Exactly how cheap can housing be made?

[Seppia]

@guitarplayer
Portuguese people speak English way way better than Spanish on average.
In Portugal historically (not sure that is still the case today) they did not have dubbing of movies, so the populace would watch English movies with subtitles.

In Spain there’s a few places (especially around Alicante) that have basically been colonized by Brits, but outside of those areas the average English level is pretty basic.

So language can be an element in favor of Portugal vs Spain for many English speakers

[guitarplayer]

This is an interesting point @Seppia, thanks!

DW's sister was telling DW about an unbelievable scheme that is going on in Italy where it is possible to buy an old derelict building and renovate it, ALL of the renovation costs being later returned by the state as tax reductions. I am too far away from Italy physically and in my thoughts to research it properly but it sounds amazing, certainly a long-term way for very cheap housing if in fact true. It might be that DW's sister is mixing something up though.

[Seppia]

No she is not.
It’s called 110 (“centodieci”). Italy being Italy there are a lot of complications though.
The first is the bureaucracy is insane, millions of papers and other stuff have to be done. A minor mistake in one of them can lead to you getting zero.
Then, the amount of money allocated by the government is set. This means that when they finish the money, it’s over. So you have no real guarantee that you will get the money.
Then since it is 100% paid for, all contractors are charging the max allowed, meaning that all costs are artificially inflated.
Since you have to front the liquidity and then get back the money in tax credit at a later date, this may prove problematic.

It was great but you had to be a first mover in this.

Much better and safer to do a regular renovation that improves the energy class of the house/apartment, as you get to claim 50% of the total spent in tax credits without too many strings attached.

[chenda]

@CS - walking a cat is so cute! I don't know how common yards are, but in smaller towns and rural areas you can get small houses with back gardens.

@guiterplayer - no particular reason, except I use to come here as a child back in the 80s/90s. I wouldn't rule out Spain but I'm much less familiar with it.

@Seppia - is Portuguese at all intelligible to you as an Italian speaker ? I'm guessing you can read it somewhat but the spoken language sounds very different, almost Slavic sounding.

[Seppia]

It’s a Latin language, not too far from Italian then.
Reading, I think I could understand 70% or so.
Speaking has never been a problem as Portuguese are very fluent in English.
It is my experience that once you speak two Latin languages fluently, the third comes easy.
I was bilingual Italian and French, learned Spanish in about four months.
I’m confident I could learn portiguese fairly quickly as well.
In terms of sound, it sounds like the accent of people from Genova, it’s really funny

[chenda]

There's a cafe I go to where they're always showing Brazilian soap operas and chat shows, it's a good way to learn as you can always work out the gist of what's occurring.

[Jean]

portuguese phonology is very similar to many slavic language, but they are unrelated, a bit like a kabgaroo looks like a big hazel.

[thrifty++]

In NZ around about $850 a month NZD for rent/ $520 USD
Around $150 NZD for utilities/ 91 USD - possibly more as this would be in a cold location.
Internet around $70 NZD/ 43 USD

All up around $1,070 NZD/ 653 USD,

This would be in a small town/rural area at the bottom of the south island

[loutfard]

irishvernacular.com, a construction project by architect Dominic Stevens.

About the closest he could get to a new build ERE house within the constraints of elementary mainstream compatibility, room for children and the Irish countryside with its relatively stable climate.