Buying Property in Italy

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Buying property in Italy can be a dream come true however go into it unprepared and the dream can quickly turn into a nightmare.

Andrew (my hubby) and I bought our home in Italy after we had lived in this wonderful country for over five year.

To resist that long took a lot, I can't tell you how many times I was tempted to buy a property.

We would drive around the Italian countryside seeing all these marvelous country houses and be tempted to buy on the spot.

Looking back I would have burnt my fingers rather badly on many occasions and I am glad I resisted. You don't need to wait five years but make sure you are well prepared and have done as much research as possible beforehand.

The Italian property buying process and indeed home ownership is relatively simple but you need to understand it as well as you possibly can.

I have put together a brief guide on buying a property in Italy and on things like insuring your home after purchasing which may prove useful, you can read the home insurance guide here .

Even more useful and really essential reading is the book Buying a Home in Italy, 4th Edition: A Survival Handbook.

If you do want to buy, particularly in Piedmont or the Veneto, I am more than happy to help you as much as I can. I am not an estate agent but through my experiences I can normally recommend reliable people and agents with whom you can deal. You can contact me here .

Of great importance is to have a clear idea of what you are looking for before buying. I can't stress enough how vital it is to spend time in all the regions which meet your requirements.

My way of deciding where to buy was to make a list of ten points that were vital, these can relate to the climate of the area you want to own a property in, whether you want to be on or near the coast, close to mountains or lakes and a whole bunch of other factors that I judged to be vital.

If you are investing in Italian real estate purely from an investment point of view then decide where the rental returns would be good, normally a city is best. Italy doesn't have capital gains tax which is another advantage to buying property in Italy.

No doubt some points on my list may not be important to everyone, for example I wanted to buy a home within walking distance of a market and a good school. Still it worked out well for me and the family. We are very happy with our Italian home!

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