A Town Giving Houses for Free

Oct 6, 2015

- By Bill Bonner

Bill Bonner

Catania, Sicily

Dear Diary,

About a year ago, we learned that a town in Sicily was giving away houses - for free. It was a hill town, in the interior, but Sicily is a small place; it was not too far from the coast or from big cities.

We quickly dispatched one of our researchers. He reported that the free house deal was real. A small town was desperate to stop the depopulation trend that was emptying central Sicily of people. Houses had been abandoned as owners died or moved to the city. Rather than continue to pay the taxes, owners simply turned them over to the city government. What was the city to do with them? One town - we can’t remember the name of it - decided to give them away.

Our reporter got back to us with an opinion: the free houses were probably not the best deal. They required too much renovation. But the town - in fact, almost all of Sicily’s small towns - had plenty of houses that were in decent shape and could be bought for very little money.


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We had a chance to visit one of those small towns on our drive from Agrigento to Syracuse. Piazza Armerina is in the hills, not too far from Enna, said to be one of the prettiest in the country, and about 2 hours from the coast. At its center, on top of the hill, is a large church built of brown stone, with a plaza in front. From there, narrow streets spiraled down the hill, revealing small squares, restaurants, balconies festooned with drying laundry and all the paraphernalia of small town Sicilian life.

Our subject for the last few days has been how to live better for less money.

In fact, we have taken it as a challenge to find ways to live on $500 a month.

So far, the consensus of readers is that living in a used motor home in a Walmart parking lot is not better, and maybe not even possible. We don’t disagree. But what about living in Piazza Armerina?

It would not be for everyone. But it might work for some....

We must sign off...we are rushing to catch a ship.

More tomorrow...

Publisher's Note: Vivek Kaul, the India Editor of the Daily Reckoning, just made a bold call - Real Estate prices are headed for a fall. Well, if you are someone who is looking to buy real estate, or is just interested in the space, I recommend you read Vivek's detailed views in his just published report "The (In)Complete Guide To Real Estate". To claim your copy of this Free Report, just reconfirm your Free subscription to the Daily Reckoning...

Bill Bonner is the President & Founder of Agora Inc, an international publisher of financial and special interest books and newsletters.

Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are of the author only. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Equitymaster do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Please read the detailed Terms of Use of the web site.

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2 Responses to "A Town Giving Houses for Free"

Ravi shah

Oct 7, 2015

Dear EQM,
Being a subscriber We expect from you that pl recommend stocks only having good margin of safety and applying all possible M-SCORE,8 variables, in short all possible steps to curb losing of our capital.You are known for unbaised and honest recommendation.Thnks

Rajagopalan Ramesh

Oct 6, 2015

The 5-minute wrap-up premium has really become an Education to all serious investors and it is certainly useful. The M-Score and C-Score capture many pitfalls by application of certain ratios. A careful analysis of all Assets / Profitability / Net-worth ratios will bring out anomalies in financial reporting. I give a lot of importance to study of Cash Flow Statements - especially the cash-flows from operations. In addition to this, the Notes to Accounts will reveal hidden manipulations - for example, a change in method of accounting; reporting of contingent liabilities; direct and indirect tax dues and their treatment in books of accounts; legal cases due to which certain provisions or liabilities are not accounted etc., But investors who cannot spend considerable time in reading Annual Reports, can very much rely on M-Score or C-Score for taking right decisions about a particular stock.
Keep writing such useful articles. Thanks to the team.

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