Woman who bought six houses for £1 each in Italy shows off dramatic makeovers

A woman who bought six homes in Italy for just a few quid has shown off the extensive makeover needed to make each of them liveable.

You might have heard of the Italian homes that are on sale for just €1, the seeming antidote to punishingly high house prices in this day and age.

Only, you must remember that if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

These houses are up for sale so cheap because they're abandoned, derelict and in towns which don't have enough people willing to move in.

Some towns in Italy are being hit by depopulation as there aren't enough jobs and opportunities for people to make a living there, so even if they grew up there they'll move out and leave a place with crumbling old homes that nobody wants to live in.

It costs one euro, but you'll need to spent much more (SWNS)

Enter Rubia Daniels, who bought six homes in Mussomeli, Sicily, in April 2019 so she could have three for herself, one for her daughter and two for her aunts to retire in.

While each house was technically just one euro, the admin costs involved with buying six properties meant she ended up paying €24,000 (£20,300) in total.

Then there was the cost of renovations, as some of the homes were collapsed and didn't have water or electricity.

Several years on some of the homes are nearly ready to live in, and Daniels is hoping her family will start to move to Sicily.

She said: “We bought all six in April 2019. In June, I did all the paperwork and then got the deeds later that summer.

“I packed six suitcases of all my tools and a generator, and then me, my husband and my brother-in-law, who was in Brazil, flew out to get the keys.

“The house was fully collapsed, but now it’s fully renovated and has a beautiful marble bedroom. Once the roof was fixed and water tight, the rest of it sort of fell into place from there.

There's a reason it only costs a quid, but it'll look lovely when it's finished (SWNS)

“It’s been my passion and I just have so much feeling for these houses and the community as a whole.”

Daniels added: “I'm very comfortable with the idea of transforming things and breaking walls. When I see something fully collapsed, I can already see what's going to look like, which is not for everybody.

“For example, my husband panics when he sees me eyeing up projects like this, but for me it's just a combination of excitement and joy.

“But you have to see beyond the way a place looks at the start, and imagine how it's going to be in the end. And my ‘one euro’ home is exactly the way I imagined it, and I’m proud because it was a small investment.”

The first home makeover cost her about €60,000 (£50,800), but she reckons the work will hold up for the next 50 years.

She's hoping that the other houses won't cost quite so much to do up, and plans to turn one of them into a wellness centre.

Her daughter's house is 'almost done', so her attention will be on the retirement homes for her aunts.

• Woman who bought £1 house in Italy shares how much it really costs to live there
• Retired couple came home from six-month holiday to 'find new build estate with 129 houses being built next door'
• Woman who quit job and bought £700 vending machine makes incredible amount per month
• Teenager buys three-bedroom house for £230,000 without financial help from parents