Woman buys house in Italy for Rs 85, spends Rs 3.8 crore in renovations: 'I will never sell it'

The financial advisor from Chicago spent $6,200 (a little over Rs 5 lakh) to take ownership of the home in Italy's Sambuca di Sicilia. (Image credit: @meredith.tabbone/Instagram)

Meredith Tabbone, a financial advisor from Chicago, had not even seen the house she had just bought in Italy's Sambuca di Sicilia. It was 2019, and Italy was auctioning off some of its abandoned houses for as low as $1.05 (about Rs 90). Tabbone, who has roots in the village, decided to try her and need up winning a bid on a 17th-century house that had no electricity or running water and had  "two feet of pigeon poop on the floor". Four years and $446,000 (about Rs 3.8 crore) later, she can finally call the place home.

"The condition of this property when I purchased it was dire at best," the 44-year-old told CNBC Make It. "From the moment I sent in the bid and checked my email every day and found out that I won, all the way through this process [of renovating the house] there have been four million moments of frustration and exhaustion." But Tabbone was determined to create a home in the Italian village because that's where her great grandfather lived before the family moved to the US in 1908.

Sambuca is a hilltop town with views over the Mediterranean island and nearby beaches. It had placed dozens of homes on the market for little over a dollar to revive a community that, like many other rural spots in Italy, suffered from depopulation in recent years as residents moved to bigger cities, CNN reported.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Meredith Tabbone (@meredith.tabbone)

So when Tabbone got to know about it, she bid for one of the houses even before laying eyes on it. In May 2019, she got an email from the municipality that she had won the auction. She spent $6,200 (a little over Rs 5 lakh) to take ownership of the home. But she soon realised that the building was too tiny for her, so she bought the one next door as well for $23,000 (about Rs 19.5 lakh). Both the buildings shared a wall so it became easier for Tabbone to combine it into a single, comfortable home.

But it took her more than three years to complete the renovation. Initially, Tabbone's budget was $40,000 (about Rs 34 lakh), but she ended up spending close to Rs 4 crore on renovation. "I have never done a renovation like this in my life," she told CNBC Make It. "I hired an entire team to do it and the only thing that I spent a lot of time on was the design."

Tabbone also shared that she has already received many offers for the house but she declared that she would never sell it.

Read more: Why Italy is selling old homes to international buyers for Rs 260

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Meredith Tabbone (@meredith.tabbone)

Sambuca di Sicilia offers more properties for auction

Meanwhile, encouraged by the success of the initiative, the Italian town has offered a dozen more properties for auction but for a slightly increased price of $3 or about Rs 260. Since it started its viral scheme, 250 homes have been sold outside of the original auctions in Sambuca di Sicilia, CNBC reported.

The town’s mayor, Giuseppe Cacioppo, told the publication that the first sale helped revamp the local economy with an influx of $21.5 million.

“Our town is now definitely on the map,” Cacioppo said. “We just want to make it clear that by numbering these batches, more sales will likely follow in coming years. Foreigners are flocking to buy our homes, it’s been a hit so far.”