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Essex couple buys five Italian homes for £57,000 to rent out

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 30 Oct, 12:29 · Archive

Charlie Steele and Ben Pearce bought five properties in Italy for £57,000 total and moved there to renovate and rent them.

Essex couple Charlie Steele and Ben Pearce have relocated to Italy after purchasing five properties for a combined £57,000. Steele, 38, and Pearce, 28, initially bought a two-bedroom home in Tavenna for £12,500 in 2024 as a holiday home. In September 2025, they purchased three more properties in the same region for £1,000. Their largest purchase came in August 2026 when they bought a four-bedroom farmhouse in Abruzzo for £44,000, which they intend to be their permanent home. They financed this purchase by selling their UK houseboat for £115,000.

Steele said the couple had been taking long weekend holidays to Italy once a month before deciding to move. After obtaining an Irish passport, which gave him freedom to live throughout the EU, Steele said the pair thought: 'We don't we move whilst we're still young and we've got the energy to renovate properties?' In the UK, Steele had been managing three mortgages costing between £3,000 and £4,000 monthly. The couple moved permanently to Italy in October 2026 and plan to renovate the properties to rent them out on Airbnb.

Essex couple buys five Italian homes for £57,000 to rent out
Image: Brentwood Guardian

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In this story: Charlie Steele · Ben Pearce · Roydon, Essex · Tavenna, Italy · Abruzzo, Italy · Airbnb

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