Auction Watch
The real €5,000 houses are sold by the courts. We read the listings so you don't.
Italian judicial auctions are public, cheap, and written in a legal Italian that hides what the lot is. Every Monday: the new ones in and around the twelve towns, in English, with the base price, the minimum offer, the deposit, the deadline, the court — and what it would really cost to own. £9 a month.
Weekly email plus a live board. Cancel any time.
On the board now
The first week's lots are being read now. Subscribers get them the moment they are published, and the Monday email after that.
Towns watched: Mussomeli · Sambuca di Sicilia · Zungoli · Bisaccia · Latronico · Ollolai · Montresta · Santo Stefano di Sessanio · Castropignano · Carrega Ligure · Fabbriche di Vergemoli · Patrica, plus their provinces.
Why a person reads them
“Quota di 1/2 di piena proprietà di unità immobiliare” is half a flat with a co-owner you have never met.
Court listings are exact and unreadable. Fractions of title, occupants with rights, unpermitted extensions, a base price that is a third of the last one — all in the description, none of it obvious. We put the plain English on top, and the number that matters underneath: what it costs to own, not what it costs to win.
One price
- — Monday email, new lots only
- — Live board, all twelve towns
- — English summary, cost-to-own range
- — Link to the court listing every time
Questions
- Where do the auctions come from?
- The Portale delle Vendite Pubbliche — the Ministry of Justice portal every court must publish to — and the portals that mirror it. We pull the twelve towns and their provinces every Sunday, and a person reads each lot before it goes on the board.
- Why is a court auction cheaper?
- The court sets a base price from a surveyor's valuation and cuts it by up to a quarter each time a sale fails. Minimum offers are 75% of base. That is how a habitable apartment ends up at €5,000 — and why the houses are sold as seen, with occupants sometimes still inside.
- Can a foreigner bid?
- Yes. You need a codice fiscale, a 10% deposit by banker's draft or transfer, and to file the offer — usually online through a registered presenter for telematic sales. Buying Support handles the whole procedure if you want a person on it.
- What is in a summary?
- What the lot actually is (the Italian descriptions bury it), the base and minimum offer, the deposit, the date and how to bid, the court, whether it is occupied, what the survey found, and our cost-to-own range. And, when it applies, why we would walk past it.
- Can I cancel?
- Any time, from the link in your Stripe receipt. No notice period.
Found one you want? Three written quotes before you bid, or Buying Support to run the whole procedure.