Celina Sengendo tells PEOPLE that watching her parents build a home from the ground up sparked a dream that eventually led her to buy property in Italy
Credit: Celina Sengendo
NEED TO KNOW
- Celina Sengendo says watching her parents build a lakeside home in Uganda inspired her dream of becoming an international property owner
- Years later, the Houston mother purchased a home in Sicily through Italy’s one-euro housing program
- She hopes the property will become both a family retreat and a business venture that helps create opportunities for her son
Years before Celina Sengendo purchased a home in Italy for the equivalent of $1.16, she watched her parents build a house in Uganda.
The lakeside property took years to come together, but the experience stuck with her long after construction was finished. "Just watching the process of that inspired me to as well become an international property owner," Sengendo, 31, tells PEOPLE.
At the time, owning property abroad felt more like a dream than a plan.
Born and raised in Houston, Sengendo grew up connected to her family's Ugandan roots. Watching her parents transform a vision into a real home planted an idea that would follow her into adulthood.
Credit: Celina Sengendo; Celina Sengendo
Years later, she stumbled across an article about Italy's one-euro housing program and immediately became fascinated.
The opportunity seemed almost too good to be true, but Sengendo wasn't ready to pursue it. Life was busy, finances weren't where she wanted them to be, and the idea slowly faded into the background. Then she came across a YouTube video that changed everything.
The video featured someone who had renovated one of Italy's ultra-cheap homes, and it reminded Sengendo of the dream she had nearly forgotten. More importantly, it showed her that the opportunity still existed.
"I was sooooo relieved to see that the one euro houses still existed," she says. "I finally pulled the trigger and bought a house for $1.16."
But by the time she bought the home, something else had changed too. Sengendo had become a mother.
Before welcoming her son, owning property abroad felt like a personal goal. After becoming a parent, she found herself thinking about the future in a completely different way.
"Now because I have a toddler, I want to grow my assets for him, God forbid before it's too late," she says.
Credit: Celina Sengendo
That shift transformed the way she looked at the Italian property. The home wasn't just a renovation project or an exciting international adventure. It became a chance to build something that could create opportunities for her family in the long term.
For Sengendo, the one-euro home was never the final destination.
"My ultimate goal is to have my own Italian villa with the vineyard and the olive trees and the pool and the whole nine," she says.
The fixer-upper she purchased in Sicily is simply the first step toward that larger vision.
"I plan to not only use the one euro process as a holiday home for my family and friends, but also as a business venture for the community, which will help build finances to purchase my dream country villa," Sengendo says.
She's already imagining what that future could look like. In videos documenting her journey, Sengendo has shared plans to use the home as a holiday property while also exploring business opportunities that could help support the project. She hopes the property can eventually become something that serves both her family and the local community.
The dream may sound ambitious, but Sengendo is quick to push back against assumptions that success came easily.
"My dad has built a beautiful multi-million dollar lakeside property in Uganda from the ground up," she says. "Now, we might sound rich but we are NOT."
Credit: Celina Sengendo
The reality, she explains, is that building something meaningful takes time. "So it will take a while," Sengendo admits. Still, she can't help looking ahead.
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During a recent visit to Sicily, she found herself stopping to admire an abandoned villa near the town where she purchased her home. While others may have seen a crumbling building, Sengendo immediately began imagining what it could become.
"The abandoned villa was so beautiful but I was terrified to go inside because I was solo," she says.
Even so, the property hasn't left her mind. "When I go back to Italy this year, I plan to explore it thoroughly," she says.
For Sengendo, moments like that feel familiar. Years ago, she watched her parents build something that once existed only in their imagination. Today, she's beginning a project of her own, inspired by that same example and driven by a new motivation.
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