Dreamhouse for free?

These 5 destinations offer

free homes, but there's a
catch
Published time: 14 Sep, 2019 16:43
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Many places worldwide offer newcomers insanely

cheap real estate or even cash in an effort to tackle
problems like urbanization, bad demographic
situations, or lack of workforce. However, they all
come with strings attached.

1. Molise region, southern Italy

A region in southern Italy has recently announced it
will pay newcomers €700 ($780) a month for three
years if they move into one of its villages. The
generous offer stems from the fact that people are
gradually leaving the picturesque rural region,
moving into megapolises like Milan and Rome.
What's the catch?
The money is good, but what do you have to do to
earn it? Well, to start with, you have to move to
Molise, obviously. And into a village that has fewer
than 2,000 residents. You also need to set up a
business there.
"We wanted people to invest here. They can open
any sort of activity: a bread shop, a stationery shop,
a restaurant, anything. It's a way to breathe life into
our towns while also increasing the
population," Donato Toma, the president of Molise,
explained.
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2. Sicily, Italy
Molise is not the first Italian region with a
generous offer for relocating – several towns in
Sicily last year offered homes to anyone who's
willing to come and claim them for €1 ($1.12) – less
than the price of a standard espresso. The towns of
Sambuca and Mussomeli announced sales of old
properties in hopes of saving themselves from
depopulation. Eventually, Sambuca sold off 16
historical stone mansions to buyers from the US,
China, France, Britain, Russia, and Argentina.
However, none of them actually went for €1 – the
homes were sold in a blind auction in which bids
started at that benchmark, but ended up between
€1,000 and €25,000 ($1,100-27,600).
What's the catch?
The auction, obviously. Which did not stop the
buyers! Also, the condition of the houses – all are
beautiful but derelict old things on the verge of
collapsing on the new owner's head. And – as a
mandatory condition – the new owner has to spend
at least €15,000 on renovating his or her Sicilian
home, and to pay a security deposit of €5,000 in
advance, non-refundable if the renovation is not
carried out.

3. Kaitangata, New Zealand

In 2016, a number of media outlets posted news
that the tiny New Zealand town of Kaitangata, with a
population of just 800 and “too many jobs,” was
offering $156,000 (€140,000) to each new resident.
Local employers, which include a dairy plant, were
also on board with the scheme.
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What's the catch?
It was actually the other way around. At the time,
the town on the South Island had many empty
houses, and offered them along with nice plots of
land – for the bargain price stated in the articles.
So, you would have had to pay the money, not get it
from the town's authorities. Still, the mayor received
around 5,000 calls from people planning to move
and demanding money, and was forced to issue an
official statement explaining what Kaitangata is
actually able to offer and to whom.
“There is currently a story that has been published
by overseas media that we are paying people
$160,000 to move to Kaitangata and people should
ring the mayor about it. This is NOT TRUE,” he
stated, noting that if someone is “genuinely
interested in the house and land packages in
Kaitangata” and “meet the immigration criteria,” he
or she is welcome to come, as the house price tags
listed in the articles are correct.
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4. Japan. 'Akiya banks'
'Akiya' is the Japanese term for 'vacant homes'.
Akiya banks are websites that list vacant houses
that are either for sale or given away for free. The
sites started appearing in Japan, the world's third-
largest economy, due to an ever-increasing number
of abandoned homes both in the country's rural
areas and in big cities like Tokyo. The problem
stems from Japan's aging and shrinking population
that has already left many towns and villages
empty. The akiya sites are actually created by local
governments and communities to manage the
growing stock of empty houses in their towns, as
well as to draw in people to live and work there.
What's the catch?
There seems to be none. Except for, maybe, the
actual need for people to come and live in the
house they buy. Also, some communities not only
offer the newcomer a house for free, but are willing
to pay for any renovations needed for the house to
be habitable again.
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5. USA
A number of cities across the US have programs
aimed at drawing in new blood and brains to their
communities and enterprises. Last year, Tulsa,
Oklahoma made headlines when it announced
plans to start paying workers $10,000 to move to
the state for a year in order “to attract tech talent
and entrepreneurial people” and “diversify our
workforce.” Prior to that, Vermont offered to pay 100
people up to $10,000 (€9,000) to move to the state
in 2019. New Haven, Connecticut and Baltimore,
Maryland both offered up to $80,000 (€72,000) in
incentives to attract homeowners. The town of
Harmony, Minnesota promised to give anyone up to
$12,000 (€11,000) toward the cost of building a
home – provided they live in it.
What's the catch?
Every state's offer is different, depending on what it
is looking for – a worker or a homeowner – but
mostly there's only one condition to be met – you
have to move in, at least for some time. In some
cases, bonuses are offered.
But Alaska has outdone them all. With the Alaska
Permanent Fund, the state divides its oil royalties
evenly among all registered residents and pays
them out via an annual dividend, to anyone
registered in Alaska – even children. Last year, it
was $1,100 a person. Whether that's enough to
make it worth trying to survive the Alaskan winters
is another matter.