29 -year -old could not buy a house in the United States, so she bought in Italy

Ohio citizen Lauren Scott29, she lived in Los Angeles for 10 years working as an independent owner in the film industry, when she decided that she was ready to buy a house. At that time, Scott lived in a studio apartment and paid $ 1,175 on rent.

Scott started her research in 2019 and wanted to stay less than $ 400,000. But then, the Covid-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, and found itself satisfactory every time he presented a show on homes in the city.

“I didn’t think I would have been able to buy in California, which is much lower than Los Angeles, and he somewhere I called him home for a long time and this really absorbed,” Scott told CNBC.

Scott realized that the purchase in California was close to the impossible, so she started looking in other states such as Florida, where her family lived. Soon she realized that she would not be able to find a job that corresponds to her current lifestyle.

Scott also felt disappointed in the quality of life in the United States and put her attention on Mexico, Portugal and Italy because they all had a similar weather for California.

the The dispute between the local population and the expatriates At high housing costs, Scott rejects Mexico and Portugal very quickly. So she focused on the characteristics of Italy. She set a budget of $ 50,000 and hunting her home online.

“I did not fly and bought the invisible sight, which is not recommended,” said Scott. “I contacted many agents and I just ended up paying someone to do this for me.”

After several weeks of search, Scott found one of two bedrooms, one hour after Florence. She can walk and use public transportation, which was a great priority for her.

“I didn’t want to deal with a car because I am not there full time and I am facing in the mountains and made me feel this view of peace,” said Scott.

Town House was on the market for 32,000 euros or 34,905 USD. The former owner told her that the price has been determined because the hot water boiler will need repairs.

“She left her completely furnished and just wanted to go out and move to a different part of Italy, but she was facing problems in selling home,” said Scott. “I was really lucky because there is nothing wrong with that except for the need to replace this part of the house.”

Scott paid the full demand price of $ 34,905 and an additional 4,200 euros, or $ 4581, at closing costs.

From the unwillingness to exhaust her savings, Scott obtained a personal loan worth $ 20,000 from a local bank to help buy the home, according to the documents reviewed by CNBC Make.

Scott was closed to the city in August 2022 and went to see him personally for the first time in November and say when it arrived for the first time, it was overwhelmed with emotion.

“It was just a surreal feeling. I could not believe that I had a home in my twenties because I didn’t think this would happen at all. I think I cried too,” said Scott.

Scott’s original home plan was to rent it, but she realized that she did not want to deal with problems that may arise with tenants or tenants in the short term.

“The cost of its existence is empty, it is likely to exceed the cost of renting it and the presence of someone breaks something,” she says. “I am a kind of protection on my house.”

Scott is visiting Italy twice a year now and uses the city as a holiday home, but is currently trying to secure a digital Bedouin visa to stay in the country for a period of time. In 2024, Italy launched a “remote workers visa”, “ Allow one year stay with the option to renew for high skilled professionals to work as employees or as independent work for their own account.

“I hope at some point next year to be able to move officially, but if I end up staying in the United States, I plan to use it as a more retirement plan because I know that I will not be able to retire in the United States,” she says.

“I am more than a long -term investment to get out of the United States as an independent store, this is worrying because I don’t always have health care, I have no 401 thousand and I cannot invest, so I think I am able to know that I have something safe and a place to contact me when I am older.”

Scott says she was excited to be able to buy a house, but the feeling was sweet and passed because she was only able to do so outside the United States – the country where she was born and grew up.

“This makes me sad because what keeps me here is my father. I don’t want to move around the world and then I cannot see my family a lot,” she says. “It is sad to know that my father can buy a house and that my grandparents can also, but with inflation, it is no longer available to my generation anymore. I don’t think this is justice for our generation and people coming from us.”

Scott still lives in Los Angeles, now in one bedroom apartment where it pays $ 1,695 a month, including a parking space. It is also independent, but it has turned to the creation of content and the work of social media.

Although she is trying to know how much time she will spend in her home in Italy, the only thing that Scott knows with certainty is that she does not have plans to buy a house in America.

“It is difficult because I believe that having a single drug is a blessing, but anything can happen,” she says. “I don’t want to completely demolish my savings or go to debt to buy a house here, especially with the country now.”

References were made to the US dollar on March 20, 2025, using Oanda transfer rates from 1 euros to 1.09 US dollars. All amounts are rounded to the earliest dollar.

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