Meredith Tabbone lives in Chicago, but over the past five years she’s spent countless hours and nearly $500,000 Build her dream home In Italy.
It all started in early 2019, when Tabbone learned that an abandoned property was being auctioned off in a small town in Sambuca di Sicily, Italy From €1or about $1.05.
Meanwhile, Taborn, who works as a financial advisor, is delving into her family history. She had just tracked down the same Sicilian town where her great-grandfather started a new life in the United States.
The coincidence was “too good to be true” and she took it as a sign of a bid.
A few months later, Taborn became the owner of the house, which cost 1 euro. She also purchased the building next door and began managing local crews for extensive renovations.
Today, Tabbone, 45, uses her property in Sicily as a getaway and says it feels like a primary residence. The residence consists of two master bedrooms, two guest rooms, a modernly decorated kitchen, a large dining room with a photography gallery wall, a library, a living room, a dry-heat sauna and two terraces. There is a terrace with pizza oven and outdoor dining area.
In total, she spent about $475,000 on her Italian dream home.
Meredith Tabbone spent approximately $475,000 on her dream home in Sambuca di Sicily.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
cost details
Prices for properties in Sicily start at €1 and Tabbone’s bid for her building was €5,555. Including taxes and fees, she paid 5,900 euros (about $6,200) to take ownership of the property.
In June 2019, she visited her new home for the first time. Pigeon poop” on the floor.”
In 2019, Meredith Tabbone bought an unseen house in Sambuca, Sicily, for €5,555.
Courtesy of Meredith Taborn
After seeing the space, she also purchased the vacant house next door for €22,000 (just over $23,000) through a private sale with the owner.
Merging the two properties meant a larger renovation budget: Tabbone initially planned to spend €40,000 to renovate 620 square feet, but this was later increased to €140,000 to renovate 2,700 square feet.
After visiting the original €1 home, Meredith Tabbone bought the building next door for €22,000 and combined it to create her dream holiday home.
Courtesy of Meredith Taborn
By the time the renovations are completed in October 2023, she will have spent approximately 425,000 euros ($446,000). Because the plan was delayed for several years due to the pandemic, she was able to pay for it all at once without taking out a loan.
Simple, but significant
Taborn’s goal for her property in Sicily is to build a vacation home where she can also host visiting friends and family.
First, Tabbone’s renovation team made structural changes, such as removing several walls to open up common areas, leveling the floors of both buildings, adding steel beams to protect against earthquakes, and adding two patios.
Meredith Tabbone’s home blends modern decor with the home’s original features, such as the arches and kitchen sink.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
Meredith Tabbone knocked down several walls to open up the kitchen, dining and living areas. She plans to use her vacation home to entertain local friends and fellow travelers.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
This is Tabbone’s first ever renovation project. She was inspired by her father, an architect who died when she was 15.
Taborn said her vision was to design a space that was “simple but meaningful” in homage to the character Don Draper from “Mad Men.”
The finished project was “a thousand times better” than her original vision, she said. “It’s modern but still comfortable. It really showcases all the best features that are already in the home” such as the original archways, sink in the kitchen and unique staircase.
Meredith Tabbone will complete renovations by the end of 2023 and plans to spend four months a year in Sambuca.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
Now that her home is complete, Taborn plans to spend four months every year in Sicily. She also uses it as a gathering space, hosting dinner parties with friends she met in Sambuca.
It’s an “amazing community” of expats and locals, she said.
Meredith Tabbone said she had never done a renovation project like this before, but she was inspired by the work of her architect father.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
One of Meredith Tabbone’s favorite features in her Sicilian dream home is a dry-heat sauna in one of the rooms.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
bridge between past and future
Taborn said her property in Sambuca is more than just a resort. “What this home really means to me is a bridge between my past and my future,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to really reconnect with my father’s lineage. But it’s also about my future because this is something I’ve created for myself…where I can think more about enjoying my life and better work-life balance.”
Taborn has no plans to sell the house and has promised to sell it to her if her cousin dies first. “Afterwards, it will be donated to the village,” Taborn said.
Meredith Tabbone from Chicago looks at the 2019 €1 house auction in Sambuca di Sicilia.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
Although Taborn spent a lot of money on her other home, she said what she gained from the experience was priceless.
“There’s a real sense of community here, so I definitely think people are very happy here,” she said. Additionally, “I started thinking about building my career differently, and maybe the focus of my life was less about work and more about overall personal fulfillment,” she says.
Meredith Tabbone formed close friends with locals and foreigners in Sicily.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Success
Overall, she added, she believes “it’s important to preserve old buildings like this” because they cannot be rebuilt with modern materials or architectural sensibilities. “The attention to detail, the quality of the objects and the ability of these buildings to last for centuries. That’s not done anymore,” she said.
Conversions from euros to U.S. dollars are made using the OANDA exchange rate of 1 euro to 1.05 U.S. dollars on October 18, 2023.
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