I’m an American — here’s why I bought property in Italy

Human Interest

By Brooke Kato

She’s living the American Dream — in Italy.

When Stephanie Synclair, 41, ditched corporate America and started her own business, she was excited for the flexibility to set her own schedule.

But after taking her first trip overseas — the Atlanta-based mother snagged a $250 sale fare to Palermo, Sicily, traveling to the island on a whim — Synclair realized that she could live anywhere in the world if she wanted to.

“I knew from the moment I landed that I loved it here, and it was almost like home for me,” Synclair, the founder of the tea company LaRue 1680, told CNBC.

She loved it so much that she bought a house in the ancient port city for $62,000, making Palermo her home away from home.

“I always said I could see myself living here, but it was more so in a dream way,” she explained. “I never actually saw myself buying a house here. I don’t know that I really thought it was possible at the time.”

After mortgage rates dropped during the pandemic, Synclair had looked into buying a home back in the States, but when they rose again in 2021, the cost of houses in locations she preferred skyrocketed to $800,000 — much higher than her $450,000 budget.

“I started looking outside the country for just what was available,” said Synclair, who later stumbled across a Facebook group of Americans who had moved to Europe.

“It really was more so just curiosity, just looking. I don’t think in that moment that I knew it would actually lead to a purchase.”

She sought out a real estate agency that sells properties at affordable prices, finding her Italian dream home — three-bed, two-bath, 4,000 square feet — in November 2021 and closing on it the following March.

While it needed some renovations, she’s only spending an estimated $21,000, which will allow her to turn the garage into a living room and bar, while adding another bedroom and bathroom.

“It was very important for me to keep the architectural details in this house, like the historic floors, and to not try to change the walls or the arches,” Synclair explained. “This house is at least 500 years old that we know of. It was remodeled maybe 100 years ago, and the floors are at least 100 years old, and they’re still kicking.”

Synclair, who earns $80,000 per year, said her living expenses overseas are minimal. Compared to her Atlanta expenditures — $2,635 for her three-story rental home, Wi-Fi and utilities and an additional $1,165 for car payments and gas — she spends just under an estimated $1,400 total on utilities, food, subscriptions and insurance in Sicily.

In Sicily, necessities are less expensive compared to Georgia — it’s made saving her hard-earned cash much easier.

Synclair didn’t get serious about savings until her 30s, feeling like she “needed to make up for lost time” in her 20s, during which she barely saved.

“I live more than comfortably on my current salary, even with Atlanta being a lot pricier than it is here in Sicily, because I live for almost nothing here,” she said.

While she splits her time between the states and Europe, traveling overseas every 12 weeks or so, she hopes one day to settle down in Sicily full-time and retire for much cheaper.

“If I was to retire in the United States, I would need at least $2.5 million to retire comfortably. That’s taking today’s inflation in consideration,” she explained.

“But by retiring here in Sicily, I only need about $450,000.”

Crunching the numbers, Synclair projected she would only need about $18,000 per year.

She prefers Sicily for its culture — “you actually get to live,” she said, rather than orient your life around work — although she’s still trying to pick up Italian.

“Overall, I think that what Sicilians do appreciate is that we are here to learn about their customs and their cultures,” she said.

“I will always be an American on foreign land — I will always be an outsider,” she added. “And I think that’s really important to remember when you’re coming into others’ cultures.”