European property still offers ‘fantastic value’. Here is how to find it

If you’re just back from your summer holidays and contemplating “la dolce vita” or “la belle vie” – and not just for a seasonal break – Maggie Molloy’s new adventure might appeal.

The star of Cheap Irish Homes, which has just returned to our screens on RTÉ One, is set to head off to warmer climes this autumn, looking for cheap homes across Europe – and she’s looking for people to join her.

While property prices might be cheapest across eastern Europe, Molloy expects to travel to European destinations that are typically popular with Irish people, including France, Spain, Greece and Italy, where, she says, “fantastic value” can still be found.

Molloy is looking for people to join the programme who are considering a move abroad. She will enlist the help of local architects/engineers, in each location, to help with selecting the properties and getting advice on planning laws and taxes.

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The programme is not aimed at holiday home buyers, but rather those who hope to take advantage of remote working to buy their own home and start life afresh.

“It’s not A Place in the Sun,” says Molloy, adding, “we want people to come into the houses and start their new lives”.

Unlike the Irish equivalent, where many of the cheaper homes identified need considerable work to bring them up to standard, Molloy says that not only are homes often cheaper abroad, they also need less renovation.

“The biggest surprise for me is that so much stuff is habitable. For maybe under €70,000, everything I’m looking at under that price is habitable,” she says. In Ireland on the other hand, “you’d be lucky”, Molloy says, to find a home for €100,000 or under that has even services.

France might be a regular destination on the programme, such is the value to be found. “France is crazy – you could make a whole show on France alone,” she says, citing an example of a three-bed home in Charente in France, which is on the market for just €75,000.

Other examples include a five-bed home in Côtes-d’Armor in Brittany (about 40km from the pretty seaside resort of Binic) for €91,000, a two-bed home in the historic town of Penne, Italy, in need of updating, for €48,000, or a two-bed apartment in Granada, Andalucia, Spain, for €87,000.

Typically, one might expect such value to be found in “la France profonde”, far from brasseries and shops, or the equivalent in other countries. However, Molloy says such value can be found close(ish) to seaside resorts and larger towns.

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing people to foreign countries and throwing them out in the sticks,” she laughs.

And people also shouldn’t be put off by any “projects”.

“I don’t intend to bring people to a house where they have to figure out the logistics of how to renovate it,” she says.

A word of warning to those considering the move – tax and inheritance laws can differ significantly to what you might be familiar with in Ireland.

And financing might also be a challenge; Irish banks may be unwilling to lend for a property in another country, for example, while local banks may not be keen on a foreign employer.

As Molloy notes, however, you mightn’t need a loan – what you’ve been saving for a deposit in Ireland, might in fact be enough to buy you a home elsewhere.

Cheap European Homes is scheduled to run in March 2023, and filming will begin this autumn. Anyone interested should email casting@av3.ie by Saturday, September 10th