George Laing took a leap of faith
A man who says living in London left him in £10,000 of debt cleared it by moving to Sicily and buying a 85p house – and has doubled his income. George Laing, 33, racked up the debt due to the cost of living in London and his spending habits in his youth.
Spending half of his income on rent and the rest on bills and taxes, he was racking up £300 a month in debt for extra costs such as his commute. After losing his job as a night shift worker and ending up in £10,000 of debt, he wanted to find a way out and came across the one euro scheme in Italy.
He bought a run-down three-bed home in Sicily in December 2022, spending roughly £2,000 renovating it. George was able to clear his debt in two years due to making more money from content creation and paying less to live.
He now he owns two homes in Italy and helps others get on the scheme. By sharing his tips in online seminars and sharing homes online, he says he makes double his London wage.
George, originally from Camden, said: “I had loads of debts from bad decisions when I was younger – credit cards, phone bills, borrowing from family. London is also so expensive to live in, so I was living paycheck to paycheck and pretty stuck in my situation.
“I just wanted a roof over my head I knew I would always have. I saw these cheap homes and started to message about 40 towns.
“It was between Mussomeli and Bulgaria, which also has cheap houses, but the Sicilian one got back to me, so I hopped on the cheapest Ryanair flight I could find. There were Americans touring with us and he had already snapped up five of the six houses, so I had to beg for him to let me have the last one – and I got it.
“I was staying in the home using baby wipes to clean as I had no water or electricity and I had to sneak into restaurants to use the toilet. I would obviously use a hotel if things got serious, but I always tried to avoid that as it was money I could use to spend on the house.
“I was determined to fix up the house, as I was so sick of working all the time. In London, you get a decent salary, but you are never able to spend it – the expenses are so much.
“In London, I stopped socialising because beer is expensive, you end up spending 50 quid just to sit in a cold room with your mates for an hour or so. London is a lot of fun if you are rich; it has become a millionaire’s playground. I was so sick of paying rent, I just wanted to buy, but getting a mortgage would have been impossible.”
After buying the home in Mussomeli, Sicily, in December 2022, he moved in with no water or electricity and spent 18 months renovating the property. He used Immobiliare Siciliana to purchase his home, stressing the importance of not getting scammed.
He filmed his process, other houses, and the area on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, which gave him the funds to rent somewhere while he did up the property and allowed him to pay off his debts. George was able to buy a second one euro house with three floors, which he is converting into studio flats while he lives in his first property.
He said: “I do all the work myself. My social media, where I share all the one euro houses, completely hit off – I didn’t expect it to go so large. But I use the funds that I make from social media, to pay for my work in the homes and pay off the entirety of my debt.”
George, who is the 100% freehold owner of two homes, does not plan to sell them.
He said: “I do all of the work myself, I have zero construction knowledge and have made a lot of mistakes along the way. In my first home, I thought cement was made only of sand and water and quickly worked out that it wasn’t.
“By doing everything myself, it is a lot cheaper. I am learning all the way, which will help me with employing people when I make a business out of this in the future.”
Now George plans to buy larger properties to create his business, renovating properties to sell and rent.
He said: “My goal is to have around 50 places, so I will need to make a team of people to help me, whether that will be a UK-based business or Sicily, I don’t know. I am also looking at buying old orphanages and hospitals to do up, as well as plots of land on beaches.”
George has made a 40-page guide about coming to Italy – costing £29.99 – and has sold hundreds of copies. He has made €3,000 by selling items he has found in his home on online auctions.
George said: “I have realised without noticing that people have moved here because of me and all the money I have put into the area, I want to repeat this in different areas. These one euro schemes really work when you have the social media in places like I have done for Mussomeli.”
George loves the area he has moved into and works in.
He said: “A lot of the people here are in their 40s or 50s, they have put their kids through private schools, still renting, have £50,000 to their name. They come here because it is one of the only places left where you can buy a nice four-bedroom house for under £30,000.
“Everyone is ridiculously nice and just wants to relax and have a good rest of their life. It is the best thing that has happened to all of us.
“My grandma was the first person in my family to buy a home; 60 years ago, in London, she bought a four-bedroom house for £8,000. You couldn’t do that nowadays, a one-bedroom flat in London costs £500k.
“I was paying £1,300 for my flat in London – now I own my own homes and have a good income. I share seminars to help people do the same as me, it should not be that expensive to live.”
Cost comparison
UK:
Rent: £1,300 a month for a one-bedroom flat
Bills: £150 to £300 a month
Food shop: £150
Italy:
Aveage rent: €200-400 a month (£174 – £349)
Bills: €75-150 a month (£65.50 – £131)
Food shop: €75 (£65.50)
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