HackerHouse

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

Current status of Sambuca properties

3 of us went to Sambuca at the end of March (plus 1 more in early April), in order to make the deadline for 1-EUR auction proposals. We looked at 12 of the 16 buildings for auction, but realized that they all need too much work and investment to be viable options for us.

However, we also found out that real estate prices in Sambuca are almost at rock bottom, due to young people having had to move away to find work. But in recent years, tourism has started gaining a bit of traction, so the town is not completely dead. The town itself is absolutely gorgeous, with buildings made from the beige stone that was carved out of the hill that Sambuca is situated on. It is located right next to a nature reserve with pretty mountains (which actually go up quite high), and about half an hour car drive (28km) away from the beach.

We investigated all properties that might be available that would be large enough for our plans, and ended up with 2 options that are both ready to move in and start renovating (bathrooms fitted, electricity working, everything up to code). Asking price is 65K EUR and 43K EUR respectively, with some room for haggling.

The current status is that we are actually close to taking one of the buildings off the market, and are actively looking into all the steps and information required to proceed with a purchase. We have a few spots left for people to join the house as initial co-owners, but we also have enough commitment from our existing group to proceed without delay.

If you are interested in joining Hacker House (which may be renamed a bit more creatively, of course), please either ping someone you know is involved, or join our XMPP chat room at hackerhouse@chat.kosmos.org. And as always, you can also find us in #hackerbeach on Freenode, of course.

Italy tax/costs links

Detailed taxes and fees available soon. We're working on that with a local agent as well as a local accountant.