Brave Meredith reveals the result of her $1.60 Sicilian property purchase

Meredith Tabbone is living a dream she bought for less than the cost of a cup of coffee.

Tabbone purchased a $1.60 (€1) property in Sicily and embarked on an epic restoration.

Many small towns in Europe – mostly in Italy – have schemes to attract buyers in a bid to reverse depopulation and restore old homes, rather than condemn them to bulldozers.

Listing websites enable foreigners to browse the options for sale – for €1.

In 2019, the American financial advisor bought the derelict Sambuca di Sicilia address at an auction.

She had researched her family history, NBC Los Angeles reports, and traced her bloodline to the same town. This serendipity sealed the deal, despite the Sambuca property being in a “dire” state, she told CNBC Make It.

This included asbestos, no running water, no electricity and a thick blanket of bird droppings.

Tabbone, 45, uses the now chic two-bedroom property as a holiday home, she told NBC LA, and spent $US446,000 ($AU692,944) on the complete overhaul.

It has a gallery wall, sauna, two terraces, outdoor pizza oven and modern flair that marries with heritage bones.

Tabbone documented the gruelling project on her Instagram account and TikTok, which alone has almost 30,000 followers.

She named the home Casa dell’Architetto, in honour of her late father, who was an architect, she told NBC.

Programs like the one Tabbone participated in help to preserve centuries-old character in European towns.

The catch is that these homes in Italy and Sicily come with caveats that include an undertaking to renovate and to do so within a time limit, usually of one to three years, Home Beautiful magazine reports.

Fees held in escrow are sometimes associated with inking the deal, to ensure the buyer holds up their end of the bargain, and the costs of a reno could be as little as $US25,000 (about $AU37,000) or as much as $US500,000 (about $AU750,000), the publication says.

Case 1 Euro is a listing portal for one such scheme, run by the Municipality of Mussomeli, in Sicily. If you buy one of their properties, you have three years to renovate, the rules stipulate.

The program is managed entirely by the local council.