Hacker Beach hackers are sad, when it's not January. So we kind of want to have a shared house to live and work in for other times of the year.
Apparently we're not alone: https://twitter.com/hackerbeach/status/702936619679145984
Use this page for collecting notes on anything from other people's examples to potential locations and properties.
Idea
- A place to live in, work from, and make things, together with other hackers and associated lifeforms
- Length of stay mostly irrelevant. Whoever is there should care for the house
- Enough space for a group (maybe up to 8 or 10 people) to stay at once
- Great environment to be creative and productive, with enough desk space, workshop space, equipment, etc.
- Nice kitchen for cooking food (esp. considering cooking for small groups of people)
- Terrace or similar outdoor space, to enjoy sun, fresh air, grow some food and other plants, etc.
- Shared ownership, with hackers as (equal?) holders of it
- Form a company/non-profit to own and manage it (also see linked articles in Notes at the bottom of this page)
Considerations for location
- Should be easily (but not too easily) reachable
- Decent internet access
- Affordable
- Beautiful
- Good food
- Welcoming locals
- Access to nature sights (beach, mountains, whatever is nice)
Random location ideas
- Colombia (Santa Marta, Medellín, ...)
- Budapest, Hungary
- Penang, Malaysia
- Gozo, Malta
Italy Tourism Agency
"Italy is giving away 103 run-down properties, including villas, inns, and castles for free. The country’s State Property Agency expects anyone who gets a free castle (or any other of the 103 objects) to commit to restoring it so it can be used as a tourist destination. Whether the property becomes a hotel, spa, restaurant, or something else is up to the new owner to decide."
The deadline for the first round of properties/applications is June 26, 2017.
Sambuca Auction Properties
We heard of a deal where a range of run down properties in Sambuca; a region in Sicily, Italy; were being sold for 1 Euro each to incentivise people to renovate the properties and move to the town to help it repopulate. Apparently the terms involve the properties in fact being auctioned with the starting bid being 1 Euro. All potential bidders must provide a 5000 Euro deposit and upon winning a property they have 3 years to renovate the property with a minimum investment requirement of 15k Euro per property.
Kirsty has been emailing for details.
The properties can be viewed at the website below: http://www.comune.sambucadisicilia.ag.it/Case%20a%201%20euro/Immobili%20a%201%20euro.htm
Participation notice, incl. terms and process for the auction: http://www.comune.sambucadisicilia.ag.it/Case%20a%201%20euro/Bando%20case%20ad%201%20Euro%20-%20English.pdf
Kirsty initially emailed to show interest on January 23rd 2019 and January 29th 2019.
A generic response was received as per below on February 7th 2019 and February 9th 2019.
Sambuca Generic Email Response
"Thank you for showing interest in the "1 euro case" project promoted by the Municipality of Sambuca di Sicilia.
Our town was founded by the emir Al-Zabut around the year 830 AD. and today's urban planning still preserves the original layout. It has a population of 5,800 inhabitants and is located in the province of Agrigento. In 2016 we received the title of "the most beautiful village in Italy". Our town has an important territorial position, just a few kilometers from the sea and from the archaeological parks of Agrigento and Selinunte. We are located around 90 km from the airports of Palermo and Trapani.
Approximately the middle of February 2019, "case 1 euro" project will publish a public announcement on the Municipality of Sambuca di Sicilia's website www.comune.sambucadisicilia.ag.it
The buildings owned by the municipality can be viewed on the following link:
http://www.comune.sambucadisicilia.ag.it/Case%20a%201%20euro/Immobili%20a%201%20euro.htm and will be sold to those who offer a sum starting from 1 euro. The property will be awarded to the largest offer. The bidder at the time of the award must pay a deposit of 5,000 euros which will be returned on condition that the property is restored within 3 years from the award.
Our "mission", as well as that of restoring the historic houses of Sambuca, is to attain economic development that make people the protagonists, enhances our culture and encourages the repopulation of our town. We provide the beauty of the place, the delicious food and the unique flavours of our wines, as well as the proximity to the sea and the Sicilian sun.
Recently the real estate and private agricultural land markets are developing in parallel.
We recommend a visit to our village to view the properties and admire the beauty of our territory.
Yours sincerely, the Mayor
Leonardo Ciaccio"
Next Actions with Sambuca
Kirsty chased initially on January 9th 2019 to request they assign a direct contact to discuss further procurement details and that they submit all additional documentation available to review.
Kirsty chased again on February 23rd 2019, the core objective as follows; "Can you please allocate my query to someone to deal with me directly as I would like to arrange for a colleague to visit these properties prior to us bidding. I also require the closing date."
Italy tax/costs links
general one time costs for buying houses in italy:
- notary: 1-2,5%
- Real estate transfer tax(?) imposta di registro: seems to depend if you live there or not. 3% - 10% of the cadastral value
- land tax(?) imposta catastale: seems also to depend on if you live there or not and if it is a new or an old house: 1% of the cadastral value
- potentially vat: 22%