‘We bought a cheap Italian house and added an elevator.’

(CNN) — Buyers from all over the world have been snapping up dilapidated Italian homes for the past few years.

The prospect of significant structural reform, along with the red tape involved in buying a home abroad, has eluded some, while others have jumped at the chance.

Of course, every buyer will have a different vision for their new remodeling project. Some choose to keep things as simple as possible, focusing on making the home livable again while cutting costs.

And there are those who decide to do it all.

Masood Ahmadi and Shelly Spencer, who completed the renovation of an abandoned house in the Italian town of Sambuca di Sicilia, follow in the second category.

Italian hideout

Masood Ahmadi and Shelley Spencer In 2019, they bought an abandoned house in the Italian town of Sambuca di Sicilia.

Sylvia Marchetti

A couple from Montgomery County in the US state of Maryland are among those who have built a historic home in Sambuca, in the heart of Sicily, after local officials put 16 abandoned houses up for auction at a symbolic price. Euro – approximately 1 dollar.

“It was love at first sight,” Spencer told CNN. “Sambuca is very clean, they are beautiful old stone slabs reminiscent of those inside. [Washington, D.C. neighborhood] Georgetown and the night street lights are so romantic.

When their 10,150-euro (about $10,372) 100-square-meter palazzo bid was accepted, they were thrilled and set to work to give the property a stunning facelift.

After two years and before the three-year deadline imposed by the local authorities, their Italian hiding was completed.

Ahmadi and Spencer, who work on international development projects, spent about $250,000 transforming the dilapidated property into an expensive residence that they say “looks like a Renaissance house.”

They plan to split their time between America and Italy, spending about half of the year in their two-bedroom home with their daughter and grandchildren.

The renovated home features gorgeous marble bathrooms, but the standout feature is undoubtedly the indoor elevator that the couple uses to shoot up and down the three flights of stairs.

So what made them decide to have an elevator in the property complete with security cameras and phones?

Elevator addition

The couple had an indoor elevator installed in their 100 square meter palazzo.

Masood Ahmadi

“We want to grow up here, doing yoga every day and drinking coffee on the porch and looking at the misty lake,” Spencer said.

“So we thought it would be great to be as comfortable as possible going through all those narrow stairs and not having to go up and down four windy stairs multiple times a day.”

While a quarter of a million dollars may seem like a large sum to spend on such a project, they believe it is less than what would be spent on something similar in the United States.

However, indoor elevators are definitely not common for houses in this small town, and the attractive interior design has caused a lot of complaints among local residents.

The couple said they have received visits from various residents who are eager to see the transformation of this once dilapidated house up close.

“The locals welcome us with cake, and they come to my house eager to see what we’ve done,” says Spencer, before revealing that they were recently given “a nice bottle of wine” at a local bar.

In addition to the elevator, the home features a lounge with entertainment area, guest room, master bedroom and modern kitchen.

There are several terraces and balconies overlooking the hill and Lake Arancio near the ruined Arab fort of Fortino di Mazalakkar.

Ahmadi and Spencer say they have already been paid the 5,000 euros (about $5,100) they originally paid under the purchase agreement, which stipulates that the renovations will be completed within three years.

Unusual lifestyle

They spent $250,000 renovating the house, which has a living space with an open kitchen.

Masood Ahmadi

The couple is currently enjoying a very pleasant summer at Sambuca. In the morning, they take their luggage down to the ground floor to enjoy a morning cappuccino and cake at a local bar. Then they go for a walk before returning home for a day of remote work.

“It’s a smarter home than we have in America,” Spencer added, explaining that they can manage alarms and devices in their American property from Sambuca.

After buying their new house, they bought their neighbor’s unused house of 100 square meters for 5,000 euros.

“We love the peace at Sambuca,” says Ahmadi. “Our street is very quiet and we appreciate the slow lifestyle philosophy of the city, symbolized by the snail statue in the main piazza.”

While some travelers choose to use Sicily as a base to explore Italy and the rest of Europe, the couple focuses on exploring the area.

They have previously visited the town of Marsala in the province of Trapani and the salt pans of Trapani and enjoy long drives along narrow country roads to visit local food markets and try various delicacies including snails.

New adventures

“In America, highways are everywhere. But here, they’re not in a hurry,” says Massoud. “Slow travel allows us to take in beautiful sights.

“It will take us about two hours to drive just nine kilometers and pass the hills, but that’s what makes the adventure so special.”

Although they were able to complete the renovation in a short period of time, especially considering the various issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, there were some minor issues along the way.

Squeezing their furniture through the doors and windows of the 300-year-old palazzo was one of the biggest challenges (the sofa came out in the elevator), and finding suitable furniture was time-consuming.

“As Americans, we have access to many stores in the States where we can shop for all kinds of fare,” Spencer says.

But finding good quality furniture that you like here in Sicily can be a problem. You need to know where the right place is for high-end traditional wooden furniture, antiques and second hand stores. In addition, some pieces are available in catalogs. But it’s not available.”

Although the structure of the building was renovated, they decided to keep the original windows along with the gold colored stone tiles, majolica tiled floors and coffered ceilings in order to preserve some of the historic elements of the house.

Massoud and Spencer chose to keep some of the items left behind by the previous owners, including a 1967 calendar they found on their first visit, still hanging on the wall.

In the year It is one of the houses in the Saracen neighborhood that were abandoned after the 1968 earthquake in Sicily’s Bellis Valley that devastated the area.

In the year After offering 16 houses in 2019, the town hall was flooded with interest from hundreds of overseas buyers and continued to auction 10 more buildings in 2021, this time at 2 € for each example.

While some of those who took part in the second auction ended up buying their homes blindly due to the Covid-19 related restrictions in place at the time, Massoud was able to fly to Italy with his brother in 2019 to view and inspect the property. The city of Sicily before their bid.

“I sent my husband’s explorer mission forward with my husband,” Spencer says.

“He is an engineer and the foundation of the village and the houses in Sambuca are very strong, despite the earthquake.”

Amazing change

It took the couple just two years to transform the dilapidated property into a beautiful home.

Sylvia Marchetti

Massoud said that both the sale and the renovation went smoothly, explaining that the city hall helped them overcome the language barrier by helping them with paperwork and legal issues.

Before buying the house, it is suggested that they have to apply for an Italian fiscal code or a social security number and open a local bank account, which means that the process was not completely “painless”, but how happy it is. In general he went.

“In America I have to deal with subcontractors myself, but in Sambuca it was much easier,” says Massoud, who supervised all the work with the architect.

“I was lucky to have a good architect and I contributed to the electrical work, designing the lighting equipment area.”

The couple said they found it far superior to anything they had experienced in America, and were impressed by the quality of work done by local tradesmen and builders.

“The Italian artisans are amazing,” Spencer said. “It’s amazing how they turned this place into something new. It was a shell, now it looks like a renaissance house.”

But the final bill came as a shock to them as they did not realize that 10% VAT would be added to the building costs.

Before Massoud and Spencer began renovating their Italian home, they were often warned about the dangers of buying and upgrading a large home overseas.

But they say they had full faith in Sambuca’s housing plan, which aims to support local economic development, and are very happy with the end result.

“I could pinch myself,” Spencer said. “We were really lucky. I could tell you so many nightmares, but I won’t, because everything was done so well. Better than in a small town in the States.”