Scott, a 29-year-old freelancer originally from Ohio, has made a serious leap of faith in her pursuit to one day own a home. After spending a decade on the frontlines of the film industry in Los Angeles, she took a courageous plunge in 2019. So she decided to invest in a home. With California’s soaring real estate prices, she decided to take an alternative path: purchasing a home abroad. Scott’s search zeroed in on Italy and he finally purchased an Italian townhouse—only an hour from Florence. This purchase was the beginning of an exciting new chapter in her life.
Her decision to purchase a home followed months of deliberation and analysis of her credit profile. Scott didn’t want to spend more than $50,000 on the house itself, and overall wanted to land under $400,000. Online search She started her search online. Perhaps most delightful to her, she discovered a two-bedroom, one-bath townhouse on the market for 32,000 euros—roughly $34,905 USD.
Scott soon encountered economic barriers and came to terms with the fact that homeownership in Los Angeles was impossible. This drove him to buy the Italian townhouse sight unseen.
"I didn't think I was ever going to be able to buy in California, much less Los Angeles, which is somewhere I've kind of called home for such a long time and that really sucked," Scott expressed.
Scott was able to get a $20,000 personal loan—using his own credit—from a local bank. He used that money to pay the full asking price for the townhouse, plus an extra 4,200 euros ($4,581 USD) to close. This strategic financial move made homeownership attainable for her without relying on all her savings or taking on significant debt.
"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 explained.
The townhouse purchase turned out to be a great decision because when Scott visited, he was surprised to find it in excellent shape.
"I really lucked out because there's nothing wrong with it except for needing to replace that one part of the home," she remarked.
The former owner had left the property completely furnished, wanting a quick sale in order to relocate to another part of Italy.
"She left it completely furnished and just wanted to get out and move to a different part of Italy but was having problems selling the home," Scott noted.
Scott intends to make the townhouse her vacation home. She’s currently working on getting a digital nomad visa to stay in Italy longer. Her decision is based on her personal aspirations and economic factors.
"I'm hoping at some point within the next year I can officially move but if I end up staying in the States, I plan to use it as more of a retirement plan because I know I'm not going to be able to retire in the U.S.," she stated.
While Scott is thrilled to own a home in Portugal, she’s honest about how tough it can be to live so far from family.
"It makes me sad because what's keeping me here is my parents. I don't want to move all across the world and then not be able to see my family a lot," she confessed.
Scott’s path to homeownership shines a light on the financial barriers that her generation must overcome to own a home.
"It's sad to know that my parents could buy a home and my grandparents could, too, but with inflation, it's not as accessible for my generation anymore. I don't think that's fair to our generation and the ones coming after us," she lamented.