen victim to historic imbalances of investment and project funding from the Rome-based government, and the foul-play of criminal organizations. With many Italians unlikely to take on the crumbling homes for these reasons, the properties were opened up to rest of the world.
In 2021, the region of Calabria planned to offer up to 28,000 euros, which now equates to around $30,000, over a maximum of three years to people willing to relocate to the region's small villages in the hope of reversing population decline.
Italy's efforts may have paid off as the rate of Americans registering to reside in the European nation shot up in recent years. The number jumped from 3,951 in 2019 to 6,813 in 2022.
The U.S. Housing Market
Mike Pappas, the CEO of Florida's largest independent real estate brokerage, spoke with Newsweek about global real estate trends, and the movement of people looking further afield for more feasible options.
"Buyers are still moving quickly on the new properties that come onto the market that are priced well and are in good condition," Pappas told Newsweek. "Having said that, when the interest rates pass 7 percent, we see some buyers pausing on making a purchase as the increase in cost takes them out of the market."
"We see some buyers pausing on making a purchase as the increase in cost takes them out of the market."
"First-time buyers are dealing with having to compete with cash buyers. Getting prequalified is critical, but the hometown hero program for first-time buyers is great because it provides 5 percent for a down payment of up to $35,000. This is a no interest, no payment loan that is paid off upon sale or refinance," he added.
Ralph DiBugnara, the New York City-based president of Home Qualified and senior vice president at Cardinal Financial, reflected on the rising cost of purchasing a property in the United States.
"The cost of living has definitely risen since 2019 as home prices have risen. What is separating today's prices from those of the past real estate booms and busts of the 80's, 90's, and 2000's is that this market lacks homes available for sale in most major markets," he told Newsweek.
"That is causing higher prices and bidding wars even in an environment where payments have become much higher in an increased interest rate environment. Along with higher rates, new buyers are facing increased insurance costs and tax costs since 2020!"
DiBugnara added: "Next generations, like Gen Z, face the dilemma of buying now with a higher payment or waiting till rates come down and then paying more for the home."
Steven Andrews, a real estate investor and author of The New American Dream, added that it is "harder now for younger people to buy real estate than it was in the past.
"Properties are at all time high and interest rates are high as well. But, keep in mind, interest rates are not at an all time high, because historically interest rates have been somewhere between 5 percent to 7 percent," Andrews told Newsweek.
While they may have found a way out of the U.S.'s demanding housing market, the couple are now focused on building memories in the country that they had never planned to settle down in.
"This place is so special to us. We look forward to continuing to build our lives here," the pair said.
Their long-ago dream of purchasing a home in Chicago may once again be on the cards in the future.
"As more listings are coming on the market we are actually seeing a slowing of price increases which is encouraging to buyers," real estate broker Pappas, said.
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