Inside this couple’s apartment in Italy that sat abandoned for years [Video]

In 2020, Kristina Knighten, 38, and her husband, Paul Cordier, 46, closed on their dream home in Lago d’Iseo, Italy.

They bought the two-bedroom house for 23,000 euros, or $24,973, at the time.

“It looked like a house you drew when you were a kid with the pitched roof, the door in the center, and the two windows upstairs,” Knighten tells CNBC Make It. “It was really cute and just steps away from the train, steps away from the lake. It felt too good to be true.”

The couple started renovations on the home in March of this year — it needed a new roof, for example — and estimated the renovations would cost about 100,000 euros or $108,578.

“It was going well, and we were making good progress but unfortunately, the costs increased by 25%,” Knighten says.

The couple decided to go the DIY route: “When …