This article is meant to be no more than a quick and easy guide for buying a house in Italy, with tips more than general rules. Before reading any further, if you are interested in doing so that is, I recommend reading my article about the buying process. From now on I'll assume you know the basics of the procedure, and I'll simply provide tips. 1) Look for houses online and get in touch with agencies. Even if the internet has been around for a while, Italian agencies are starting to discover its potential only now. Some agents are still skeptical about having their houses online, other don't bother updating their listings... it really depends what the agency is like: if they deal with Italians, generally they won't bother too much with their website, because here things are still done via word of mouth and window shopping. ItalySimply lists various houses from many agents all around northern Italy (but mainly in Lunigiana and Liguria, even if we're slowly expanding), all the information is translated into English, and we DO answer to EVERY mail (except those from spam sites and webmasters of such sites begging for link exchanges). Find information online about a particular area or mail us for it, BEFORE coming to Italy.
2) Select CAREFULLY the houses you want to visit We have over 200 houses on our website, and more to come, most customers would like to see a selection of 12-16 houses at first, and they usually have one or two days available. In some cases, such houses are in areas which are far from each other, and the agents don't like driving around at random (and we are not too keen on that as well) only to discover that you don't like the location. Choose just one or two "areas" to visit, and 3 properties for each area. For those properties which are marked "isolated" or "not near a village", also check that a) you're not bothered by that and b) you really like such house. 3) You found your perfect house, BUT... By experience, we can tell that in most cases you'll find something that is suitable for you, but it will hardly ever be perfect! In some cases there could be repair cost involved which you didn't think of, or maybe it lacks some features like a balcony or a garden, maybe it doesn't have view and so on. At this point, you should tell us something like "I like it, I'm interested, but I need to think about it before eventually thinking about making an offer". Don't say something you might regret like "tomorrow I'll pay a deposit on it" or "I'm sorry, but it's not absolutely ideal for me so I won't buy it". Everybody knows that buying a house is a big step, and also that ideal homes are hard to find. Also keep in mind, when considering money issues, that the more you wait the more the price for what you're looking for can increase.
4) Make up your mind Although it's adviseable to spend some time thinking before saying something like "Yes, I'll buy it" or "No, it's not for me", you should be able to decide what you want to do soon enough, and especially before you return home, in cases where you do not intend to remain here permanently: spend a day more here, have a look at the house again, but don't rush home hoping to decide once you left Italy. I'm saying this because I can think of at least 3 cases in the last few months where some people actually made the wrong decision by either procrastinating too much or because they didn't have the time to take another a look at the house. Don't be afraid to ask us or the agents to have a look at other properties, if you're not convinced, but it's not adviseable to say something like I'll come back, and eventually make an offer next time: that proved to be a bad idea in some cases, when the house actually got sold before customers decided to return or the price increased. Never procrastinate if you like a place: if you'd like to buy it, always consider that other people might like to do so before you decide to make the final step, or the owner could decide to increase the price between when you left and when you return. 5) Make an offer Let's now suppose you found the right place, and you want to make an offer; pay attention if the property listing said something like "negotiable" or "trattabili" on it, in which case you might want to make a lower offer. Please note that a lower offer normally means 5,000-10,000 Euro less, rarely more than that: we normally make suggestions to our customers on a case by case basis if it is or is'nt possible to buy a property at a lower price than that given, but it isnt uncommon for the owner to be willing to haggle. Often, the owners ask the buyer to put a 1000 Euro deposit when making a proper offer: this will reassure the owner and represent a sort of "proof of trust": if the owner doesn't accept the offer, you'll get the money back obviously.
6) The preliminary contract or comrpomesso Once your offer has been accepted, it's advisable to proceed with the "Compromesso" (Preliminary contract of purchase) before signing the final act of purchase. The Compromesso generally involves paying a deposit (normally 10-30% of the agreed price) and this legally ties the seller and the buyer to the agreed price of sale, in the sense that if for example the owner decides to stop the sale after the Compromesso, he has to refund double your money, and if the buyer backs out he or she will lose their deposit. BEWARE, this is a strict law and was designed to keep property sales perpatually serious in Italy, a default means you will lose your deposit, and if the default is on the owners part they really will have to refund you double. A failed mortgage is an example of a default. This is adviseable because the Compromesso can be done relatively soon typically within a matter of days, while the final act (rogito) can take up to several months or more in certain situations, and thus the compromesso can be a very useful manner in which to secure your property.
Anyhow, that's about it. The most important thing is that you always know what's going on in every stage of the process: always pay attention to details involving right of way laws concerning your property or land, and if you notice that there could be potential problems with the sale make up your mind before the Compromesso is signed, or make sure to include in the Compromesso that you want everything sorted out before completing the sale: this would assist in guaranteeing that if something goes wrong you will be refunded.
7) The rogito, or final act of purchase.
This is the final stage in the purchase and sale of property, and what many forget is this is when many issues can turn up, regardless of the Notaio's(Notaries) researches. These can be anything from an illegal addition to the property,(though rare to turn up at such a late stage) to a dispute over borders or confines. A notaio is responsible for the legalities of the property, but a geometra(surveyor) is a wise addition for those items which are not covered by the notaio.(such as any structural issues,surveys and so on.) A perfectly clean purchase or sale is indeed possible, but the more research and less emphasis on speed the better, for this result.
Naturally, it is at this stage that one pays the remaining money against the house, be it 70% or 90% of the total asking price, after leaving a deposit of 10-30%.
It is at this stage that you pay the Notaio, and the taxes also.
Payment is made via a bankers draft, cash payment is no longer the norm due to recent laws.
You can buy as a single person OR as a couple, as a couple there are two different agreements which relate to how you were married(if applicable), comunione dei bene-that your spouse will gain half of the property in the event of divorce or death. If you choose separazione dei bene, your spouse will gain nothing under these circumstances. All that which is purchased using this choice, remains yours alone.
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