Who can sell a house in italy

[manopello]

I thought I got what you were saying! But its too late for me as we already have bought!but I am now assuming that our contract is invalid ?Actually the agent was with us on our first visit to see the house so it could be said that she did show it to us?

I understand about the walking away part but being realistic John if a person sees their 'dream house' at what they think is an unbelievable price they will not walk away which is where the trouble starts.

I think it was Jackie C who mentioned a couple who couldn't even rember the name of the place they'd bought in. I have met a couple who went on a viewing tour saw one house then shot back to Pescara to put down their 1,000 euro deposit!!!On the same day.when you are dealing with this situation occuring over and over again you have to try to understand what is going on in the minds of these people.

Don't forget that everyone is not as level headed as you and some people get carried away!

You were right to remind me that of course a good agent will have all the paperwork with them ...my comments were aimed at the person who has booked a veiwing time,got their flights booked,hired their car,taken time off work and they get to their first house and hey no paper work!Do you think they are just going to turn round and go home? NO because they've got the idea of searching for this dream and practicalites will be pushed to the side.

Before anyone gets on to me....I totally disagree with this practice and swear that I will never again use an agent who uses it.OK?I just try to speak about situations as I see them ,no more.

[Relaxed]

I come across loadsa folk who are desperate to buy a house in Italy, but don't find one through "an agent". So - you want a house, you can't find one - is this question of "who can sell one" relevant?
Please do not bring your anglo saxon assumptions of "guarantee culture" into Italy.
If you find a house you like, go and ask the estate agent with the biggest office in the area to "find out if it is for sale". No "agent" has sole rights here in Italy (which is part of the reason they charge "vast sums"). Or ask in the bar. If you discover the owner, if he is willing to sell, then get some solid advice - approach a local geometra (one with a big office): approach a local notaio, enquire at the Comune offices. Most Italians do one-to-one transactions (asking advice when they need it). Italian property exchanges are based on this assumption, (though they are trying quite hard to drag it all into the 20th century).
Yes, your Italian has to be pretty damned good to follow this path, but do you want to live in a country where "they" speak a foreign language of which you have no clue? If you are not willing to study the language hard enough to manage to buy a house you are not going to be able to take part in the society into which you are "buying".
Why not stay solidly protected by the raft of boring consumer protection which you currently enjoy in your English speaking culture?
If you are averse to adding a little risk to your life why not stick to dodgy hedge funds, and avoid any foreign property market!!

Originally Posted by Relaxed

I come across loadsa folk who are desperate to buy a house in Italy, but don't find one through "an agent". So - you want a house, you can't find one - is this question of "who can sell one" relevant?
Please do not bring your anglo saxon assumptions of "guarantee culture" into Italy.
If you find a house you like, go and ask the estate agent with the biggest office in the area to "find out if it is for sale". No "agent" has sole rights here in Italy (which is part of the reason they charge "vast sums"). Or ask in the bar. If you discover the owner, if he is willing to sell, then get some solid advice - approach a local geometra (one with a big office): approach a local notaio, enquire at the Comune offices. Most Italians do one-to-one transactions (asking advice when they need it). Italian property exchanges are based on this assumption, (though they are trying quite hard to drag it all into the 20th century).
Yes, your Italian has to be pretty damned good to follow this path, but do you want to live in a country where "they" speak a foreign language of which you have no clue? If you are not willing to study the language hard enough to manage to buy a house you are not going to be able to take part in the society into which you are "buying".
Why not stay solidly protected by the raft of boring consumer protection which you currently enjoy in your English speaking culture?
If you are averse to adding a little risk to your life why not stick to dodgy hedge funds, and avoid any foreign property market!!

Relaxed,

Quite sure there will be a few people out to lynch you for your post here. Your views express a rather extreme view and it is at the other end of the spectrum to those most normally expressed here.

Whilst there are some who will want full protection in any purchase they make of this size, there are many who will simply want to understand those risks. By understanding the risk you are taking you can either accept it, look at how to mitigate that risk or withdraw from the purchase. The point continuously made is that people are not told what the risks are.

It is irrelevant whether people understand the language. In many cases, people are in the process of learning. Language is learnt largely from using it and not from a text book. Therefore only someone who is very intollerant and unrealistic would take the viewpoint you do. In addition, the comments regarding "Please do not bring your anglo saxon..........." and "........which you currently enjoy in your English speaking culture?" would seem to indicate that you are a person who has little to offer society except for contempt. Whilst I am sure the underlying text has some merit, the manner in which it is presented is in my opinion, designed to cause offence within this forum.

By the way, I like your attitude towards risk. As a reward, you have been selected from the thousands of people on this forum to recieve a prize. This is either five million euro's, a new ferrari or a packet of bubble gum. All you need to do to claim your prize is send me an administration fee of £10,000. PM me and i will give you the address to send it to.

Regards

Andy

PS: By the way, my hedge funds are doing very nicely as part of a diverse portfolio which is constructed to reduce the risk of total loss and maximise profits. That my friend is the point. There is an acceptable level of risk. When you don't know what risk you are taking, you cannot understand it or decide if it is acceptable.

[trullomartinafranca]

Relaxed, And you think it is possible to learn the langauge well enough in a matter of months. Many of us don't even know we want to buy a property in Italy until later in life. If we spent the time required to be able to communicate effectively, let alone have adequate understanding of the spoken and unspoken laws of property purchase to pick up if something wasn't right, we would be dead!

Sensible plan if I knew all this about 5yrs ago but even then not fool proof!

You clearly have no understanding yourself, some of us want to learn the language and enjoy our little piece of Italy at the same time before we're to old to enjoy it!

There's always one clever clogs that thinks the have all the answers.
Good post Andy, too angry to put mine so well. ;)

[Aliena]

Managgia Andy!

Aliena wants the Bubble Gum! I will place you on my hit list along with the Relaxed Rissole if you send it to anyone else!

D'ya reckon Relaxed Rissole is an eye diddly eye tie or a yukka tree plant? :D

:) :)

[trullomartinafranca]

Probably a yukka tree plant, not such a furba mole today, clearly lost my specs. Twas good to let off some steam though! :D

manopello, you are right, the "dream" does do some stupid things to normald, sensible people, like us. :) ;)

Originally Posted by Aliena

Managgia Andy!

Aliena wants the Bubble Gum! I will place you on my hit list along with the Relaxed Rissole if you send it to anyone else!

D'ya reckon Relaxed Rissole is an eye diddly eye tie or a yukka tree plant? :D

:) :)

I will PM you the address to send your administration fee to.

Andy

[Aliena]

Andy.. caro amico mio.

I have checked with the Post Office and they say it will be absolutely impossible to deliver the administration fee as "Ick Ead" is not your address..

They seem to think that address could possibly belong to a Relaxed Rissole.. but they also seem to think "Ick Ed" is the shortened version of the address.. and may be missing letters such as a "D" and "H"..

Can anyone verify? :D

:) :)

[Relaxed]

Well, I had rather hoped to get lynched!

Not intolerant - not a Yucca plant either - just practised in keeping a straight face when hearing whingeing Pom stories, and hoping to point out that the "rules" (if there are any) and more important the attitudes, customs, assumptions etc etc when buying a house in Italy are quite different from those in the UK.

I don't in any way condone misleading statements from estate agents or sellers - and if the buyer does not speak the language very well then please use one of the very good, expensive, agents thoroughly versed in selling to foreign buyers. But even then, there simply ain't no guarantee, and you had better believe it!

[greatscott]

Excellent thread. Thanks all for the very useful postings! :)