Buying a house in Italy

The first thing to know when you fall in love with Italy to the point of wanting to buy a house in this country is that the process may not seem simple because, in fact, it involves many aspects to be taken into account.

The very first obstacle, in fact, is often the language: in Italy it is easy to come up against a poor knowledge of foreign languages, even English. This makes the dialogue with a seller or with the offices more difficult, especially when the purchase has problems to solve. In this case, it can be useful to hire an interpreter or a consultant who speaks foreign languages in order to decrease the possibility of misunderstandings. Our team of consultants, for example, can support you in English, German, French and Russian.

Secondly, it is important to know which documents to consult before choosing which property to purchase. Every property has to be in order in terms of cadastral and urban planning. The cadastral aspect concerns tax issues, therefore it is important that the consistency of the property is regularly declared to the land register for tax purposes. In this case, a careful analysis of the cadastral plan cannot be missing: does it conform to the actual state? Then you can proceed with the other checks that will lead to the purchase! Other plans to be verified are those attached to the last urban authorization. Here there is the problem of town planning regularity, which indicates that what has been built is in compliance with the town planning regulations in force. This analysis is often more convoluted, as the town planning documents are not always up-to-date and it is easy to come across abuses. In this case it can be useful to rely on technicians who can verify the documents on your behalf. Our team is also composed of engineers and architects ready to support you especially in this phase.

Another important document is the energy performance certificate, necessary to sell a property. This certificate attests to the response of the envelope in terms of energy and depending on the heating systems installed. It can be easily drawn up by a technician and it is the seller's obligation to provide it. Our technicians can easily provide the APE after inspection of the property.

Once the property documents have been verified, it is time to start the negotiation process. For this step it is essential to become aware of the real market prices. Our consultants evaluate the properties following a Comparative Market Approach. This allows them to identify the real market prices and suggest the best price to get the property of your dreams.

The next step then becomes the signing of an irrevocable purchase proposal, through which, once accepted, all the points leading to the purchase are defined, indicating the time and method of payment of the price. The purchase proposal is usually presented with a bankers draft of 2% of the price as a deposit. This means that in case of renouncement by the buyer the deposit is lost, while in case of renouncement by the seller the double of the deposit is returned back. The acceptance of the purchase proposal already creates the obligation to sell on one side and to buy on the other side.

Before reaching the deed, the preliminary act (preliminare di compravendita) can be signed in case several months pass from the purchase proposal to the date of the deed. The preliminary is signed by the notary and sets all the points that will later be written in the deed. Here another down payment of the price is usually given to the seller as per the agreement.

Finally, the day of the deed sanctions the actual transfer of ownership. It is also stipulated in front of a notary and in the presence of witnesses. On that day, in addition to the payment of the price of the property, taxes are also paid for the purchase, which vary according to the type of property and the person selling and can easily be calculated in advance. These taxes are paid only at the time of purchase, while annually, in addition to the utilities, you can expect to pay IMU, if the property is not a first home, and TARI for municipal waste.

Although the process leading to the purchase may seem articulated, relying on professionals for careful advice is essential and in this case our agents are ready to support you.

What if it is complicated to reach the destination of your dream home? Reaching Italy is quite easy thanks to the dense network of airports, but in case that events prevent you from boarding a flight, rely on our agents: we use technologically advanced remote sales management tools.  You can visit the real estate proposals in 3D directly from the couch of your house, you can consult experts, technicians, notaries, lawyers through video calls. You can talk to bank officials to proceed with a mortgage application even when your income comes from abroad. You will be able to sign an irrevocable proposal of purchase at a distance, up to the possibility of stipulating without being physically present on the territory.

Contact us, therefore, to begin the process that will bring your dream of a house in Sicily to become reality!