Wow, thank you. I have been watching real estate property videos of Europe for a couple months and this video was exactly what i really wanted to know which was so clear and helpful. I didn't even know how frustrated i was until you laid out all the data soooo clearly and simply. Thanks again. Ciao from USA
WOW guys, fantastic video, I've seen everything you covered in other videos, but it was always like Chinese water torture, a drip and then another drip. This is most helpful since I am on track to do a similar process within the next year probably in Umbria. I will be watching your progress closely since you will always be about a year ahead of me. Since your English is near perfect, I thought you would like to know that like many Americans you say, "me and Edward", its actually "Edward and I". Best wishes on your journey from here in SWFL, USA.
House listings in France are horrendous, I don't understand that they don't make a template for info. First off there is always an ironing board and piles of clothes then the curtains or shutters are shut if it's an empty house. The rooms are often painted in terrible colours with stickers everywhere. As for basic info like surface and land surface, neighbours, outlook, septic tanks etc, it's all a mess. I visited a lovely manor house that turned out to be almost child size and the neighbours had purchased a chunk of the garden poking into the land against the house ! I visited a hundred house, so glad that I decided to rent, i'm old so it doesn't matter so much. I spent my youth doing up houses much worse than yours ! xo
Thanks for sharing you can make and offer and get the keys within 1 month! I know you had some key things align for this to happen BUT I never hear other youtubers share this SO THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for your kind comment! Regarding the time for actually getting access to a house it totally depends on how in order the paper work is 😊 the less mess - the less work for the agent and notaio.
Another great video - you’ve nailed the sales process. We bought a house in the Langhe region a couple of years ago and are making plans to relocate from London to there.
Skatten om du köper som Prima Casa är 2% vs 9% om du köper som Seconda Casa. Vi spenderar halva året i Sverige och är därför inte residenti i italien utan i Sverige.
I'm curious about needing a fluent Italian speaker to use as power of attorney. Is that necessary, or can you just have a translator there during the signing with the notary?
If you're not fully fluent in Italian you need an official power of attorney. I guess this could be your translator hence they will be fluent in Italian :) We however had a separate POA and translator since we chose to not have our contract translated.
What happens to your mail while your are gone? Do you have a forwarding service? I'm worried that I might miss something of time sensitivity from the government.
We have a mailbox on our gate for mail whilst we are away. Fortunately, we haven't been away long enough for this to be an issue yet. Perhaps your neighbours can check for you if you are gone a long time?
@@OurItalianDreamHouse thanks for your response. For a little more context (over simplified) i am an heir to a property in Abruzzo. Two heirs live in italy and a dozen in Canada. I was thinking about buying the Italian shares to alleviate the stress on them because the property has been empty for over a decade. It's going to take a few years to save up to buy the Canadian shares and go to Abruzzo to make the property livable. In the mean time I want to keep the town and neighbors happy and not get penalized for the land getting overgrown. Apparently the town will bill us if the property is an eye sore and I want to make sure I get that notice in a timely fashion to address it.
hi myles and lisa from australia .We will visit Italy in your region in October 2023 for about 5 weeks with the intention of buying eventually and would like to have a chat about your experiences and where to live in Piedmont
This was great, I‘ve just subscribed and we (my husband and I) are going to watch all your videos now. I hope you hit your 1000 subscribers soon! Your video was very informative and I like that you don’t shout! (Maybe you will when you‘re renovating…)
Amazing, thanks for the sub! It's crazy to us that 1000 subscribers is even a goal that is in sight! Glad you found it informative, maybe it will help you to buy your own rustico in the future? 😁
I have watched many videos on the exact same topic , and you get an A+ for your succinct presentation. We purchased a house in Le Marche 10 years ago and the best part of your adventure awaits you. Best wishes.
@@OurItalianDreamHouse We became good friends with one tradesman who was a plumber and electrician , it would be interesting to have an explanation of how you are going to run (route) the pex and the electric lines. Looking forward to your progress.
Hi! Good question! It was a number of reasons in the end, but the biggest reasons were that prices are more affordable than regions like Tuscany and Liguria. Also Piemonte has a fantastic location, 1.5 hours from Milan, 1.5 hours from the coast, 1.5 hours to ski resorts and also close to many other European countries (France, Switzerland, Germany) which makes it feel well connected 😁
I think it depends on what you are looking for in terms of lifestyle and activities (the areas vary quite a lot) 😊 I recommend visiting some different towns across Piemonte and comparing what you like and dislike, this might help you narrow down to a specific area. In my opinion around the Asti/Cuneo border is the best, but I’m biased! 😅
What are the differences in your rights as an owner of a house versus owning an apartment? The apartment I am interested in is basically half of a detached house. I know that you have to have approval to make changes in a house anyway, so it doesn't seem much different. Are you responsible for maintenance inside the apartment that you own?
Very good question. Unfortunately we have no good answer for this. From what I've understood from friends owning apartments in Italy, you're always responsible for maintenance inside your apartment and the only things which are on the building is gas, water and electricity. Maybe someone else here knows?
Really good and informative video. We are considering just the same thing - selling in Stockholm and buying near Casale Monferrato where my other half grew up. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Thank you so much! That sounds like a great plan. In worst case you can always move back to Stockholm if it doesn't work out here. Please feel free to reach out on Instagram if you have any questions or just want some tips or advice :)
Such good video, I’m so happy for you guys on this new path of you lives. Yes, I would like to have more information about buying house in Italy. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much Nina! We will actually start offering video calls in the near future where you can ask us anything about our purchase and renovation experience 😊 the easiest way is to reach out on Instagram to set up a date.
Great video, I am italian but actually living in Germany and I could get a lot of good informations from you. Sometimes with my german boyfriend we thing about getting a holiday home in Italy, Piemonte is really interesting and is good to know that there are many expats too. Good luck with the renovation!
That's really great, Piemonte is the perfect region if you guys are living in Germany - it's so accessible via airports in Milan and even drivable if you are not so far north. Either way, you could absolutely make it feasible for visiting over weekends and then longer stays during vacation periods. If you ever need advice or have more questions, don't hesitate to get in touch, we'd be more than happy to help wherever we can 😁
Sorry, I am very visual. Would have preferred to see the house that you got for that money while she was talking. Just helps me to cement my thoughts. Thank you for info.
The episode is recorded in the very house we’re talking about. And fear not, you have another 50+ episodes showing the house and the renovation process 😊👍
Hi, you sure you calculated the 9% real estate tax correctly? I thought it was based on the cadastral value and not the purchase prize? In the value it looks like as if you corrected in a text box stating cadastral value but in the section about the different cost items it looks as if you still calculated the cost as 9% times your purchase prize. Grateful for a clarification on this. /Cheers P
Thank you so much Philippa! We will do a separate video on our renovation process and are thinking about launching an E-book with all the costs connected :)
Thank you for this very helpful video. You’re both essentially following our dream so we’ll be following your progress with great interest! May I ask why you chose that area over Vignale? We will be in Monferrato in July scouting locations so would be very grateful if have any tips on location? I guess there is no alternative to doing your own homework but would love to hear your thoughts and if there are any good resources for narrowing the search. We’d like to be rural but within 90 minutes of Turin/Milan and close to a town with amenities. Good luck with the renovations. Andrew
Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for your comment and question. I’ll try my best to explain our thought process and how we came to our decision on where to buy. We originally found a house on Idealista that we loved and essentially moved to Monferrato for that house but we ended up not buying it. It was in a village called Olivola - which during the summer was incredible, exactly like how we had imagined our lives in Italy to be. However, during Autumn and winter it quickly became clear that it would be a much more difficult place to live during these months. The expat community disappeared as they returned to their home countries after the summer and the local population is noticeably of the older generation. So we broadened our search and started to find interesting houses further towards Langhe - we had previously had thought this area would be out of budget, but the renovation objects were priced within reach. Langhe has a somewhat younger population, perhaps due to its proximity to Alba, Asti, Acqui Terme etc. and remains lively during the winter. I think this is in-part due to the size of the wine industry employing people all year round and also there are lots of expats that seem to remain during winter. Another consideration for being closer to Langhe is that the resell price on a property is going to be a little higher than further north in Monferrato which made it a safer investment in our eyes. Also the area is still significantly more popular with tourists which increases rentability and the price we can charge per night. So all-in-all it just better suited our situation and the lifestyle we’re looking for. Sorry, a bit of a long-winded answer but hopefully that shines a bit of light on it. Don’t hesitate to reply with any other questions that you have 😁
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply and please excuse my tardy response. Congratulations on your engagement, that’s wonderful news. Your reply was extremely helpful as I have been finding the search process quite exhausting. The house will be a place for retirement (10 years away) but I hope to spend the intervening years getting all the renovations done. I actually have an awful lot of questions but don’t want to take up too much of your time. Understand if you would prefer not to engage in private conversation but if you are OK with it would you mind if I email you? I’m sure your insights would be invaluable. Thanks, Andrew
Maybe the discussion would be helpful to others and that you would prefer that it were kept public? My questions were about how to find a geometra and builder who you can trust (we’ll be doing our renovations remotely from Australia). The Piedmontese farmhouses usually come attached and it’s tricky to find out what your neighbour is like when you aren’t fluid in Italian. Did you use a house finder or do the search yourselves? It sounds like you found a great agent and I wondered if you would be willing to share their contact details. Complete self interest but would love to see a tour of surrounding villages and amenities in a future video. Thanks, Andrew
Hi Andrew, good idea to keep everything public - think it will definitely be useful for others too. If you have any more sensitive questions that you want to keep private, you can absolutely email me or send a direct message on Instagram (@ouritaliandreamhouse). With regards to your questions. We found a couple of architects/geometras via recommendations of the various estate agents that we met during the process. We then took quotes from them and weighed up the pros and cons of each one. We were originally leaning towards a very competent architectural/structural engineering family operation, but in the end their competence was a little bit comprehensive for our project which meant their price was high, so we opted to work with a local geometra that we had come to know. To renovate remotely from Australia, I would probably recommend having a bi-lingual project manager here in Italy. Most of the Geometras/Architects offer project management as a part of their services, so it would just be a case of finding an English speaking one that you trust and feel you can work with (I'd be happy to give you a few recommendations). We didn't use a house-finder since we moved to the region before finding a house, so we just spent a lot of our own time reaching out to estate agents and visiting houses. We even looked up houses online and then found them on Google street view so we could go and visit the towns and villages to see if we liked them before booking visits. Another technique we used was to drive around the region and look for "for sale" signs and then contact the estate agents for a viewing. Obviously, if you're in Australia this isn't an option available to you, so you might consider a house-finder or working with an estate agent that can help you with discovering great properties. I hope that my answers were helpful, keep the questions coming and I'll do my best to answer them 😁 and again, feel free to reach out via email (on our channel page) or on Instagram (@ouritaliandreamhouse) - and we can go into more depth there!
Hello, enjoy your informative videos.we had a sale fall through in Piedmont. We have experienced a gut renovation on a similar type rustic and understand your challenges... but also know how rewarding it all is when completed👍Your Geometra and real estate agent sound incredible. Any chance you would share their contact info as we are heading off to Piedmont next week to begin again.
Hi Gerard, thanks for your comment - glad that you found the video useful! Would you be able to send me an email? (email is on our UA-cam profile page). I will reply with all the details you need for estate agent and geometra etc. If you have any other questions you can ask them there as well and I'll be very happy to answer them and give you any tips/advice I can 😊
My son and I have rented an apartment in Turin for a month and go to see our first property tomorrow. This is so helpful. Thank you so much for this video. Perect timing for us. My first visit to this area was 21 years ago and suggested it to my son for his second home. Your video will help me with the realtor tomorrow to make sure to ask the right questions. I look forward to seeing more of your experience in finishing your home, as I hope to be in the area doing the same as you in the near future.
We are in Piedmont in July pretty much villa hunting…. What scares me about your strategy is issues with contractors while renovating. Would be great to hear on that. Good luck with your dream project.
Hi Manish, completely understand your concerns - we had the same ones. We took multiple quotes from different contractors for each project and then signed a contract with the ones that we chose to work with. There's only so much you can do to protect yourself against problems - also having an architect/geometra as project manager can help minimise risk 😊
What a great video. It is so informative and you make the process seem so easy. We just got our offer accepted on a house near Calosso. We don't have to do as much work as you but need to update the systems etc. Looking forward to seeing more of your video's and maybe get in touch once we have the keys to the house. Good luck with the renovation.
Thank you, glad you found it useful. Unfortunately, after the finished purchase we have been scammed by our agent and her partner for other services so we can’t recommend her anymore 😂
In our experience, calling is a safer bet. Also, most Italians are on vacation now until end of august so it's probably better to wait until september :)
The video is amazing had all the details in it. Could you please tell me how did you find the broker or the agent? If you found the house by your self will it be lower commission or still the same?
Awesome! Glad you found it useful. Good question about the agent, we found the house online and it already had an agent responsible for it. It’s my understanding that you need a registered agent to be able to complete the purchase (they organise and submit your offer to the seller, plus deal with paperwork etc). There is something in Italy called a house finder - this is someone that will research and present homes for you to look at based on your requirements. So if you have the time and did a house yourself this is a cost that you can avoid! Hope that was helpful, unfortunately I only know how it was for us - in other parts of Italy or with different agents, the process might look slightly different.
Just came across this video. Super helpful. Thank you. It seems you did well on your purchase, although, considering the surprises, it would have been better to have gotten this property for even less. But still, I live in Manhattan, and when you consider that studio apartments (400 sq ft) in my building are selling for $800,000, you got an amazing deal.
I honestly think we paid a very good price for the property considering where it's located. You will always have some surprises when renovating a house of this size. But luckily, in Italy it's actually "affordable" to fix things. If you would discover a structural issue in my home country Sweden you would be screwed 😅 Haha it's a huge difference in sqm price. Our whole house was pretty much the price of what we sold our bathroom in central stockholm for. It's crazy.
@@OurItalianDreamHouse To be honest, affordability for fixing things depends a lot on what you are willing to do yourselves. You both are putting an extraordinary amount of manpower into this project. The work may be very satisfying, but it can break a healthy back. And you may not realize the breakage until years later. As a tall man, you are very lucky that you are capable of squatting. I never could squat, but thank God for knee pads. I'm always happy to see Emelie using them.
Hi there! Unfortunately the agent we used we cannot recommend to anyone 😂 we’re actually about to launch an E-book covering the whole buying process in Italy 😊
Well thank you for following :) Which Italian woman are you looking to get in touch with? Sorry, it's been so long since we did this video so I cant seem to remember, haha.
Great video with tons of details. Thanks for sharing the experience you had so someone will not get a hard time when buying a house. I am also interested in buying a house in treviso. could you tell us how did you find the real estate agent and notary?
Sorry, I completely forgot to respond to your comment. The notary was recommended to us by the real estate agent, although we did do a bit of research on Google first to make sure they were good! 😊
You can recommend your real estate agent? Wonderful! I'm surching for one! I'm nearly every day on idealista and immobiliare and making plans for my next visit in piedmont. Please, tell me the name of the agency you were so lucky with. Mille grazie!
Hi Gabriela , unfortunately we can not recommend the agent we worked with after discovering several severely upsetting facts. However, if you're looking for a house in our very specific area you can start with contacting agencies like Prima Casa, Boido, Verde Abitare, Emmeffe and Case & Castelli.
@@OurItalianDreamHouse Thanks for the quick reply. It's not that easy to find a SMALL house on a hill with a nice view, where there isn't so much to do and still affordable. I like the area around Alba. Because of the hot summers it could also be further north. You've lived there for two summers. Is it on your hill windy enough to bear it without melting? 🙂
Haha finding the perfect house def takes some time. Im sure you're already on these but Idealista, Casa and Subito are great for house finding. Have you looked at the village called Casorzo? It's about 40 min north of us but friends live there and they have such a nice little community. Oh well, this summer was HOT. And we still have around 30 degrees. Luckily these old brick houses stay pretty cool during the warm days.
Hi thanks for all the intel it's really helped us. We have a question though about the realestate agents percentage paid by the buyer. We, just to let you know we have had our offer accepted on a place in Allerona umbria but as your place was under 100000euros so was ours. Considerably less but we paid a extreem amount for the realestates commission. Was that the same for you?
Hi guys, congrats and welcome to Italy :) The agent we used told us she usually charge 3% on everything sold for 100k or more. We paid her 3000€ as a fixed rate since our house was was below 100k. I think that's standard. However, it feels like your agent should have been upfront about their price before sending in your offer to the seller.
Hej Jag håller på att köpa hus I italien , min mäklare skrev till mig idag så här Also the notary asks to make a power of attorney to an Italian citizen in order to buy the house in your name. This is the most used procedure, that allows to reduce costs and time. Of course it must be a person of your trust, so I offer myself or also the geometra might be a perfect solution. Är det något man ska göra ?? Eller ?tror ni att ni kan svara mig, tack på förhand
Vi använde vår mäklares partner (som även kallade sig geometra) som power of attorney men skulle absolut inte göra om det. Ta en helt oberoende person.
I’m not 100% certain but I do think it’s compulsory (this may also change with regions). This is definitely something that a real estate agent could advise you on 😁
I'm so glad! Thank you! 😊 If you want even more details we have written an ebook called ”how to buy a house in Italy”. It’s available on our Patreon page ❤️
Best information video ive seen on UA-cam until now on this topic and Straight to the point with no unnecessary babbling! Thank you for your professionalism of this video.
Thank you So much Benjamin! We also wrote an ebook covering the whole process (and have added things we know Now which we wish we would have known then 😅). You can find it on our Patreon page if you’re interested 😊
@@OurItalianDreamHouse Well just browsing through ideas Really! Some facts im trying to understand though.. As the main reason being that the Italian government is trying to repopulate these deserted towns to get them up and running again. So im wondering how this concept can grow soon because not only are there very little, if not any employment possibilities in these old areas but also the cities close by generally have a pretty high unemployment rate and low wages. So im wondering how they imagine regular families could financially survive or anyone who just wants to live in one of these regions that wants a regular job. I understand it’s a perfect situation for a vacation home or perhaps some kind of hotel business idea and of course for a few of those who are able to work from home via home office, But because the majority don’t have this option , wouldn’t this lower the potential of the repopulation idea by quite a bit? I absolutely do not mean this to be negative in any way because it’s obviously a beautiful dream to live there. I was just wondering as you have now started part of your life there and its probably also in anyone’s best interest who is now planning a future there , to think about and how fast things will develop.
I think you make some really valid points here. And personally, I'd never buy one of those 1€ properties, for the exact reasons you're mentioning. I have a feeling the 1€ towns will be still deserted in a couple of years but with foreign buyers stuck with properties they cant get rid of and still demands to spend a certain amount of money to renovate them. It takes hundreds of full time residents to create a sustainable infrastructure and I cant see how that would happen. Our village is in the center of Piedmont, has slightly over 3000 inhabitants and is a 45 min drive from Turin, 70 min drive from Milan and 15 min drive from the closest "bigger town" - and we still got it for a very reasonable price (compared to the housing market in Scandinavia).
Thanks for the comment Eddie, so glad you enjoyed the video! Really appreciate the feedback too, I plan to pick up a couple of proper microphones soon so we can up the audio quality in our future videos 😁
Hey folks! Now that you've put a fair bit of work into the renos of the place, do you have an estimate of how much the total reno cost would be? Or how much the reno costs have been in the place to-date?
Sorry to here that your experience has been bad so far! I think that we were mostly just lucky with our realtor since she was already responsible for the house. One thing that you can do is check that the realtor is registered with one of the labour unions for realtors as this shows they are following procedure and doing everything correctly. For example ours is registered with FIAP. If you are looking in the Langhe area of Piemonte just let us know and we’ll connect you with a couple of good realtors. Unfortunately we’re not familiar with any outside of this region.
Great video. Thank you for the very helpful information 👍❤
Wow, thank you. I have been watching real estate property videos of Europe for a couple months and this video was exactly what i really wanted to know which was so clear and helpful. I didn't even know how frustrated i was until you laid out all the data soooo clearly and simply. Thanks again. Ciao from USA
Great to hear!
This is an incredibly helpful video. Thank you for honestly sharing costs, info about registered realtors, how to get a SS#, etc.
WOW guys, fantastic video, I've seen everything you covered in other videos, but it was always like Chinese water torture, a drip and then another drip. This is most helpful since I am on track to do a similar process within the next year probably in Umbria. I will be watching your progress closely since you will always be about a year ahead of me. Since your English is near perfect, I thought you would like to know that like many Americans you say, "me and Edward", its actually "Edward and I". Best wishes on your journey from here in SWFL, USA.
House listings in France are horrendous, I don't understand that they don't make a template for info. First off there is always an ironing board and piles of clothes then the curtains or shutters are shut if it's an empty house. The rooms are often painted in terrible colours with stickers everywhere. As for basic info like surface and land surface, neighbours, outlook, septic tanks etc, it's all a mess. I visited a lovely manor house that turned out to be almost child size and the neighbours had purchased a chunk of the garden poking into the land against the house ! I visited a hundred house, so glad that I decided to rent, i'm old so it doesn't matter so much. I spent my youth doing up houses much worse than yours ! xo
Thanks for sharing you can make and offer and get the keys within 1 month! I know you had some key things align for this to happen BUT I never hear other youtubers share this SO THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for your kind comment! Regarding the time for actually getting access to a house it totally depends on how in order the paper work is 😊 the less mess - the less work for the agent and notaio.
Who was your real estate agent?
Unfortunately we have had some later issues with our agent so would recommend you doing some thorough research and find a good, local agent :)
You taxes are 9 % and it is based upon the listed price . Do you mean settled / negotiated price ?
Yeah that’s correct, it’s on the agreed price of sale, as opposed to state determined cadastral value of the property 😊
Excellent presentation. Factual, useful and straightforward. Thanks.
Thanks Steve, glad you found it helpful. 😊
Another great video - you’ve nailed the sales process. We bought a house in the Langhe region a couple of years ago and are making plans to relocate from London to there.
That's amazing! Please do let us know when you're in the area so we can swap stories over a glass of wine (or two)!
I want to move from Piedmont to London ... am I right? Are there vineyards near London?
Vad kostade skatten som andra el första hem?är i folkbokförda i Italienoch betalade mindre?3900 kostar det att bo som turist
Skatten om du köper som Prima Casa är 2% vs 9% om du köper som Seconda Casa. Vi spenderar halva året i Sverige och är därför inte residenti i italien utan i Sverige.
Thank you for that confidence builder
You’re welcome!
I'm curious about needing a fluent Italian speaker to use as power of attorney. Is that necessary, or can you just have a translator there during the signing with the notary?
If you're not fully fluent in Italian you need an official power of attorney. I guess this could be your translator hence they will be fluent in Italian :)
We however had a separate POA and translator since we chose to not have our contract translated.
Enjoyed so much watching
So informative.Can’t wait to see the progress
Thanks!
Thank you Veronica! 😊
That was great information. I don't plan on moving to Italy but appreciate the shared knowledge.
What happens to your mail while your are gone? Do you have a forwarding service? I'm worried that I might miss something of time sensitivity from the government.
We have a mailbox on our gate for mail whilst we are away. Fortunately, we haven't been away long enough for this to be an issue yet. Perhaps your neighbours can check for you if you are gone a long time?
@@OurItalianDreamHouse thanks for your response.
For a little more context (over simplified) i am an heir to a property in Abruzzo. Two heirs live in italy and a dozen in Canada. I was thinking about buying the Italian shares to alleviate the stress on them because the property has been empty for over a decade. It's going to take a few years to save up to buy the Canadian shares and go to Abruzzo to make the property livable. In the mean time I want to keep the town and neighbors happy and not get penalized for the land getting overgrown. Apparently the town will bill us if the property is an eye sore and I want to make sure I get that notice in a timely fashion to address it.
I don't ski so I'm heading Way South
Haha that makes sense!
hi myles and lisa from australia .We will visit Italy in your region in October 2023 for about 5 weeks with the intention of buying eventually and would like to have a chat about your experiences and where to live in Piedmont
Absolutely Myles! Just send us a DM on Instagram @ouritaliandreamhouse
Tusen tack för riktigt bra, detaljerad information! Blir spännande att följa er resa!
This was great, I‘ve just subscribed and we (my husband and I) are going to watch all your videos now. I hope you hit your 1000 subscribers soon! Your video was very informative and I like that you don’t shout! (Maybe you will when you‘re renovating…)
Amazing, thanks for the sub! It's crazy to us that 1000 subscribers is even a goal that is in sight! Glad you found it informative, maybe it will help you to buy your own rustico in the future? 😁
Thank you very much for all the useful information and good luck with the work ahead!
Thank you Peter 😁
I have watched many videos on the exact same topic , and you get an A+ for your succinct presentation. We purchased a house in Le Marche 10 years ago and the best part of your adventure awaits you. Best wishes.
Wow, thank you for the kind words!
@@OurItalianDreamHouse We became good friends with one tradesman who was a plumber and electrician , it would be interesting to have an explanation of how you are going to run (route) the pex and the electric lines. Looking forward to your progress.
Thank you sooo much for this amazing video. I am looking to buy this year- 2022 maybe in the Calabria region.
That sounds amazing LV. And thank you!
Hi again :) why did you choose Piemonte?
Hi! Good question! It was a number of reasons in the end, but the biggest reasons were that prices are more affordable than regions like Tuscany and Liguria. Also Piemonte has a fantastic location, 1.5 hours from Milan, 1.5 hours from the coast, 1.5 hours to ski resorts and also close to many other European countries (France, Switzerland, Germany) which makes it feel well connected 😁
@@OurItalianDreamHouseAwesome answer! Thank you so much! Piemonte is huge, would you suggest the eastern part?
I think it depends on what you are looking for in terms of lifestyle and activities (the areas vary quite a lot) 😊 I recommend visiting some different towns across Piemonte and comparing what you like and dislike, this might help you narrow down to a specific area. In my opinion around the Asti/Cuneo border is the best, but I’m biased! 😅
@@OurItalianDreamHouse haha ok great 😊 thanks!!
What are the differences in your rights as an owner of a house versus owning an apartment? The apartment I am interested in is basically half of a detached house. I know that you have to have approval to make changes in a house anyway, so it doesn't seem much different. Are you responsible for maintenance inside the apartment that you own?
Very good question. Unfortunately we have no good answer for this. From what I've understood from friends owning apartments in Italy, you're always responsible for maintenance inside your apartment and the only things which are on the building is gas, water and electricity.
Maybe someone else here knows?
Really good and informative video. We are considering just the same thing - selling in Stockholm and buying near Casale Monferrato where my other half grew up. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Thank you so much! That sounds like a great plan. In worst case you can always move back to Stockholm if it doesn't work out here. Please feel free to reach out on Instagram if you have any questions or just want some tips or advice :)
I'm from Tuscany but live in Wa state.I miss Italian Culture I hope one day I will be there forever Ciao.
Italy is such a great country, we feel so lucky to live here and to get to be a part of it!
I love you guys! Thanks for sharing and can’t wait to follow you on your journey
Thanks so much for the support and lovely
comment and you thank you for coming along for the journey! 😁
Such good video, I’m so happy for you guys on this new path of you lives. Yes, I would like to have more information about buying house in Italy. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much Nina!
We will actually start offering video calls in the near future where you can ask us anything about our purchase and renovation experience 😊 the easiest way is to reach out on Instagram to set up a date.
I’ll check on Instagram.
What steps do you need to take to buy a house in italy?
Sell a Kidney
🤣 well done btw
You only need one right?! 🙊😂
Great video, I am italian but actually living in Germany and I could get a lot of good informations from you. Sometimes with my german boyfriend we thing about getting a holiday home in Italy, Piemonte is really interesting and is good to know that there are many expats too. Good luck with the renovation!
That's really great, Piemonte is the perfect region if you guys are living in Germany - it's so accessible via airports in Milan and even drivable if you are not so far north. Either way, you could absolutely make it feasible for visiting over weekends and then longer stays during vacation periods. If you ever need advice or have more questions, don't hesitate to get in touch, we'd be more than happy to help wherever we can 😁
@@OurItalianDreamHouse thanks a lot!! 😊
Amazing thank you so much for sharing ❤️👍
Thanks for watching and commenting :)
lot's of good information, ;) , one day do the same......
Go for it! Hope to see you in Italy one day 🍷
Very very helpful. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful! 😁
Sorry, I am very visual. Would have preferred to see the house that you got for that money while she was talking. Just helps me to cement my thoughts. Thank you for info.
The episode is recorded in the very house we’re talking about. And fear not, you have another 50+ episodes showing the house and the renovation process 😊👍
Hi, you sure you calculated the 9% real estate tax correctly? I thought it was based on the cadastral value and not the purchase prize? In the value it looks like as if you corrected in a text box stating cadastral value but in the section about the different cost items it looks as if you still calculated the cost as 9% times your purchase prize. Grateful for a clarification on this. /Cheers P
Hej Per! Du har helt rätt. 9% av cadastral value.
Thank you for your super helpful video :) would be great to know more about your geometro costs + renovations (maybe later). House looks amazing :)
Thank you so much Philippa! We will do a separate video on our renovation process and are thinking about launching an E-book with all the costs connected :)
Thank you for this very helpful video. You’re both essentially following our dream so we’ll be following your progress with great interest! May I ask why you chose that area over Vignale? We will be in Monferrato in July scouting locations so would be very grateful if have any tips on location? I guess there is no alternative to doing your own homework but would love to hear your thoughts and if there are any good resources for narrowing the search. We’d like to be rural but within 90 minutes of Turin/Milan and close to a town with amenities. Good luck with the renovations.
Andrew
Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for your comment and question. I’ll try my best to explain our thought process and how we came to our decision on where to buy. We originally found a house on Idealista that we loved and essentially moved to Monferrato for that house but we ended up not buying it. It was in a village called Olivola - which during the summer was incredible, exactly like how we had imagined our lives in Italy to be. However, during Autumn and winter it quickly became clear that it would be a much more difficult place to live during these months. The expat community disappeared as they returned to their home countries after the summer and the local population is noticeably of the older generation. So we broadened our search and started to find interesting houses further towards Langhe - we had previously had thought this area would be out of budget, but the renovation objects were priced within reach. Langhe has a somewhat younger population, perhaps due to its proximity to Alba, Asti, Acqui Terme etc. and remains lively during the winter. I think this is in-part due to the size of the wine industry employing people all year round and also there are lots of expats that seem to remain during winter. Another consideration for being closer to Langhe is that the resell price on a property is going to be a little higher than further north in Monferrato which made it a safer investment in our eyes. Also the area is still significantly more popular with tourists which increases rentability and the price we can charge per night. So all-in-all it just better suited our situation and the lifestyle we’re looking for. Sorry, a bit of a long-winded answer but hopefully that shines a bit of light on it. Don’t hesitate to reply with any other questions that you have 😁
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply and please excuse my tardy response. Congratulations on your engagement, that’s wonderful news.
Your reply was extremely helpful as I have been finding the search process quite exhausting. The house will be a place for retirement (10 years away) but I hope to spend the intervening years getting all the renovations done. I actually have an awful lot of questions but don’t want to take up too much of your time. Understand if you would prefer not to engage in private conversation but if you are OK with it would you mind if I email you? I’m sure your insights would be invaluable.
Thanks,
Andrew
Maybe the discussion would be helpful to others and that you would prefer that it were kept public?
My questions were about how to find a geometra and builder who you can trust (we’ll be doing our renovations remotely from Australia). The Piedmontese farmhouses usually come attached and it’s tricky to find out what your neighbour is like when you aren’t fluid in Italian. Did you use a house finder or do the search yourselves? It sounds like you found a great agent and I wondered if you would be willing to share their contact details.
Complete self interest but would love to see a tour of surrounding villages and amenities in a future video.
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi Andrew, good idea to keep everything public - think it will definitely be useful for others too. If you have any more sensitive questions that you want to keep private, you can absolutely email me or send a direct message on Instagram (@ouritaliandreamhouse).
With regards to your questions. We found a couple of architects/geometras via recommendations of the various estate agents that we met during the process. We then took quotes from them and weighed up the pros and cons of each one. We were originally leaning towards a very competent architectural/structural engineering family operation, but in the end their competence was a little bit comprehensive for our project which meant their price was high, so we opted to work with a local geometra that we had come to know.
To renovate remotely from Australia, I would probably recommend having a bi-lingual project manager here in Italy. Most of the Geometras/Architects offer project management as a part of their services, so it would just be a case of finding an English speaking one that you trust and feel you can work with (I'd be happy to give you a few recommendations).
We didn't use a house-finder since we moved to the region before finding a house, so we just spent a lot of our own time reaching out to estate agents and visiting houses. We even looked up houses online and then found them on Google street view so we could go and visit the towns and villages to see if we liked them before booking visits. Another technique we used was to drive around the region and look for "for sale" signs and then contact the estate agents for a viewing. Obviously, if you're in Australia this isn't an option available to you, so you might consider a house-finder or working with an estate agent that can help you with discovering great properties.
I hope that my answers were helpful, keep the questions coming and I'll do my best to answer them 😁 and again, feel free to reach out via email (on our channel page) or on Instagram (@ouritaliandreamhouse) - and we can go into more depth there!
Hello, enjoy your informative videos.we had a sale fall through in Piedmont. We have experienced a gut renovation on a similar type rustic and understand your challenges... but also know how rewarding it all is when completed👍Your Geometra and real estate agent sound incredible. Any chance you would share their contact info as we are heading off to Piedmont next week to begin again.
Hi Gerard, thanks for your comment - glad that you found the video useful! Would you be able to send me an email? (email is on our UA-cam profile page). I will reply with all the details you need for estate agent and geometra etc. If you have any other questions you can ask them there as well and I'll be very happy to answer them and give you any tips/advice I can 😊
Thank you so much for being so generous with such helpful information.
Hi Marco, thanks for the comment. Glad you found the video was helpful!
My son and I have rented an apartment in Turin for a month and go to see our first property tomorrow. This is so helpful. Thank you so much for this video. Perect timing for us. My first visit to this area was 21 years ago and suggested it to my son for his second home. Your video will help me with the realtor tomorrow to make sure to ask the right questions. I look forward to seeing more of your experience in finishing your home, as I hope to be in the area doing the same as you in the near future.
Glad it was helpful! :)
Thank you so so much!! I would love to personally communicate with you guys more about your process!!🥰🥰
Happy you like the video Mathis! Sure, why dont you send us a DM on Instagram and we'll do our best to answer your questions.
We are in Piedmont in July pretty much villa hunting…. What scares me about your strategy is issues with contractors while renovating. Would be great to hear on that. Good luck with your dream project.
Hi Manish, completely understand your concerns - we had the same ones. We took multiple quotes from different contractors for each project and then signed a contract with the ones that we chose to work with. There's only so much you can do to protect yourself against problems - also having an architect/geometra as project manager can help minimise risk 😊
What a great video. It is so informative and you make the process seem so easy. We just got our offer accepted on a house near Calosso. We don't have to do as much work as you but need to update the systems etc. Looking forward to seeing more of your video's and maybe get in touch once we have the keys to the house. Good luck with the renovation.
Glad you found it useful. That’s amazing, congrats! We love Calosso - if you need any tips or contacts of contractors don’t hesitate to reach out. 😊
Great video! Is there a chance you could share your Realtor information? Thank you!
Thank you, glad you found it useful. Unfortunately, after the finished purchase we have been scammed by our agent and her partner for other services so we can’t recommend her anymore 😂
Does anyone have any suggestions to have Italian Realtor's return our emails?
The lack of customer service is shocking.
A sale is a sale.
In our experience, calling is a safer bet. Also, most Italians are on vacation now until end of august so it's probably better to wait until september :)
The video is amazing had all the details in it. Could you please tell me how did you find the broker or the agent? If you found the house by your self will it be lower commission or still the same?
Awesome! Glad you found it useful. Good question about the agent, we found the house online and it already had an agent responsible for it. It’s my understanding that you need a registered agent to be able to complete the purchase (they organise and submit your offer to the seller, plus deal with paperwork etc). There is something in Italy called a house finder - this is someone that will research and present homes for you to look at based on your requirements. So if you have the time and did a house yourself this is a cost that you can avoid! Hope that was helpful, unfortunately I only know how it was for us - in other parts of Italy or with different agents, the process might look slightly different.
@@OurItalianDreamHouse Thanks a lot
Thank you thank you! Very helpful!
😍
Just came across this video. Super helpful. Thank you. It seems you did well on your purchase, although, considering the surprises, it would have been better to have gotten this property for even less. But still, I live in Manhattan, and when you consider that studio apartments (400 sq ft) in my building are selling for $800,000, you got an amazing deal.
I honestly think we paid a very good price for the property considering where it's located. You will always have some surprises when renovating a house of this size. But luckily, in Italy it's actually "affordable" to fix things. If you would discover a structural issue in my home country Sweden you would be screwed 😅
Haha it's a huge difference in sqm price. Our whole house was pretty much the price of what we sold our bathroom in central stockholm for. It's crazy.
@@OurItalianDreamHouse To be honest, affordability for fixing things depends a lot on what you are willing to do yourselves. You both are putting an extraordinary amount of manpower into this project. The work may be very satisfying, but it can break a healthy back. And you may not realize the breakage until years later. As a tall man, you are very lucky that you are capable of squatting. I never could squat, but thank God for knee pads. I'm always happy to see Emelie using them.
One of the best presentations I have come across. Well done and thank you both.
Wow, thank you! 😍🙏
Thank you so much.
Hey guy who do you use for real estate, or what’s the best way of messaging you to find out more info please
Hi there! Unfortunately the agent we used we cannot recommend to anyone 😂 we’re actually about to launch an E-book covering the whole buying process in Italy 😊
Thank you so much for sharing all infos with us ❤ how can I have the contact of the Italian woman 😅?
Well thank you for following :)
Which Italian woman are you looking to get in touch with? Sorry, it's been so long since we did this video so I cant seem to remember, haha.
thank you for the complete video i want to buy a house in lombardia if you can help me please
Happy you like it Sabreen. Unfortunately we have no contacts there but a great place to start is Idealista and Immobiliare :)
Is it possible to loan the portion of the amount of the property in Italy?
If you’re not an Italian resident it’s pretty much impossible.
Great video with tons of details. Thanks for sharing the experience you had so someone will not get a hard time when buying a house. I am also interested in buying a house in treviso. could you tell us how did you find the real estate agent and notary?
Sorry, I completely forgot to respond to your comment. The notary was recommended to us by the real estate agent, although we did do a bit of research on Google first to make sure they were good! 😊
@@OurItalianDreamHouse Thanks for the response
All house for sale I have seen on you tube including your is ruined. Are there also homes for sale that are in a movie in condition
There are definitely a lot of homes that are in move in condition, you could check the website "idealista" to search them 😊
You can recommend your real estate agent? Wonderful! I'm surching for one! I'm nearly every day on idealista and immobiliare and making plans for my next visit in piedmont. Please, tell me the name of the agency you were so lucky with. Mille grazie!
Hi Gabriela
, unfortunately we can not recommend the agent we worked with after discovering several severely upsetting facts.
However, if you're looking for a house in our very specific area you can start with contacting agencies like Prima Casa, Boido, Verde Abitare, Emmeffe and Case & Castelli.
@@OurItalianDreamHouse Thanks for the quick reply. It's not that easy to find a SMALL house on a hill with a nice view, where there isn't so much to do and still affordable. I like the area around Alba. Because of the hot summers it could also be further north. You've lived there for two summers. Is it on your hill windy enough to bear it without melting? 🙂
Haha finding the perfect house def takes some time. Im sure you're already on these but Idealista, Casa and Subito are great for house finding. Have you looked at the village called Casorzo? It's about 40 min north of us but friends live there and they have such a nice little community.
Oh well, this summer was HOT. And we still have around 30 degrees. Luckily these old brick houses stay pretty cool during the warm days.
Hi thanks for all the intel it's really helped us. We have a question though about the realestate agents percentage paid by the buyer. We, just to let you know we have had our offer accepted on a place in Allerona umbria but as your place was under 100000euros so was ours. Considerably less but we paid a extreem amount for the realestates commission. Was that the same for you?
They had a base or minimum commission of approx 4500euro which wound up nearly being a quarter of the purchase price.
And I should have started with the introduction we are Rick and Mandy Stewart.
Hi guys, congrats and welcome to Italy :)
The agent we used told us she usually charge 3% on everything sold for 100k or more. We paid her 3000€ as a fixed rate since our house was was below 100k. I think that's standard. However, it feels like your agent should have been upfront about their price before sending in your offer to the seller.
Hej Jag håller på att köpa hus I italien , min mäklare skrev till mig idag så här Also the notary asks to make a power of attorney to an Italian citizen in order to buy the house in your name. This is the most used procedure, that allows to reduce costs and time. Of course it must be a person of your trust, so I offer myself or also the geometra might be a perfect solution. Är det något man ska göra ?? Eller ?tror ni att ni kan svara mig, tack på förhand
Vi använde vår mäklares partner (som även kallade sig geometra) som power of attorney men skulle absolut inte göra om det. Ta en helt oberoende person.
@@OurItalianDreamHouse tack för svaret.
great video! brava! :) is it a must to have an italian bank account in order to pay for the property? thanks!
I’m not 100% certain but I do think it’s compulsory (this may also change with regions). This is definitely something that a real estate agent could advise you on 😁
@@OurItalianDreamHouse i asked another investors in italy and she said you can pay also with WISE 👌🏽😊
Extremely helpful! ❤
I'm so glad! Thank you! 😊 If you want even more details we have written an ebook called ”how to buy a house in Italy”. It’s available on our Patreon page ❤️
Best information video ive seen on UA-cam until now on this topic and Straight to the point with no unnecessary babbling!
Thank you for your professionalism of this video.
Thank you So much Benjamin! We also wrote an ebook covering the whole process (and have added things we know Now which we wish we would have known then 😅). You can find it on our Patreon page if you’re interested 😊
@@OurItalianDreamHouse
That’s great , thanks for the info.
No problem at all. And good luck with your (hopefully) future house purchase in Italy 😍
@@OurItalianDreamHouse
Well just browsing through ideas Really!
Some facts im trying to understand though..
As the main reason being that the Italian government is trying to repopulate these deserted towns to get them up and running again.
So im wondering how this concept can grow soon because not only are there very little, if not any employment possibilities in these old areas but also the cities close by
generally have a pretty high unemployment rate and low wages.
So im wondering how they imagine regular families could financially survive or anyone who just wants to live in one of these regions that wants a regular job.
I understand it’s a perfect situation for a vacation home or perhaps some kind of hotel business idea and of course for a few of those who are able to work from home via home office,
But because the majority don’t have this option , wouldn’t this lower the potential of the repopulation idea by quite a bit?
I absolutely do not mean this to be negative in any way because it’s obviously a beautiful dream to live there.
I was just wondering as you have now started part of your life there and its probably also in anyone’s best interest who is now planning a future there , to think about
and how fast things will develop.
I think you make some really valid points here. And personally, I'd never buy one of those 1€ properties, for the exact reasons you're mentioning. I have a feeling the 1€ towns will be still deserted in a couple of years but with foreign buyers stuck with properties they cant get rid of and still demands to spend a certain amount of money to renovate them. It takes hundreds of full time residents to create a sustainable infrastructure and I cant see how that would happen.
Our village is in the center of Piedmont, has slightly over 3000 inhabitants and is a 45 min drive from Turin, 70 min drive from Milan and 15 min drive from the closest "bigger town" - and we still got it for a very reasonable price (compared to the housing market in Scandinavia).
Very Useful, thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent video!
Thanks Kool Keith! Glad that you liked it 😁
This was really helpful. Hope things are still going well for you both
Thanks David!
Thank you!
You’re welcome 😊 we are soon launching a full ebook on How to buy a house in Italy.
Fantastic video. Loaded with great information.
Need to get Edward's mic turned up a bit, but y'all are doing great work.
Grazie
Thanks for the comment Eddie, so glad you enjoyed the video! Really appreciate the feedback too, I plan to pick up a couple of proper microphones soon so we can up the audio quality in our future videos 😁
@@OurItalianDreamHouse Enjoy isn't a strong enough word. Love the videos!
Great video with lots of information! Hope that renovation has gone well this week and waiting for your next video.
Thanks Matti!
I love you guys💗
Aaaw, THANKS Shuvo! 😍
My pleasure 🖤
Hey folks! Now that you've put a fair bit of work into the renos of the place, do you have an estimate of how much the total reno cost would be? Or how much the reno costs have been in the place to-date?
We will do a separate episode covering our renovation costs :)
@ouritalianDreamHouse So far I haven't had any good experiences with the realtors in Idealista! Can you guys get us some tips to find a good realtor?
Sorry to here that your experience has been bad so far! I think that we were mostly just lucky with our realtor since she was already responsible for the house. One thing that you can do is check that the realtor is registered with one of the labour unions for realtors as this shows they are following procedure and doing everything correctly. For example ours is registered with FIAP. If you are looking in the Langhe area of Piemonte just let us know and we’ll connect you with a couple of good realtors. Unfortunately we’re not familiar with any outside of this region.
peidmonte the cheapest area in Italy for properties on Idealista
That cant be true, is it?