2020, Christina KnightonThe 38-year-old and her husband Paul Cordier, 46, have ended their lives Dream home in Lake Iseo, Italy.
They bought the two-bedroom house for 23,000 euros ($24,973).
“It looks like the houses you drew as a kid, with the pitched roof, the door in the middle, and the two windows upstairs,” Knighton told CNBC Make It. “It’s really lovely, just steps from the train and steps from the lake. It feels too good to be true.”
The couple closed on their house in Italy in 2020.
Christina Knighton
The couple began renovating the home in March of this year – it needed a new roof, for example – and estimated the cost would be about 100,000 euros or $108,578.
“It’s going well, we’re making good progress, but unfortunately the cost has increased by 25 percent,” Knighten said.
The couple decided to go the DIY route: “When we looked at the invoices, labor was the biggest cost, so if my husband could provide the labor, then maybe we could get it done.”
The couple hope to move into their house before Christmas.
Christina Knighton
The couple was living in a nearby rental apartment when the renovations began and hoped to have their new home ready when their lease was up. Unfortunately, this was not possible and the couple had to work quickly to secure new housing.
Meanwhile, Cordier’s sister was preparing to close on a home of her own in Italy.
“She wants to move here eventually, so we’ve been looking at properties for her,” Knighton said.
“Luckily, she loved the apartment and it happened to be right across the street from our house.”
Cordier’s sister lives in Bangkok and has never seen the apartment in person. Cordier acted as her power of attorney in Italy and helped her complete the property transaction. She purchased the house for €39,000 ($42,604) all cash, and the couple moved into it.
The apartment has not been occupied since 2002.
Inside, the couple found items including a calendar from 2006, a chest of drawers from the 1920s, old photos of a contest the town once held, and old bowls with hand-painted recipes on them.
The couple lived in the apartment rent-free while their own home was being renovated.
Christina Knighton
“It was completely covered in dust and smelled musty. It needed a lot of paint and the plaster on the walls was peeling off,” Knighton said. “Even if we get the power on, we have to make sure it’s safe because it’s a very old building.”
Knighton said the layout of the apartment was odd. For example, the bathroom is an outhouse with toilet, shower and tiles.
There is an open plan living room and kitchen on the first floor, but to access the two bedrooms you have to take the external stairs to the second floor. The bedrooms were railroad-style, so the couple had to walk through one room to get to another and then back to the common area.
One thing the apartment has that the couple’s house doesn’t have is a backyard overlooking the lake.
“If this was on the market when we bought our house, we would have bought this,” Knighton said. “We don’t have any outdoor space in our house and now that we’re here, we go out and have a glass of wine. It’s been really nice.”
The apartment’s two bedrooms are accessible via external stairs.
Christina Knighton
Cordier’s sister is saving money to renovate her old apartment and doesn’t plan to move to Italy for another two years. She would not charge the couple any rent, and in return they would fix up the property as much as possible.
“We cleaned up the backyard, cleaned out all the furniture, painted the walls, just trying to make it nicer,” Knighton said.
Knighton and Cordier hope to move into their house before Christmas, but are grateful to have the existing space just in case that doesn’t happen.
“We’re in a very fortunate position where we can stay here for free as long as we need to,” Knighton said. “It’s not ideal. I don’t want to have to pee outside in the winter, but we’ll do it.”
The apartment has a unique layout. One of the bedrooms is only accessible through the other bedroom.
Christina Knighton
The U.S. dollar exchange was completed on August 13, 2024, using the OANDA exchange rate of 1.09 U.S. dollars for 1 euro. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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