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8 Jul, 2014 05:02

eBay real estate: Entire Alpine village on sale for under $335k

An Italian Alpine village went up for sale on eBay, with 14 houses by the Gran Paradiso National Park now up for grabs for just 245,000 euro ($333,000).

But, there is a catch — the village will need substantial restoration before it can turn a profit for the new owner.

The village is located just 50km from Turin in northern Italy.

“A strategic location to live, start a business or a tourist restaurant. Fourteen homes combine more than 50 rooms. Set among the Graian, in a unique landscape,” the eBay ad reads.

One key condition of the sale is that the all houses must be resorted maintaining the original architectural design. “The village lends itself to a functional recovery, aimed at the renovation of buildings meeting the criteria architectural and historical canavesani.”

The ad lists the village as “used” and says that “refunds are not accepted.”

The eBay auction expires on July 15.

Photo from ebay.it

The bargain price may look attractive for some entrepreneurs as housing prices soar in major metropolitan areas such as London.

The Telegraph reported that the remaining residents created the ad, as the population of the village continues to fall with the younger population leaving for bigger cities.

The seller goes by the moniker of ‘it2014.piemo’ and the transaction is being supervised by Italy's National Union of Mountain Towns and Communities (UNCEM), La Repubblica newspaper says.

Photo from ebay.it

Meanwhile, selling an entire village can be a sign of deepening EU economic crisis which forces people to sell their homes , believes Paolo Raffone, political analyst from CIPI foundation.

“This is not the first case in Italy of villages which are being sold. But this is the first time, actually, that people live in those houses and they decide to quit the place, selling everything and try to change lives,” he says.

According to Raffone, Italy is not the only country which sells its entire villages. Similar cases are being seen in France.

“Southern France suffers from similar situations where the number of castles for sale is incredibly high and they are relatively cheap,” he added, “With the cutting in the budgets this is reflecting in less infrastructure, less services and in perspective for these people the only thing to do is to sell and run away.”

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