IN ENGLISH

INTRODUCTION TO ITALY

Italy has become a hotspot not just for high-net value individuals looking for a second home.  The foreigners and their families and friends not only can enjoy the purchased properties but also earn an income from them. Italy is ranked as one of the world’s top five second-home destinations, with European and North American buyers particularly enjoying the beautiful lakeside lodges, snow-decked cottages for skiing and untouched beaches of the region.

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Italy’s has many tax advantages. One of them is a flat tax policy has drawn interest from non-nationals, as it allows overseas residents (irrespective of their citizenship), who move to Italy and become Italian tax residents, to pay a lump sum form of taxation on all non-Italian sourced income for up to 15 years. Be sure to verify before your purchase the updates, because tax policies are changing in many countries every year.

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Italy is recognised as a largely “no restrictions” country, property purchases in Italy are quite straightforward for non-nationals but sometimes can take up to 6 or 7 months to close.

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It is essential to have a help of somebody you trust, to streamline the process and ensure it takes place legally. Transaction costs in Italy differ from property to property but can be up to 20% of the property value including foreign exchange fees, real estate commissions, notary, and legal fees.

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If you’re looking for a rare historic property (either a Tuscan farm ranch, a castle or a palazzo), Italy is one of the top destinations in the world, with only France offering more castle-style properties for sale. On the opposite end of the upscale market, newly-built apartments are available but represent a smaller percentage of the real estate stock. But if you’re looking for a villa, there is definitely something elegant and unique for every buyer. 

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The legalities around freehold and leasehold properties in Italy can be complex, so ensure you get appropriate professional advice. Most new-build Italian property is sold freehold, but this isn’t always the case with older and renovated properties. There are also historical, artistic, landscape, environmental or hydro-geological protections for some properties so it is vital you get the right guidance from your advisors.

Always take time to check before investing in a property which needs significant work. Ensure all legal checks are conducted and the renovations you want to make can be legally carried out before you sign any contracts.

You require an Italian bank account to purchase your chosen property. It needs to be done in person. Prior to opening the account, you will need to obtain your codice fiscale or tax code. You can apply for your codice fiscale either at the Italian Embassy in your home country or  at any Revenue Office in Italy. This code is essential for almost all day-to-day activities in Italy, including opening your bank account.

You can open an account at any branch of your chosen Italian bank, and you will need your passport, proof of address (even if abroad) and your codice fiscale.

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Italy is one of the 27 member countries of the European Union and one of the 19 that make up the Euro Zone.

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Italy is located in the southern Europe on the Apennine Peninsula. It has a distinct shape, resembling a kicking boot that makes it easy to recognize it on maps or even from space.

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The Adriatic Sea borders the peninsula in the east, the Sea of Sicily in the south, the Ionian Sea in the southeast, the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west; all those seas are parts of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Italy has international borders with Austria, France, the Holy See (Vatican City), San Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland. It also shares maritime borders with Albania, Algeria, Croatia, Greece, Libya, Malta, Montenegro, Spain, and Tunisia. Two of the largest Mediterranean islands belong to Italy, Sardinia in the west and Sicily in the south.

The country covers an area of 301,318 km² (116,340 sq. mi.), compared, it is about 80% the size of Japan or slightly larger than the U.S. state of Arizona.

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Italy has a population of more than 59.6 million people (in 2020), the capital and largest city is Rome (Italian: Roma). Other major cities are Florence, Milan, Naples, and Venice. Spoken language is (only) Italian.

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REAL ESTATE IN ITALY

Any foreigner can buy and own a property in Italy or other European countries without any problem. There are no limits for non-citizens to buy properties in Italy. You only need someone who informs you about all the details and the most important thing, you need somebody who will supervise the entire purchase process, this way you do not make mistakes and closing will not last for months. Many documents need to be prepared, translated and followed up. 

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The only thing that you need to purchase property in Italy is someone, who is able to inform you about all the details regarding the process and the most important thing, you need somebody, who will supervise the entire purchase process. This way you do not make mistakes and the selling process from the start to closing will not last for months. Many documents need to be prepared, translated and followed up. Additionally, you must obtain a CF (Codice Fiscale). It is a Tax ID Number. You can obtain it on Italian Consulate in your country or we can do it for you here for a fee.

There are also different visa options to obtain a residence if you buy a property or several properties for a value greater than a certain amount. Contact us to inform you what is the exact amount at this moment.

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There are only a few remaining countries in Europe that still have available affordable properties. They are Spain, Italy and France. You can still find in these countries plenty of properties for fantastic prices in comparison with many other countries. Portugal is the sample how fast things can change. In Portugal were available many cheap properties in pre-covid era, but because of very convenient tax regime (that is was ultimately changed) and Golden visas (their requirements changed as well), the market went up very fast and today is very difficult find affordable properties in many part of this country.

Here you can see some samples, what you can still find in Italy for different budgets:​

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• Under €100,000 Euro

  • One bedroom apartments 

  • Two bedroom apartments 

  • Three bedroom apartments

  • Small Townhomes

  • Land  

  • Plenty of other properties in need of reform

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• Starting from 200,000 Euro

  • Smaller apartments in pre-construction

  • Smaller new apartments

  • Big older apartment

  • Small traditional homes

  • Big Townhomes 

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• Starting from 400,000 Euro

  • New luxury apartments

  • Big traditional or country homes

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• Starting from 500,000 Euro

  • Big apartments in pre-construction

  • Big luxury new apartments

  • Big country homes

  • Apartment buildings

  • Luxury villas

  • Mansions

  • Castles

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OUR STORY

After living in US and totally life changing during the challenging events in 2020 and 2021, we decided, like many other people, to do some radical changes in our life. We realized the right to travel is not guaranteed and that any government can restrict or even eliminate the travel as we know it in a few seconds. Our goal become to spend more time traveling through Europe, not just through US and for that reason we decided to purchase one property in Italy and one property in Spain.

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We never purchased any property in US online, much less in Europe and now, because of traveling restrictions, we didn't have another other option than to purchase it online, without even seeing it in person. At this point, we didn't have any idea about the purchasing process in Italy or Spain. We were very well aware about risks involved in it, doing all that online only. We started to do some research and established some basic requirements and rules to avoid some of the risks related to our first purchases in Europe, totally online.

Here you can see our "List" with some basic requirements and rules to help to mitigate a risk purchasing the first property online in Italy:

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• The property has to have 1 bedroom. 

• The property has to have parking.

• The property has to be in a gated community.

• The property has to have big terrace or some exterior space or private garden.

• The property has to be located in medieval small town or village.

• The property has to be located in mountains.

• The property has to have traditional stone or medieval design.

• The property has to be in good shape (not requiring too much work or renovation). 

• Our first property in Italy has to be under €100,000 Euro (everything included).

• The property has to be close to big cities.

• The property has to be located in one of the following Italian regions (Tuscany, Umbria or Le Marche).

• The property has to be in a tourist area, to be easily rented, if we decide in the future to purchase another property.

• The property has to be in a tourist area, where we can find a management company if we decide to rent it.

• Find a real estate agency and the real estate agent who have experience with foreign buyer's, speak the language, are willing to defend our interest, who is available to do a virtual showing, negotiate the price and be there for us if we need any help.

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Many people don't realize that the advantage to purchase a property in Italy is not just the price, but the annual property taxes and many other costs related to real estate property (condo fees, garbage, gas, electricity, water, Internet, cable, etc.). Today, after we purchased our first property in Italy, we've realized that we would pay 3 or 4 times more for similar property in Florida (and here we are not talking about the difference in quality of construction), 5 or 6 times more for property taxes and 4 or 5 times more for association fees.

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But let's go back to our story. After months of research and unanswered emails, text and calls form many real estate agents, we were finally able to find and select a few properties and some real estate agents, that were communicating with us and open to work with us. We were able to select a few real estate attorneys, that were claiming that they have experience to work with foreigners as well. We were able to find and select a few properties, some of them eliminated after we have seen the videos or the Life Video Walk-Troughs that they sent us and we finally decided to purchase 1 bedroom + 1 bathroom condo with a private garden on border of Tuscany (Umbria), that fit out criteria. 

From the start of our purchase journey, we did a lot of mistakes, spent a lot of money on things that we didn't need or did things that were totally useless, spent a lot of extra money choosing wrong banks for international transfers, spent a lot of time because we listen to a wrong advise, etc. The process of purchasing property in Italy is very safe, but if you are purchasing something online or even in person, without somebody defending your interest, a lot of small things can go wrong. In the end it is not a big deal, everything has a solution, but you can spend thousands or ten of thousands of dollars, if you are buying more expensive property, to fix it. It is really not worth it.

We learn a lot from our mistakes. We wouldn't use again or recommend to anybody the same real estate agency or the same law office that we used to. We lost a lot of time and spent extra money due to their lack of experience to work with foreign buyers and poor follow up in case of the law office. They didn't provide us with sufficient information about the process, but in the end we are very happy with our purchase and we are really enjoying our apartment and many trips through Italy and the rest of Europe, that we already did. We made a lot of changes in the apartment. We purchased new furniture and still we were able to spend less than €100,000 Euros.

Conclusion. We could spend easily €10,000 Euro less, if we had somebody with experience, who could helped us during the process, but we are happy that we were able to successfully closed on our first property in Italy and to have the starting point and base to purchase another one. Right now we are looking for our second property in Italy, in this case it is a typical Tuscan country home. We have a place to stay in Italy at this moment, so no rush, but we would like to find the prefect location during next year:-)

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If you are planning or decided already to purchase any kind of property in Italy, be sure to contact us, so you have somebody, who have an experience, who can give you a lot of useful information and can help you through the process.

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SOME OF THE PROBLEMS YOU WILL ENCOUNTER

You can find some websites online that are offering properties in Italy, but even if you find a property by yourself, you will find a lot of hurdles and problems related to your search. Here is a list of just some of the problem you could encounter:

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• Avoid using only the seller's real estate agency or real estate agent, who will inevitably defend the estate agent’s interests over yours.

• Choose an independent real estate agent ,who’s only paid by you to defend your interests.

• In Italy exist a little consumer protection, use always somebody who you know personally or who was recommended to you by somebody, who you trust. 

• Some real estate agents can increase the price of a house above that agreed with the owner and pocketing the difference.

• There are no national property listings (MLS) in Italy.

• Commission charged by real estate agencies and real estate agents varies and properties may be advertised at different prices in different agencies.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents don’t usually work during lunch hours and most are closed on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.

• Some real estate agencies and real estate agents advertise ‘free’ inspection flights, which you must then pay for if you don’t buy anything.

• Real estate agencies and real estate agents vary enormously in their efficiency, enthusiasm and professionalism.

• Some real estate agencies and real estate agents can pressure you into signing contracts and paying deposits quickly, alleging there are queues of other clients waiting to buy the property (which may be true in some cases), but be careful, because you are loosing any negotiation power doing so too soon

• Many real estate websites don’t show all properties for sale or the latest properties on their books.

• Many real estate websites require prior registration to see any detail information regarding the properties.

• Some real estate agencies and real estate agents are charging extra commission or fees on some extras in addition to the sale price (apart from the normal fees and taxes associated with buying a property).

• Real estates agencies are just selling limited number of properties and many are not willing to show you another properties.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents are just local and many are not able or willing to show you properties in other area.

• Real estates agencies are just local and many are not willing to show you properties in other area.

• Many sellers don't sign an exclusive listing agreement, that is the reason why many real estate agencies and real estate agents:

1.  Are selling the same property

2.  Many properties have no pictures of the exterior area of the property.

3.  Many properties have no exact address publicly visible.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents don't answer when you care trying to contact them.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents don't want to work with you if you are not present.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents don't work with foreigners.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents have no or very little experience with foreigners.

• Many real estate agencies, real estate agents, attorneys, solicitors and notaries have no experience with international transfers banking system.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents don't speak your language.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents charge very high commissions.

• Many real estate agents are changing constantly the price of the listing and you can not see the history of property listing.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents tell you that you can rent the property and you could realized later that is not true.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents don't want to go and make for you a Life Video Tour of the property.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents don't represent your interest, even if they are charging you a buyer's commission.

• Many properties have no pictures.

• Many properties have very few pictures.

• Many properties have very bad pictures.

• Many properties have rendering pictures instead of real pictures.

• Many properties have no pictures of the view.

• Many properties have pictures of the view, that are not from the property.

• Many properties have pictures of the city or any other pictures not related to the property.

• Many properties have pictures of the city instead of the property.

• Many properties have no pictures of the property surroundings.

• Many properties are not showing a property floor plans.

• Many properties have no video.

• Many real estate websites don’t show all properties for sale or the latest properties on their books.

• Many real estates agencies are just selling limited number of properties and are not willing to show you another properties.

• Many real estates agencies are just local and are not able to show you properties in other area.

• Many real estates agencies are just local and are not willing to show you properties in other area.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents are posting properties that are not for sale.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents are posting properties that are sold already.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents are posting properties that show pictures from another properties.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents are posting properties that show pictures from various properties in the same listing.

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents will be trying to raise the selling price even, if the negotiation already ended and you paid a deposit.

• We always recommend to use the attorney or solicitor, but many attorneys are charging the foreigners very high fees for any service related to real estate.

• Avoid using the estate agent’s lawyer who will inevitably defend the estate agent’s interests over yours.

• If you decide to use a lawyer, choose an independent lawyer who’s only paid by you to defend your interests.

• Very few real estate agencies and real estate agents or attorneys (solicitors) or notaries give you a detailed information about the process.

• Very little correct information regarding is publicly accessible.

• Administration is very slow and bureaucracy is a big issue. If you don't have somebody, who knows how it works you could loose months with every single administrative act or procedure. 

• Many real estate agencies and real estate agents are receiving commissions for referrals and you may therefore not receive independent advice.

• Very few real estate agencies and real estate agents are able to deliver contracts in your language. All the documents are in local language only.

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EXPERIENCE OF OTHERS

We spoke with some buyers, who didn't have anybody responsable on the spot when they purchased their property in Italy and their stories are not very appealing. Some of them purchased property in the area that they don't like, because they didn't see any pictures or video of the property. Some of them purchased properties in bad shape and had to spend a lot of extra money to fix it. Some of them purchased properties without any views, because they didn't have the option to see more pictures or video of surroundings. We were lucky that we had somebody, who did the work and made the video for us, before we made a final decision and make an offer. 

OUR EXPERIENCE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA  

Doing research online or contacting people on social media was very confusing. Many contradicting opinions and experiences. Italy has many communities and provinces. Each community or province has different rules and processes. Even if somebody tell you that this is working tis way, in your province it is working totally different.