Who can sell a house in italy

[Relaxed]

Moi - have all the answers? I think not!! Sorry to have got up your nose, hope you are enjoying your Italian property (and hoping you are learning the language). Martina Franca is a pretty place - good choice.
Just very fed up with whingeing ex-pats who bleat about not being able to buy cheddar cheese or Rockwool insulation, being "deceived" by "rip-off" merchants - who are simply speaking a different "language" - (by which I don't just mean linguistically) and everything falls foul on misunderstandings rather than foul play: but the whingers never want this explained to them - they simply want to whinge.

[sdoj]

Originally Posted by 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!

Relaxed's English uses too many parochial phrases to be written by an Italian ("I don't in any way condone", "very well then", "and you had better believe it").
But seems too critical to be English (your anglosaxon assumptions..., whingeing Pom...)
maybe an Aussue but spelling too good ... uses the word "moi" and spits out the phrase "English speaking culture" so maybe French-Canadian - pour chance Francois (aka FRANK)?

[Marc]

Relaxed, I have a problem with the following sentence;

Originally Posted by Relaxed

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

If what you're saying is that one good way to go about finding a house is to go and live in a community for several weeks or months while you research houses that may be for sale privately, then that's fine by me. On the other hand - and I'm reading hidden meaning into your cryptic use of apostrophes here - you seem to be implying that its OK to go behind the back of an agent who has diligently advertised a house and walk round the corner to the agent 'with the biggest office'. Why? Are you claustrophobic or is there another reason? Presumably you wrapped the phrase 'find out if it is for sale' in apostrophies, because you already know that it is for sale. Are you implying that Big Office Agency will offer you a better deal because they have incurred no costs and no effort in promoting the house?

It is also wrong to state that 'no "agent" has sole rights here in Italy'. Leaving aside the unaccountable use of apostrophies again, an agent may indeed have sole rights, if the vendor has chosen to charge only one agency with the task of selling the house. Sensible vendors, and the majority of commercial developers, often realise that it is best to place the sale of property with one good agent (or at least, one good agent at a time) because an agent with sole agency is much better motivated to advertise the house.

[Relaxed]

Dear Marc - you are quite misunderstanding me, and my use of quotation marks. Enclosing the word "agent" I just want to imply I am using shorthand for any kind of mediator, and using them for "find out if it is for sale"" equally is shorthand for asking the "agent" to investigate the ownership and/or potential buyability. Clearly if the building of interest is sporting an estate agent's sign you would head straight to that agent!
So - having explained my no furbo credentials, and on the assumption that some delicious, unadvertised and apparently unloved ruin has caught my eye, I stand by my assertion that the assumption of "no sole rights" is valid.
I know it is becoming more common for agents to ask vendors for sole rights, and I also agree that they will probably make a greater effort to sell a property if they do have sole rights - equally I know that to satisfy the vendor they have to find a purchaser, and will cut anyone who brings such a prize to their door into the deal on some basis or other. Nothing wrong with that, at all.
The spirit of co-operation between agents in Italy is far greater than in the UK - I think you will agree.

[Marc]

Thanks for handling my attack with such equanimity Relaxed and sorry for having jumped to the worst conclusion about your motives.

[trullomartinafranca]

Originally Posted by Relaxed

The spirit of co-operation between agents in Italy is far greater than in the UK - I think you will agree.

Yeah, all dodgy together! ;)

Hint of valid points but not practical without Adriatica's tips.

Anyway, Mole has her specs on now and can see the great interconnectedness of "whingeing Pom" and "Relaxed".

Tis good to debate how wrong you are though!
You have even said as much yourself!

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!

Sorry matey but I've been caught out, didn't have the means to spend months tracking down properties or becoming fluent in cryptic "agent" speak either.
You haven't convinced me of a thing yet!
Back to you. ;)

[Relaxed]

My mission in life is not to convince you of anything. I just wished to point out that fartarsing on about whether any particular agent has got the right letters after his name is a): no guarantee (don't I just lurve that word, always in the negative!), and b): however qualified he is, if he doesn't have the property you want to buy, he isn't useful to you.
End of story!! No hidden agenda.

[trullomartinafranca]

Well really. Good fun though, love a dust up about agents, it's my speciality subject in master mind. ;)

[oil di lino]

hi has any one out there got any positive views on buying a house in italy i mean this is italy not a out post of the british empire try and enjoy the diferent life style and culture and compleat disorder life somtimes thows at you our do you want fish and chips and perfect english estate agent ha ha .the italians dont do buying and selling houses as we do in england to us its way of making mony thugh moving up the ladder .here when granny dies the house goes on the market cracks and all not like the british coverig up the cracks wiht pollyfiler and paint and puting on a pot of coffee ect .yes point uout the pitfalls but cant we have some sunshine and positive thoughs on thi forum all the negitive vibes are geting me down this is italy try and enjoy it

[Aliena]

Lino..

Go to read a thread in Circolo called.. "On a lighter note" I hope it makes you smile. :D

:) :)