A millennial couple bought an old, abandoned farmhouse and moved to Italy. They said renovating it is a full-time job.
Courtesy of Isis Sturtewagen
- Isis Sturtewagen and Bertus Brokamp bought an abandoned farmhouse in Italy for $205,000.
- The Dutch-Belgian couple are filming their renovation project and posting videos on YouTube.
- They said it's a financial risk, but they plan to renovate the 27-room property over 15 years.
Isis Sturtewagen, 37, and Bertus Brokamp, 43, first dreamed of buying a house in the countryside 15 years ago.
The couple, who lived in a rented house in Alphen aan den Rijn, a city in the Netherlands from 2015, both worked as freelancers. Sturtewagen was a freelance photographer and business coach, while Brokamp was a historical advisor and jouster, performing at tournaments.
Now, they live in a 27-bedroom farmhouse in the Italian Alps. Sturtewagen still works remotely as a business coach, alongside renovating the property with Brokamp and documenting their progress for nearly 100,000 fans on YouTube.
They told Business Insider they didn't consider buying a property in Italy until they began visiting the country regularly after Sturtewagen's mother moved there.
From 2013, they traveled to Italy at least twice a year, and Sturtewagen started learning Italian.
They found an abandoned farmhouse
Courtesy of Isis Sturtewagen
When they learned the house they were renting was going to be destroyed because of structural issues in 2020, they decided to start looking for a property to buy.
They began looking for properties in 2021, and Italy was top of their list. They looked for properties with three to four hectares of land in the north, where it's cooler in the summer.
But when their real-estate agent persuaded them to take a look at a 16-hectare abandoned farmhouse with 27 rooms in Piedmont, northwest Italy near the Alps, they knew they'd found the right property. The couple told BI the farmhouse property, parts of which date back to the late 19th century, had what they were looking for: scenic views, enough land, and being located near a town.
They made the offer in October 2022, and bought the property outright for 185,000 euros, which is about $205,000, in January 2023.
Sturtewagen told BI part of the house was habitable, though decorated in an "old-fashioned" 1960s style. This section of the farmhouse had been lived in until around 15 years ago.
"We wanted to buy something that was immediately habitable in part and then doable to renovate in the next 10 to 20 years," she said. They started renovating it in March, while living in the Netherlands. They spent seven weeks in Italy in the first half of 2023, and moved into the farmhouse in August 2023.
The rest of the property is structurally sound, Sturtewagen said, but needed renovating to make it habitable.
Brokamp quit his job
When they moved to Italy, Brokamp quit his job as a professional jouster. "It was physically exhausting and dangerous," he said. "It was time to go and live somewhere nice."
Sturtewagen has kept coaching clients remotely, which she does alongside the renovation. "We definitely don't feel retired. We're not rich enough to be retired," she said.
They plan to rent out the rooms and host workshops and retreats, in 15 or 20 years. "We will have to work our way up there because we don't have the budget to renovate 10 bedrooms in one go before we rent out anything," Sturtewagen said.
"We don't have 150K ready to redo the old farmhouse," she said.
For now, they're focusing on saving to replace the roof, and renovating a section of the house into a self-catered apartment to rent out. With the income from the apartment, they plan to renovate three or four bedrooms and bathrooms, and run a small bed and breakfast.
Renovating is a full-time job
Courtesy of Isis Sturtewagen
The couple have spent 10,000 euros, or $11,000, in the last year clearing out 18 of the property's rooms, buying tools, building a workshop and restoring the windows. They decided to film themselves renovating the property for YouTube in March 2023.
"In the years leading up to our life change, we had also been watching other people on YouTube doing similar projects to ours," Sturtewagen siad. "It felt natural to do the same."
By April, they got monetized on YouTube, and they now have 75,000 subscribers and have made over 32,000 euros from their channel.
"It's not enough yet to replace a full-time income, obviously, but it's enough to cover our living expenses," Sturtewagen said, adding that they spend around 1,200 euros, which is around $1,330 on their living expenses and bills, compared with around 2,000 euros a month, which is around $2,220, in the Netherlands. They told BI their expenses are lower than in the Netherlands because they aren't paying rent or a mortgage.
Brokamp said the renovation and YouTube videos are full-time jobs. "If we are lucky, we have a half-day on Sunday off," he said. Sturtewagen said she finds it hard to balance her coaching business with the renovation project and making YouTube videos.
They have no regrets
Courtesy of Isis Sturtewagen
"Living somewhere where you are constantly or where you can be constantly in awe of the things you see around you is really nourishing," Sturtewagen said.
She told BI that they sometimes question whether they should have bought a smaller house, with less financial risk, but as a freelancer, she has had periods of greater financial instability in the past.
"We haven't really regretted for one second buying this house. Life is good here," she said.