Honestly I’m supposed to be looking for a new place, but now I’m just looking at castles like, yeah I could make this work.
Don’t be fooled. Castles are so much more expensive than you think. They are heritage sites, you are obligated to keep it well maintained. This can cost between 100k to 1m per year, or even much more depending on the state and size. Next to that you’re not allowed to insulate it or replace the windows with double glass, so you will spend thousands per year just not to freeze to death.
The reason these castles are so cheap is because the state is in poor condition and the current owner doesn’t have the funds to fix it to regulatory standards. So you can assume you will spend 5 to 10m (if not more) into it after buying it, then to have the previous mentioned yearly maintenance costs on top of that.
I know because my French branch of the family used to live in a castle.
If you fail to keep the castle in shape you can get serious fines and even lose ownership. And depending on the country, prison time.
Then there are the taxes that are not fun at all.
So when you buy one, make sure you have at least 20m ready to spend the first 1 to 5 years. But to be sure you won’t go bankrupt, better have 50m as a target as costs always end up much higher than expected. It happens a lot, people buying a castle then to go bankrupt due to the insanely high maintenance costs.
I once stayed in an expensive castle hotel. It was fucking freezing. I realised then what a massive PITA castles are
Another reason billionaire’s are worthless. I know what I’d be doing with that kind of money
Probably also one of the many many reasons I would never be a billionaire… I just don’t have the heart for it
Lmao, well played. You could’ve gone with “two chicks at the same time”, but I like your reference better
Do you have to supply your own serfs or are they included in the purchase?
The cheap ones, mostly in France and Belgium, often are ruins or close to that state. They come with mold, wood worms and rot.
Here in the Netherlands you could live in a castle for free* (not own it). The * was that you were responsible for renovating it. The responsibilities also included the renovating costs. So you would be the staff who had to pay and work to renovate someone else’s house. Again, looks like a nice deal, living in a castle for free, until you find out what the costs actually are. It’s cheaper to rent in New York and then you won’t have to work next to your actual job.
Honestly not that different from renting in much of the US. In theory my landlord should have to pay for the repairs that aren’t my fault. In reality it’s more efficient for me to just pay out of pocket and do it myself rather than wait for him to fix it. I spent weeks without running water later summer because the well pump broke and he dinked around doing everything but replacing it (which is what needed done). I kinda like the idea that nobody “owns” a home, they just take on the responsibility of upkeep.
Yeah the social housing company I rent from works very hard to do as little as possible for their renters. I also do stuff myself out of my own pocket. But a castle is a different story, the upkeep costs far exceed my current rent haha
OK, but restoring a castle is not gonna be cheap. This has “credit cards are great because I don’t have to pay anything for 3 months” vibes.
Even if I don’t do the upkeep, what are they going to do to me? Lay siege?
This is giving “What are you going to do, stab me?” vibes…
Ooh, I’m liking Kinloch Castle on the Isle of Rum! (Better than the nearby Isle of Muck, for sure!) Only £750,000! Sure it’s a fixer-upper, but it includes a Steinway piano, an orchestrion, and “Victorian bathrooms with multi-function shower cabinets!” Whatever the heck those are, and they aren’t shown in the video. Neither is the kitchen. At least the local community is in support of getting it bought and renovated. I don’t know why all those billionaires are building ugly bunkers from scratch instead of putting them under the wine cellar of an island castle.
Edit: Well I still don’t have a picture of the castle bathrooms but “multi-function shower cabinets” might refer to fixtures like these, with an overhead shower, all-around needle spray, liver and kidney spray, and bidet.
Right? At least have some style.
No moat, no sale.
Sail*
Cool, you can have a leaky, rotting pile of stone in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, or a swanky apartment right in the middle of NYC.
Buying the castle would only be the start.
Yeah but like… what if my dream isn’t to own an overpriced done up apartment in the middle of a noisy polluted city around millions of other people where you sit in traffic just to get anywhere?
You do you, but buying something like that castle would be like buying a boat.
The purchase price is just the start.
If you can afford 1.6million for a NYC apartment, you can afford 1.3million and upkeep for a castle. People don’t buy luxury NYC apartments to live in. They buy them to peacock to other rich people. At least if you have a castle, you’re creative with your peacocking.
If you live in the middle of NYC, you’re not getting stuck in traffic because you’re not driving.
Yeah, you’re walking and carrying all your shit with you instead. In the heat, and rain, and snow, and wind. That’s so much better.
I’m taking the castle. Way more fun.
What do you want with 1200 square foot (everything but metric) and only 1.5 baths?
What OP fails to mention are the humongous taxes and upkeep costs
Rent it out for porn films, and use the money for maintenance.
If you get a castle for free you’re not likely to be charged property tax, considering the value initially is €0. But obviously if it was such a great deal the free castles would have been sold out by now.
No in Europe taxes do not depend on how much something was sold for
“FREE CASTLES! GET YER FREE CASTLES!”
If you get a castle for free you’re not likely to be charged property tax, considering the value initially is €0
Yeah no I don’t think that’s how it works
I can hear my wife now: “Do you know who’s going to clean this monstrosity? Because I can tell you who’s NOT going to clean it - ME, that’s who!”
She’s never been one to demand a bigger house.
They will only give you a castle if you’re already wealthy, it’s a whole process to check you have existing assets. They’re not giving castles to random people with ordinary income.
Socialism for the rich!
I mean, the poor literally don’t have the means to restore a castle. Let alone afford the utilities.
Six bedrooms. One bathroom. And its outside.
Kitchen is in 150 square feet, in the basement, and has a pump for water.
One bathroom. And its outside.
and has a pump for water.
I grew up in a house like this.
It’s a fixer-upper.
What does it mean access to the chapel and East Wing? Are those… not included? Is it a museum or something?
I read it as “a bedroom wing […] with access to the chapel”, as in, they’re connected.
Ah! Of course! I saw it as another entry in the list, as a peer to the bedroom, but you’re right it’s much more sensible to read it as a feature of the bedroom wing. Oh language!
I want a castle
Who doesn’t?
Great, I want one.
Italy must be the most incompetent country there ever was if they can’t even keep track of a few hundred castles. something tells me that user has their facts wrong
Well… Italian bureaucracy isn’t famous for being punctual and efficient.
There’s no way that castle only has 6 bedrooms.
Indeed, but there is also a music room, a great hall, entrance hall, atrium, reading room, dining room, servants hall, 10 sets of servants quarters, kicthen, pantry, laundry room, stables and coal storage room.
the other rooms are dungeaons.
Don’t worry about it. The stables are nicer than where you live now.
