From LA to La Dolce Vita.
The wildly high cost of living in the US forced Lauren Scott — a millennial who’s called Los Angeles home for nearly a decade to shop for a home outside the country.
With a budget of $400,000, Scott — who is a freelancer in the film industry — struggled finding a home she could buy in California or even Florida, where her family lived, that wouldn’t break the bank.
“I don’t want to completely demolish my savings or go into debt to buy a home here, especially with the state of the country right now,” Scott told CNBC.
It was then that the 29-year-old decided to explore her housing options overseas — Mexico, Portugal and Italy were all contenders.
After some research, Scott decided she wanted to live La Dolce Vita — so she lowered her budget to $50,000 when looking online for a house to buy in Italy.
With the help of a translator, lawyer and real estate agent — Scott found a completely furnished two-bedroom, one-bathroom townhouse right outside of Florence, Italy for $34,905.
“I really lucked out because there’s nothing wrong with it except for needing to replace that one part of the home (the hot water boiler),” the homeowner said in the interview.
Despite buying her dream-home, Scott didn’t completely give up on LA — she still lives in her studio apartment, which costs her $1,695 per month.
“I’m thinking of it more as a long-term investment to get out of the US,” she explained.
“As a freelancer, it’s actually concerning because I don’t always have health care, I don’t have a 401K and I can’t afford to invest, so I think just being able to know that I have something secure and a place to call my own for when I am older is really comforting,” Scott said.
The millennial townhome owner flies to Italy twice a year to stay in her home and hopes to secure a digital nomad visa to stay for an extended period of time.
“I’m hoping at some point within the next year I can officially move but if I end up staying in the states, I plan to use it as more of a retirement plan because I know I’m not going to be able to retire in the US,” she said.
Scott shared her thoughts on the financial struggles many young adults are facing today,
“It’s sad to know that my parents could buy a home and my grandparents could, too, but with inflation, it’s not as accessible for my generation anymore,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s fair to our generation and the ones coming after us,” Scott added.
