finding a holiday home in Italy

Quite a few people ask me how you go about finding a place in Italy, and turning it into your dream holiday home. They all want to know if it’s complicated (can be, yes), if it’s expensive (depends on where you want to stay) and if it’s worth it (financially: not necessarily, quality of life-wise: yes). 

In this post I’ll go through the practical part: how to find the place, and how to get it.

First part, and an essential one: finding it.

First, decide what’s your preferred area. Beautiful medieval villages one hours drive from an international airport/lovely beach/amazing wine district have for the most part already been discovered, and property prices are as you would expect. You could be lucky, especially if you’re prepared to do a bit of renovation work. But it could also be a good idea, budget-wise, to extend your search to areas just a little off the beaten track, and see what they have to offer. Umbria is still cheaper than Tuscany, and just as nice. Puglia is stunningly beautiful, so is the southern part of Campania (also further north, of course, but prices are higher there) and there are gems to be discovered in Basilicata. Just to mention a few interesting areas.

When you have decided on an area, I’d recommend following pages like casa.it and immobiliare.it. Saved searches can’t always be trusted on these sites, so check now and then for yourself. If you’re familiar with the area you’re interested in you should also try to ask around, or make locals tip you. Not all apartments are sold through real estate agents, especially in smaller villages. Look for VENDESI-notes (“for sale”) in streets and windows. 

Then: checking it out.

When you find your dream place, go and have a look, or send someone you trust to check it out (and bear in mind that in Italy for some reason they don’t always try their hardest to make a house look good on the ad, so you could actually be in for a pleasant surprise). Naturally it’s a good idea to check out several places while you’re there, but if you’ve found only one and you really like it: go see it all the same. Property in Italy often stay listed for a long time, but not always, if it’s really good it could be gone in a week. 

Yup, leave it to the lawyer

Getting practical support:

If possible, contact someone local or at least with knowledge of the area and of real estate and make them ask the important questions. I’ve used an Italian lawyer who specializes in helping foreigners buy property, and it’s a great security in having him check owner structure, possible claims on the house, previous building permits or lack of such etc. A lawyer will also help you with all formalities connected with the purchase, control all contracts, and could also sign in your place, if given a proxy to do so. 

Register:

In order to buy property in Italy you need to get registered and get a fiscal code, “codice fiscale”. You also need to open an account in an Italian bank. Another thing the lawyer could help you with. 

Cost:

The sales price is not the only cost in this balance, so do some serious excel work before deciding what you’re able to fork out. In Italy the buyer normally pays the real estate agent’s fee, and if you have a lawyer helping you with the paperwork he or she gets a percentage too. The notary gets a share, and there’s a land registration fee. Also you pay IVA if buying from a company, or state tax if you buy from a private vendor. All in all you can expect to pay around 10-20% on top of the purchase price in fees. Get the lawyer to help you calculate the exact cost in the actual case before deciding to make an offer.

When you have paid all your fees plus the actual price of the house you must also be prepared for annual costs: property tax, a fee to the accountant calculating the property tax, garbage fee, light/gas/water/phone etc., and condominium expenses, if buying an apartment in a larger building or a part of a bigger property.  

Place your offer:

If you decide this is your dream place, you make an offer. Most of the time the seller has stipulated a price, they don’t necessarily expect to get it, so you could offer a lower amount and see if they’ll accept. Normally you don’t have different buyers bidding simultaneously, but it could happen. In that case you don’t always get a second chance to bid over the other buyer, so there’s a lot of psychology involved to find the right price. If the vendor signs the offer with the stated price that means he won’t sell it to anyone else for a period of time stated in the offer.

When placing your offer you often have to pay a limited deposit, to assure you’re serious. This will be returned to you should your bid in the end not be accepted. 

Making a sales agreement:

After the period stated in the signed offer has passed the vendor either accepts or declines the offer. If he accepts you draw a preliminary document of agreement, the “compromesso”. You pay a 10% deposit of the agreed price, “caparra”, and if the vendor should withdraw he will have to pay the double of the deposited amount. If you should decide to withdraw you will not get the deposit back. 

The final contract:

After a period stated in the “compromesso” you’ll be ready for the final contract, the full payment and the takeover. This contract is called the “rogito”. This contract is drawn up by a notary who’s also witnessing the signing and the transfer of checks and keys, and registers the ownership document, “catasto”, with the Land Registry.

And then - keys in hand - you’re ready to start creating your Italian dream!

More about the challenges and the fun in that in my upcoming post.