“You can buy an apartment in Italy under renovation starting at 15 thousand euros.” How a family of 7 lives in Italy

What is unique about Italy in terms of real estate? How comfortable is it to live in this country with children? And what skills do you need to develop if you want to stay there for a long time? Ksenia Koshkareva shared her story of finding and buying an apartment, as well as her experience of living in Italy in general. 

“We live in a small town on top of a mountain.”

— We are a large family. I am 42 years old, and my husband is 45. We moved to Italy in 2021, and although everything was planned, the pandemic made adjustments. 

In a little more detail, it took us about a year to prepare for the move: we bought an apartment in Italy, and a few days later everything closed for quarantine. Six months later, we started preparing documents for the move and opened a representative office of a Moscow real estate agency in Italy. 

— We have been living and working in Italy for a little over 2 years now. We chose the central region of Lazio to live in: we settled in a small town (population 30,000) on top of a mountain, 70 kilometers from Rome. I think it is an ideal place for children and people without work: our town has everything, from schools and supermarkets to a water park. In addition, the road to the sea from our town takes about an hour, and to the mountains it takes only 30 minutes. 

In schools and kindergartens, we arranged the children very easily. In Italy, children are obliged to be enrolled in school, even if they do not have any documents yet, so I arranged for three children to go to school while still in Russia (I sent a request on the school's website). 

In the end, our older sons were told to come for an interview when they arrived in Italy, and the boy who then had to go to the 1st grade (now he is in the third grade) was accepted immediately. They all have assistants at their schools to help them.

We have a girl in her second year of kindergarten. By the way, she speaks Italian better than anyone else in the family, because after kindergarten she also goes to extra classes. 

“Our everyday life hasn't changed much in terms of everyday life.”

— We are an active family and travel all the time: this summer we were in Tuscany, Piedmont, Liguria, and Abruzzo. But in terms of everyday life, I think our everyday life has not changed much. We are constantly running, fussing, taking our children to kindergartens and schools, home, and work: in short, like everyone else. Only in Italy, there are new friends, apéritifs, and coffee in the bar. We spend less time on the road, as we live in the center, so we have already forgotten what traffic jams are. 

Concerning the cost of living, we find that clothing, travel, and food are all less expensive in Italy. And this is a big item in the budget of a family of seven people. At the same time, something is more expensive, like utilities, for example. However, because we have five children, we enjoy various benefits provided by the state. 

— Professionally, we do the same thing as before: real estate.  Few people know that prices in this country are very attractive, and you can buy an apartment in Italy for renovation starting at 15,000 euros. I help Russian-speaking people find good budget options (and not only, of course) and buy them, including remotely.    

I used to be involved in interior design and planning, so now I can immediately see the potential of the object and imagine what could be made of it. This helps a lot at the selection stage. We also work with trusted specialists: a lawyer, an accountant, an architect, a translator, and real estate specialists in other regions of Italy.

“Budget housing options, like beads, are scattered all over Italy.”

— We have a whole story about buying an apartment in Italy, and it started a long time ago: 4.5 years ago.

I was on vacation in Turkey with my girlfriends, and with one of them, we discussed the purchase of housing in Italy. I was struck by the fact that her apartment was bought for, in my opinion, ridiculous money. I can't even remember the figure now, but it was the first thing to think about. 

Back home, I kept thinking about it because every summer, when we went to Europe for a couple of months, we spent a huge amount of money on rent. And I thought that such an apartment would pay for itself in just a few years! 

My husband and I started to analyze and calculate. In the end, we concluded that ideally, we should buy a universal dwelling, not just a summer house by the sea, as in Scalea. This is a beautiful resort town, but we did not want to live there permanently (the thought of “what if we move for good” in our heads has already begun to spin). 

Next is the most interesting! It turned out that budget options, like beads, are scattered throughout Italy. And there is a choice, and it is even very good. We outlined the location, from the north of the country to Rome, and started looking for options for purchase.

— So, we had all the viewings agreed on for a week from the north to Rome, and we ended up buying the last option. Why choose it? Although it was the smallest apartment of all, we liked the city itself and the surroundings; the climate is better than in the north; the sea is beautiful; and the wide beaches of Sabaudia with dunes and sand like flour reminded us of our favorite Baltic. The proximity of Rome also played a role. 

Anyway, we made a deposit and left to wait for the date of the deal. The apartment cost 35,000 euros; we made an offer of 15,000 euros and were not sure of the success of the transaction. But our offer was accepted, the transaction date was set, and we went. 

So, the deal went through, we returned home on Saturday, and from Monday on, the whole of Italy was closed for quarantine.

What followed was an anxious year of waiting and decision-making. We decided to leave for good without even trying the “long-distance cottage” option. Everything was very difficult and alarming: Italy was closed, and visas were not given, but I have already mentioned it in the very beginning. 

So, on September 23, 2021, we landed at the airport in Rome, and from that moment on, our Italian life began.

“Learning to wait is the main skill to be pumped.”

— A few details about the apartment we bought: 75 square meters, 2 floors, 2 balconies, kitchen/living room plus 3 bedrooms, storage room, bathroom; there is also an attic, but we did not get to it. For us, of course, this is a temporary option, so that we can look for a permanent home with a larger area (our family is very large after all). We are already in search, and we are interested in apartments or houses from 150 sq.m. in historical buildings with high ceilings. We plan to rent out our current apartment. 

By the way, we also did the renovation ourselves. At first glance, it seems scary, but in fact, you take it and do it. All the dirty work was done by my husband two weeks before we moved in, and then we already lived there and slowly finished everything. 

There was a funny story about the water connection. Once our apartment changed the number, there was a mix-up, because of which we waited 3 months and lived without water: we carried water from a drinking fountain near the house and washed in a basin. If someone had told me in advance that there would be such adventures, I would not have dared.

— Regarding real estate, I would add that, in my opinion, Italy has the best real estate prices right now, all things being equal. And that's me not even mentioning auctions, where there are also a lot of interesting things. Around Rome, surprisingly, but the fact is, there are plenty of cool offers. 

Lifehack personally from me: buy an apartment in advance, even if it is inexpensive, and you will save a million nerve cells. After all, renting in Italy for foreigners is a real quest! And also, be patient. You need to wait here for everything and everywhere. Waiting, in general, is the main skill you need to pump up if you want to live in Italy. 

The main photo: Yana Vitkovskaya.