In the Netherlands you can buy various potential houses for 1 euro, like old water towers, factories or boats. The problem is that once bought, you are obliged to renovate the object (since most of them are considered "monuments"), and renovation costs can easily cost €500k to 1M. Also, because the objects are monuments, there are very strict rules on what you are permitted to change (like the color of the paint), making renovation very difficult or even impossible.