A woman who bought an abandoned house in Italy for just £4,400 has transformed it into a dream home - and it's now worth £250,000. Meredith Tabbone, 43, bought the run-down property on a whim after hearing councils in rural Sicily were auctioning off derelict houses with a one euro starting bid to help regenerate the village.
Meredith, who is from Chicago in the US, snapped up the 1600s building, which had no electricity or running water, after throwing in an offer of £4,400 - and found out she was the successful buyer months later.
The house is set in the Italian village of Sambuca di Sicilia where her grandparents grew up, and it was initially just 'one big room' over a basement. After buying it, Meredith discovered the roof was thick with asbestos and it cost her £661 to hire a team to remove the roof in an environmentally-safe way.
