Meet the Aussie who bought a house in Italy for $1.50, then another for $11,700

Queenslander Danny McCubbin has bought not one, but two houses in Italy for prices Australians can only dream of. 

The first one cost €1 ($1.50) – far less than the price of a cup of coffee with some froth on it. 

SBS is featuring his story on its Dateline program on Tuesday night at 9.30. 

Mr McCubbin, 57, grew upon the Gold Coast and worked in London from 1998 onwards, including 17 years with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Working with Oliver – who is famous for his use of Italian food and setting up social food programs in London – helped fire up Mr McCubbin’s interest in Italy. 

The kitchen (pictured) of the house Danny McCubbin bought for $1.50 on the Italian island of Sicily. He ditched plans to renovate the home after realising it had too many structural issues and bought another for €8,000 ($11,700), which he is now living in as it only needed minor renovations

Then he heard about houses being sold in Italy for €1 and couldn’t resist – and with the average Australian house price now $1.1 million, it made a lot more sense than moving back home. 

‘I first saw on CNN the headline about buying a house in Italy for €1. Like many people I thought it was too good to be true.  

After looking at a few towns selling €1 houses, Mr McCubbin settled on Mussomeli, a town that has houses for 40,000 people, but a population of only 11,000 and many old homes have been abandoned for years. 

Many towns in Italy have these €1 schemes, but Mussomeli has been hailed a success thanks to clever marketing. 

Instead of enticing young Italians here to repopulate, they’re targeting foreigners and the dream of owning an Italian home.

A medieval street in the town of Mussomeli, Italy, where Australian ex-pat Danny McCubbin bought a house for €1

Australian man Danny McCubbin (pictured right) with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (left) who he worked with for 17 years before moving to Italy

The town gets around 1,000 emails a day asking about the €1 homes. 

‘I loved the fact that Mussomeli was very remote. It’s in the centre of Sicily. I grew up in the country with farming and the land in my soul,’ he said. 

‘There’s a sense of kindness here. People talk to each other, they say hello.’ 

The pandemic may not have dampened his love for the idea, but it did cause delays and damage to the house he bought. 

‘The €1 house stood still during the pandemic for a year and the two houses either side caused a lot of damage into it.

‘By the time I went to renovate it the cost had skyrocketed. Building costs had gone up in the town and then the house crumbled even further.’

McCubbin decided to give up on his plan to renovate the $1.50 house. 

He was not deterred to give up on the dream altogether .

He found a more suitable house that only cost $11,700 – and just needed minor renovations.

‘The real estate agents here now refer to them as “premium houses”. Mine was €8,000 ($11,700), which is hilarious because it’s less than the cost of my car that I bought here.’

He’s now been living there for more than a year.  

He says a lot of people are now buying the premium houses rather than the €1 ones.

‘It’s less of a risk. You aren’t buying something that could cost a lot of money to renovate,’ he said.   

SBS’s Dateline reporter Evan Williams (pictured right) has made a program about Italy’s efforts to repopulate rural towns and villages. Pictured with him is Valeria Sorce, an Italian real estate agent selling houses for as little as €1

Australian Danny McCubbin (pictured left) has settled into life in the Italian town of Mussomeli. He is pictured with SBS’s Dateline reporter Evan Williams (centre) and an SBS cameraman

Mr McCubbin knows he made the right choice. 

‘I don’t have any building skills and I’m not a great handyman, but I could tell with this house that the foundations were pretty good and that it was in a pretty good state compared to many of them, some of which are just rubble.

‘What’s good about this place is that it’s original. It’s been abandoned for 15 years, so it’s as if the person just got up and left.’ 

He has kept a lot of the previous owner’s items ‘because there’s some good memories here and lovely objects’. 

Among the things he kept are a wood fired stove in the kitchen, along with pots and some classic Italian coffee makers.

The locals ‘were a bit dubious at first (but) they are welcoming if you have the right attitude,’ he said.

An Mr McCubbin certainly has ‘the right attitude’.

Danny McCubbin is pictured outside the house in Italy he bought for $1.50 under a scheme to repopulate rural villages and towns

Danny McCubbin, who grew up in Queensland, bought this house (pictured) for $1.50 in Italy. The table, chairs and bottles were included

He arranged for local supermarkets and fruit and vegetable wholesalers to deliver food they would otherwise throw out (such as the food about to go out of date)  so he can help those in need.

Mr McCubbin and others prepare hot meals for vulnerable locals at The Good Kitchen – a community kitchen he set up as part of a charity in the town square.  

The Good Kitchen delivers 100 meals a week to the needy.

With 50 per cent youth unemployment in Sicily, he wants The Good Kitchen to becomes a social enterprise, employing young people in the town.   

Danny McCubbin, bought another home (pictured) for $11,700, after realising the $1.50 home needed to many structural repairs

He’s been living in the $11,700 home for months now, which features incredible views over the Italian countryside

A young man called Salvatore is helping him on court ordered community service.

‘It’s a way to help the community, to feel good about myself,’ Salvatore said. ‘I love it, it’s an amazing environment. Danny is an amazing guy and I get along with him.’

Ten-year-old Davide also helps out and said ‘When I’m older I want to run a restaurant with some friends.’

With young people being inspired like this, it’s no wonder Danny McCubbin, who is learning Italian by using it every day, has become a valued member of the Mussomeli community.

‘The €1 house was the hook, but it’s a lifestyle for me.’

Danny McCubbin features on Dateline on Tuesday, April 19 at 9.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand. 

Advice for Australians looking to buy a very cheap house in Italy 

Advice from Danny McCubbin, a Queenslander who bought a €1 house in Sicily and now lives in a house he bought for €8,000 ($11,700) 

‘The first thing I’d say is please don’t say that you’re looking at this as a financial investment.

‘Some people think they can buy a cheap house, get it renovated and then Airbnb it.

‘There’s just not enough people (visiting) to Airbnb in this town.

Valeria Sorce (pictured centre), an Italian real estate agent selling houses for as little as €1, has a lot of keys to very cheap houses. She is pictured with SBS’s Dateline reporter Evan Williams (right) and an SBS cameraman

‘I’m quite adamant when somebody reaches out to me wanting to set up a B&B or set up a business, a restaurant or a cafe, I say to them, please don’t.

‘I also say to people, if you are thinking along those lines you’re taking business away from these beautiful people in this town who suffered economically (even) before the pandemic.

‘I always say please come to this town thinking of how you can enhance the community’s life here.

‘I had one couple who wanted to come here and open up a bike shop. I said “There’s already a bike shop here and the roads are really bad, please don’t come and do that”.

Queenslander Danny McCubbin bought a house (No 44, pictured) in Sicily for $1.50

‘To Aussies, I always say, if you’re looking for a destination in Europe where you can have a second home, where you can arrive for a couple of weeks or a month, lock it up and go and happily come back again, then go for it.

‘I also say to Aussies, try to spend a month here first. You might not like the town. I love that it’s remote, there’s no train station here. There’s a cinema that shows a movie once a month, there’s no kind of high street, there are no traffic lights.

‘The municipality, the mayor and deputy mayor, they are very forward thinking for a town that’s so remote, about how to welcome foreigners and the wi-fi is excellent.   

‘If you work remotely, fantastic, that’s a great opportunity for you. But also I say, think of something that’s going to give jobs to the people of the town, that’s the most important thing.’