Lauren had been living in Los Angeles for close to 10 years when she decided she was ready to buy a home – but found she was outpriced in her home country
After a decade in Los Angeles, 29-year-old American Lauren Scott was ready to take the plunge and buy her own home. She embarked on her property journey back in 2019 with a hefty $400,000 (£309,900) budget but as 2020 brought in the pandemic, she found herself outpaced by higher bidders.
Not one to give up, Lauren widened her horizons, looking for similar sunny spots and set her sights on Mexico, Portugal, and Italy. Yet, due to increasing tensions between locals and expats in Mexico and Portugal, Italy beckoned as her dream destination.
With a revised budget of $50,000 (£38.8k), she took to the internet and stumbled upon a hidden gem outside Florence a charming two-bed townhouse with a tag of just 32,000 euros (£26,700).
The previous owner’s disclosure of a faulty hot water boiler did little to deter her enthusiasm; even the additional 4,200 euros (£3,500) for closing costs seemed a fair exchange.
In a move that she wouldn’t advise others to follow, Lauren told CNBC: “I didn’t even fly over and bought it sight unseen, which I don’t recommend,” she told CNBC. “I reached out to a lot of agents and just ended up paying somebody to do it all for me.”
Her bold move led to an emotional first visit in November 2022, three months after securing the deal, where the reality of homeownership hit home: “It was just a surreal feeling. I couldn’t believe I owned a house in my 20s because I didn’t think this would ever happen. I think I cried too.”
Lauren has taken to TikTok to share her pearls of wisdom for anyone thinking about snapping up a property overseas, particularly in Italy.
On her TikTok account, she laid out four essential tips to navigate the often-tricky waters of the international housing market.
In one of her videos, Lauren says: “First, to find cheap homes under $50,000, you need to look on Italian real estate sites, not sites in English. Those are all gonna be overpriced,”.
She stressed the importance of enlisting the help of a translator, a lawyer, and a real estate agent, pointing out the pitfalls of relying on email communication and suggesting that would-be buyers should phone instead because email replies can be rare.
She also cautioned against being enticed by seemingly bargain one euro homes: “And finally, there are no one euro homes,” Lauren announced. “The hidden cost of these is that you are required by the government to shell out hundreds of thousands to fix up these within a certain time frame.”
Tackling another misconception, Lauren added, “And dealing with Italian contractors is a pain. You’re better off buying a house that’s liveable with less fixes rather than for under $50,000.”
Now a seasoned Italy visitor who heads there twice yearly, Lauren uses her town house as a getaway pad but aims to transition it into her full-time home via a remote worker visa. Should this plan fail, she will look at living in the home when she retires.
As a result, Lauren continues to rent a one-bedroom flat in Los Angeles, where she spends the majority of her time. Despite living there, she expressed no desire to purchase property in the US.
“I don’t want to completely demolish my savings or go into debt to buy a home here, especially with the state of the country right now,” she revealed to CNBC.