American couple relocated to Italy, only spend about $1,246/month

While living in the Czech Republic with her grandfather in 2020, Cassandra Tresl, 33, and her husband, Alex Ninman, 34, learned they were expecting their first child.

After welcoming their baby girl, the couple says they considered returning to the U.S. But when they started looking at how expensive it would be to buy a house and pay for child care, they decided to look to Italy instead, where Tresl had read about towns across the country selling one-euro homes.

“I really thought that if I had a kid, I would go back to the States. … And then it ended up not happening, because I realized how much more expensive it would be if we did go back,” Tresl tells CNBC Make It.

Before moving to the Czech Republic, the couple lived in New York City, where Tresl worked in operations at a tech company and Ninman was a butcher at Whole Foods. Even though it had always been the couple’s dream to live in the Big Apple, Tresl says the city’s hustle and bustle made her realize her career wasn’t the most important thing to her anymore.

“If we were going to stay in New York, I would have to continue growing my career,” Tresl says. But although she enjoyed her job, it “wasn’t what I thought about in my free time. Working at a tech company, I would see the people around me really into networking and I didn’t really care about that either.”

“I started questioning everything that was important to others and why it wasn’t important to me. I figured it just wasn’t the right environment for me,” she adds. That realization led her to ask to work remotely, allowing the couple to move abroad.

Tresl and Ninman aren’t alone in their desire to live outside of the U.S. About 1 in 5 Americans say they want to leave the U.S. permanently, according to a 2025 poll from Gallup. And in Italy specifically, the cost of living is 9.5% lower than in the U.S., according to Numbeo, which tracks global cost-of-living data.

In the late 2010s, towns across Italy gained attention for selling off deteriorating properties for 1 euro (about $1.05 USD at the time), with a goal of attracting foreign investors to buy the houses, rehab them and drive up the dwindling population numbers. Since dozens of towns announced these plans, hundreds of homes have sold, The Guardian reports.

Seeing stories of people buying up these homes inspired Tresl to start looking for a home in Italy herself, she says.

Tresl’s first step was to determine the actual cost of purchasing one of the one-euro homes, since they weren’t looking to spend more than 20,000 euros (about $23,627 USD) on the purchase price. Despite the marketing, buyers generally needed thousands of dollars or euros on hand for renovations, since most of the properties were dilapidated or had been abandoned for years.

In October 2021, the couple went on a house-hunting trip to Italy and viewed about 15 homes across Abruzzo and Tuscany.

“I’m a spreadsheet type of person, so I had all the pros and cons of all these houses and it came down to Abruzzo being a much better value in general,” Tresl says.

Considering their limited budget and the fact that Tresl knew they would need more money on hand for renovations, the couple settled on a two-floor, two-bedroom house just under 1,076 square feet. Tresl says they picked it for the price and the terrace view. 

The couple closed on the house in February 2022 in an all-cash deal for 11,500 euros, or about $13,150 at the time, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. They moved into the house in July 2022 and finished most of the renovations in the fall. They spent about $18,000 on the renovations.

The purchase price allowed the couple to buy the property outright, which “alleviated a lot of stress in multiple areas of my life,” Tresl says. “If my income fluctuates or money gets tight, at least we don’t have a mortgage and our family has a secure roof over our heads. This financial freedom was actually one of the main factors that made this move and decision possible.”

That financial freedom has allowed Tresl to step away from “a career I was never truly passionate about in the first place,” she says. Since moving to Italy permanently, Tresl left her tech job and started creating content for her travel blog and newsletter. She also works for another travel blogger as an operations manager.

“I’ve had the opportunity to be a little ‘reckless’ in a good way and start exploring my own ventures, creating multiple income streams that are fully mine,” she says.

Since moving, Tresl says the couple spends lot less day to day, partially due to the fact that they are in a small town versus a larger city.

“We genuinely want to respect the economic habits of our surroundings,” she says. “We don’t want to come into a place and inflate things with our spending, especially when salaries here are comparatively low, which is why things cost less. It feels important to be mindful of that and maintain some responsibility.”

In 2024, Tresl and Ninman acquired a second property in Italy, which they rent on Airbnb for up to 85 euros, or about $101, per night. Ninman left his job as a butcher when the couple moved out of the U.S., and now manages the Airbnb property.

Located in the countryside of their town, the single-story two-bedroom, one-bathroom house sits on its own land and has a private garden. The couple bought it for 17,000 euros, or about $20,083, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Tresl says she estimates they put another 10,000 euros into it during renovations.

In Italy, the couple only spends about $1,246 per month, including utilities and living expenses. Here’s a breakdown of their monthly expenses, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. All figures are rounded.

• Groceries: 480 euros a month (about $567)
• Electricity: 217 euros (about $256) every two months
• Tresl’s gym membership: 115 euros (about $136) every three months
• Water: 91 euros (about $108) every two months
• Daughter’s gymnastics: 50 euros (about $59) per month
• Airbnb supplies: 50 euros (about $59) per month
• Daughter’s preschool: 40 euros (about $47) per month
• Internet: 12 euros (about $14) per month per house

In the winter, they also pay up to 200 euros a month, or about $237, per home for heat. Annually, the couple pays 286 euros, or about $338, per house for garbage pick up and about 61 euros, or around $72, in property taxes for each house.

The couple’s rental property brings in between 8,000 and 10,000 euros, or $9,486 to $12,000, a year, Tresl says.

“We earn the most money from it when someone decides to stay long-term, which happens quite often, where a couple or a small family works remotely and will rent the house for three to six weeks at a time,” she adds.

Since they clean and maintain the rental property themselves, Tresl says their only monthly expenses for the Airbnb are utilities, including electricity, Wi-Fi and heat during the winter. Annually, they also cover property taxes and garbage pick up.

Instead of being surrounded by the hustle and bustle of New York City, Tresl’s life in Italy involves walking her daughter to school and working from home. She goes to the gym in the afternoon. On Fridays, Tresl and her daughter go to an archery class. On weekends, the family likes to do what Tresl calls “urban hiking,” or exploring different towns around Tuscany.

“The mentality here in Italy is so different because work really is not the most important thing,” she says. “The people have shown me that it’s OK to slow down and it’s something I’m still trying to adapt to.”

Conversions from euros to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 euro to $1.18 USD on Feb. 17, 2026. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

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