NY Couple Bought an Italian House for $13,000 After Leaving the US
Cassandra Tresl and Alex Ninman traded New York City for rural Italy, purchasing a home in Abruzzo for just $13,000 in 2022.
A New York City couple abandoned one of the world's most expensive real estate markets and found a drastically different path to homeownership in southern Italy. Cassandra Tresl and Alex Ninman closed on a house in the Abruzzo region in 2022 for $13,000 — a price that would be unimaginable for even a modest apartment in their former city.
The pair did not make an overnight leap across the Atlantic. Before settling in Italy, they spent time living with Tresl's grandfather in the Czech Republic starting in 2020, suggesting a gradual transition away from American urban life rather than an impulsive decision. That period abroad likely gave them the confidence and logistical footing to pursue a permanent European home.
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Abruzzo, a mountainous and largely rural region on Italy's Adriatic coast, has attracted international buyers in recent years partly because of its ultra-low property prices and quality of life. Unlike the more publicized one-euro home schemes in Sicily and Sardinia, Abruzzo offers livable properties at rock-bottom prices without the extensive renovation obligations that one-euro deals typically carry.
For Tresl and Ninman, the move represented more than a financial calculation. The couple described their experience as discovering "a different way of life" — a phrase that points to the broader cultural and lifestyle motivations driving a growing wave of Americans relocating to Europe amid high US housing costs, inflation, and burnout from fast-paced city living. Their story reflects a trend that financial analysts and demographers have begun tracking more closely as remote work expands the geographic options available to American professionals.
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