real estate

Couple bought a 3-bedroom apartment in Italy for $407,000 and spent $65,000 renovating — take a look inside

This couple purchased their Italy apartment in 2024.
Cassandra Kane

This couple purchased their Italy apartment in 2024.

In 2009, while in college, New Jersey-native Cassandra Kane studied abroad in London and visited Tuscany during her spring break.

"I just had this vivid feeling or memory of looking out over the Tuscan countryside and something in me shifted," Kane tells CNBC Make it. "I actually called my mom, and I said to her, 'I can't explain it, but I have lived here before, and I will live here again.' And from that moment, it was just like I knew that existed, so everything else felt a little grayer."

Fast-forward eight years. Kane was living in New York City and, for the first time ever, found herself in between jobs. And after nearly a decade in the fashion industry as a designer for brands like Dennis Basso, Zac Posen and Elie Tahari, she started toying with the idea of studying handbag design — and returning to Italy.

"Something inside me was like, 'You're 28 years old, and you're single; just go to Italy. Go for a year, and you can always come back," Kane says. "But if you don't, you're going to regret that you didn't have that experience."

The property's previous owners were antique dealers, and had painted a mural on the built-in wardrobe in the master bedroom. Kane used to paint murals in New York City.
Cassandra Kane
The property's previous owners were antique dealers, and had painted a mural on the built-in wardrobe in the master bedroom. Kane used to paint murals in New York City.

That May, Kane and her best friend traveled to Florence to check out handbag design programs. On her first day back in Italy, Kane met her now-husband, Lorenzo Berchielli.

At the time, Berchielli was 33 and a firefighter. He was born and raised in Italy and lived in Florence.

Kane decided to enroll in Florence's Scuolo Del Cuoio — School of Leather — and start the year-long program in January 2018. Kane was back in New York for a brief time when Berchielli convinced her to come back to Italy so they could find her a place to live.

Kane moved to Florence in September 2017 but continued to travel back and forth to New York City until her program officially started.

Originally, Kane thought she would stay with Berchielli for just a few weeks until she found her own place, but the two clicked and decided to live together in the one-bedroom apartment he owned.

When Kane and Berchielli bought the apartment it was filled with antiques.
Cassandra Kane
When Kane and Berchielli bought the apartment it was filled with antiques.

Kane and Berchielli lived in that apartment during the Covid-19 pandemic. It's also where Kane started her luxury accessories brand, Sieme in 2021. The brand makes pieces using repurposed leather. Shortly after, Kane also co-founded, Zerolab, a leather upcycling and sustainable design hub that works with luxury brands to recover and repurpose their excess leather.

Surviving the pandemic together and the support she received from Berchielli in getting Sieme and Zerolab off the ground solidified for Kane that the two were in it for the long run. They got engaged in 2021 after four years of dating, and married in 2023.

Kane knew the apartment they were in then would not be their forever home. They used money they received as wedding gifts to put toward a down payment and started house-hunting.

The couple wanted to stay within the city limits of Florence, but not directly in the center. They wanted three bedrooms, a building that didn't have that many tenants and no new construction. Those were all non-negotiables.

"We either wanted our own individual house, which is very hard to find if you want to stay in the city or we wanted a condo building that wasn't huge," she says. "New constructions tend to be very open space but you get less space for your money. They're more energy efficient and less of a headache to renovate, but as a designer, I wanted to renovate and keep as many of the old details as possible."

The couple had to gut the entire kitchen and buy a used one on Facebook Marketplace.
Cassandra Kane
The couple had to gut the entire kitchen and buy a used one on Facebook Marketplace.

Kane says friends and family were surprised they were looking for a place with three bedrooms and two bathrooms since it was just the two of them.

"I was thinking about the future and if we have kids one day, and I always wanted to make sure we had an extra all-purpose room that could be a guest room for when people visit or an office," she says. "Just something that could be a flex room."

They searched for apartments online and toured 30 of them in six months. On Christmas Eve 2023, Kane saw a listing for 420,000 euros. It was listed for sale by the owner — but didn't include any photos. A separate 172 square-feet garage was up for negotiation in the deal, too.

"It was a total whim. It looked like a lot of space and the area was already where we were living in, and I said to my husband, 'I really think we should just go see this.' I had no idea what to expect but the moment we walked in I knew why there were no photos taken, it was filled to the brim with antiques." Kane says.

"I loved it the moment I walked in and I could just see how we would decorate it and I could see how it worked."

The apartment in Florence, Italy has three terraces.
Cassandra Kane
The apartment in Florence, Italy has three terraces.

The apartment has three-bedrooms, two-bathrooms, three terraces, an enclosed kitchen, and a closed-in veranda off the kitchen area that served as a laundry room. It's in a building with just four other units and on its own floor. It checked all of the boxes on Kane's list.

The previous owners of the property were antique dealers, and had painted a mural on the built-in wardrobe in the primary bedroom. Kane used to paint murals in New York City. "That was a sign that we needed to buy the apartment," she says laughing.

"Because somebody else was going to buy it and paint over the mural and that would have been a tragedy."

A few weeks before coming across that dream listing, Berchielli's apartment sold. The two could stay in it until March 2024, which gave them time to find a rental since they wouldn't be closing on their new home until May 2024. They also wouldn't be able to move in until at least some of the renovations were complete.

But the couple wanted to spend as little time in a rental as possible because paying both monthly rent and a mortgage would cut into their renovation budget.

'It was the worst decision'

The day Kane and Berchielli viewed the apartment, they made a verbal offer. They then signed a contract of sale in January to stop the sellers from showing the place to anyone else.

The couple paid 390,000 euros or $406,836 USD for the apartment and 30,000 euros or $31,295 for the garage, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

"The only reason I think they accepted our offering without showing it to other people was because we agreed to take the apartment as is and would clean it up," Kane says.

"I will be the first to admit it was a mistake. It was the worst decision."

The two bathrooms needed a complete overhaul.
Cassandra Kane
The two bathrooms needed a complete overhaul.

They had to handle the disposing of things like owners' old dentures and diapers, but were also able to get their hands on some of the unique pieces that were left behind, like leather-bound books from the 1800s and 1900s and bronze hangers. Kane even found an old newspaper clipping from 1944.

"I did get a few really amazing things from it, but the jury is still out if it really was worth it because that was traumatic," Kane says.

Despite being filled to the brim with stuff, the overall apartment was in good condition. The floors and doors were still intact, but the kitchen and bathroom were going to need a total renovation.

The couple's new home is still a work in progress, Kane says.
Cassandra Kane
The couple's new home is still a work in progress, Kane says.

Electricity in the property was a major issue, and the plumbing would also need some work to be brought up to code. Updating both systems meant ripping out the floors and parts of the walls.

The couple got their keys in May and renovations started immediately.

Kane and Berchielli spent about $65,000 fixing the place up, which included gutting the bathrooms, living room and one of the bedrooms. They bought a used kitchen on Facebook Marketplace. It's a common practice in Italy to buy all the cabinets and attachments of a standard kitchen without the appliances. They found one made of solid wood one that worked perfectly for the space and then bought new appliances.

"We're hoping in five years that we'll be able to do a custom kitchen the way we really want to," Kane says.

"But most of the budget had to go to updating the plumbing, electric, doing both bathrooms at the same time and putting in all new flooring."

Work on the master bathroom was completed in January.
Cassandra Kane
Work on the master bathroom was completed in January.

By the time they moved in that November, just a few finishing touches were left.

"Whatever state the apartment was in, we knew we had to move when we did. We had contractors for everything but we also had to do a lot of the work ourselves to make sure that it just kept moving," Kane says.

Some of the work the two did themselves included painting, hauling garbage to the dump, mounting doors, installing the kitchen, and project managing the entire renovation.

"I'm very happy that we ended up getting through the whole process because when my husband was saying he didn't understand why we needed an apartment that big, I was like, 'Because we're never doing this again,'" Kane says.

"We're very happy that it's done and we know we're going to stay here for a long time and now we just get to invest in making it our home."

'Now is the fun part'

Today, the apartment is still a work in progress with bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, but "now is the fun part," Kane says.

"My vision for this space is that it is a home filled with true artisan pieces and all the things that tell a story about our life and add richness and character to the space," she says. "That's honestly my favorite part about living in Italy. It's why I started a brand. I love the hunt and I love finding unique pieces or artisan pieces that tell a story."

Kane is also looking forward to hosting friends and family: "I grew up in a house where we constantly had parties and people over and I hope to bring a little bit of that here."

She also wants the home to represent who they are as a couple and their relationship. "I want the space to be a really personal reflection of who we are as a couple, especially one that comes from two very different backgrounds and two very different worlds," she says.

Kane says she's looking forward to filling the room with pieces that tell the story of her and Berchielli's relationship.
Cassandra Kane
Kane says she's looking forward to filling the room with pieces that tell the story of her and Berchielli's relationship.

This was Kane's first time buying property and she wasn't fully fluent in Italian, so she says the biggest lesson learned from this entire process is to not outsource any of it to anyone else.

"You need to make sure that you understand everything. You need to be your own biggest advocate. If you don't feel like somebody is working right for you or doing what you know you're paying these people for, ask the question," Kane says. "It's your money and it's going to be your home. The only way out is through so literally ask all the questions."

Kane says it's important for anyone looking to move abroad, to have an understanding of how the homebuying process works outside of the U.S. For example, final inspections aren't mandatory in Italy, which she learned only after signing on the dotted line.

"Don't make assumptions," Kane says. "Because you will be shocked."

Conversions to USD were done on January 29, 2024, using OANDA conversion rates of 1 euro to 1.04 USD. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

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