How old were you when you purchased

01/03/2017 - 00:00

How old were you when you purchased your Italian home?i respectfully ask because I'm 40 and in my research stages for purchasing but still have ways to go - strategically and financially. Although, house prices vary I still consider it an expensive endeavour with the purchase, but then travel costs, maintenance, renos, etc.I can only assume many here who have purchased have acquired enough wealth in their careers and purchased when they retired, but have others bought before that at younger ages? Thanks for your time. K

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Property

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K. I suspect you are right in your assumption, but then again it just could be that, that age group are the most likely to look for help from the likes of forums? I would think Modicasa is in the best position to give an insight into this subject, however from what I’ve read and people we now know here there is a couple of groups:- Early retired 50+ Around your age holiday home buyers Young people with young children workingThere is of course others, but I suspect that’s the main groups, with overlap of course. Hopefully Modicasa will put me right if I’m way off. I see the above as being in order with there not being much between the first two and the latter way behind, although that may have changed in recent yearsI would suggest a question to research is how long people end up staying. Our research when buying indicated 5-7 years before they sold up! Of the few we have/did get to know this has turned out to be on average at least 10….

I guess that's a huge question. 5-7 years? That's a surprise. I'm sure there are some bad experiences in the lot, like in most real estate purchases. It's possible they waited after 5years so they wouldn't get dinged from capital gains tax. Or they had their fun and moved on! thanks for your insight

Hi - I was 50 , and my husband 53 when we bought our house in Marche 13 years ago. I was working and in a good job, my husband had taken early retirement, our kids were adults (One had just finished university, the other one at university. ) The reason we bought was my husbands family were from Italy, although not from the area that we bought in. Financially we had worked out we could pay for the house in 5 years, and I was planning on working until I was 60 and then to spend 6 months of the year in Italy and 6 months in the UK. However, fate took a role, and due to medical reasons I had to early retire at 52. Financially we managed , and now spend 6 months in Italy each year. We have had wonderful summers, at a completely different pace of life than the UK , with many friends and family to visit. However, in 2016 the earthquake struck and our house is seriously damaged, although not fallen down. It will probably take all of the coming year to repair - having to wait for permissions from the Comune and for builders to be available. No regrets though. I would have thought that maybe now could be a good time to buy, there could be bargains to be had, as the earthquake will have put off buyers in the central regions of Italy. Just make sure you do your homework on the area (for seismic activity) and the construction of the house. Good luck.

This sounds like a great story! Thanks for sharing. It's true that the central homes ( perhaps all) should be seismically reinforced . I worry about that - the older homes or cassette that are along the appenines. Perhaps some great prices but some special considerations at the same time. I presume you are closer to the south-west end of Le Marche?The prices are good now, with good bargaining. I'm not ready to purchase yet but just to my homework. I've been told prices are steady and will stay relatively low for a long time still. Reasons are the EU dept crisis is still looming, economy isn't picking up, fewer people to buying, hard for locals to get mortgage, etcmind you it's amazing how different it is from region to region.Good luck on the restoration and please share how it all went!

Really sorry to hear about your house clombardelli, but glad you mention you would not change a thing and have enjoyed it so much. I'd really like to also point out we are of the same opinion and don't want the OP put off by my post. I'll repeat a quote from one of those that left us to go back to the UK, she told us when we were looking to buy; "I look on it on it as a 20 year plus holiday" ! Even after just over 6 years we would feel it was all well worth it even if we never managed to sell the place on leaving. Hopefully we will manage to buck any trend that does exist be it 5-6, 10 or more years. Do hope you get your place sorted...

Yep, Steve is absolutely right - the larger group of buyers is people in their 50/60s who want a holiday home, but look to spend more time here when they retire. Kids have left home, perhaps they are downsizing at home and put the spare cash into a second home in Italy. Younger people tend to be looking for a full time emigration solution, though obviously there are exceptions.

We are actually in the process of looking for a home to buy in Florence and honestly it's terrifying! When neither of you is Italian, we are (32-30), it's hard to know what questions you need to ask when looking at houses... I too have heard that this is a good time to buy

It is a good time to buy, but Florence has its own market and is pretty immune to the ups and downs of property prices - at least in the centre. Do your research and dont let the heart rule the head!

Steve. The people staying 5-7 years or so. Are these holiday home owners? And presumably very cheap properties as you say after 6 years or so you could just walk away from it.Do people who move full time after selling up at home and buying more expensive properties - do they stay any longer?Why are people only staying 5-7 yrs is it that they can't fit in due to language etc or other reasons?ThanksJoy

Joy it’s only a figure I read about and I can’t really see it as being fact, however the people we know of who have went back are of varied ages and situations. Most were people who bought with a view to staying here for good and in an older age group. At least 3 of these went back basically because they were of an age where they needed a more stable lifestyle. One who was in ill health came here and then lost their OH within a year or so of moving, but they still stayed on for more than any 7 years. Another was here over 10 years, but the last was only here 6-7 years. Others we know of did not even see out their 2nd year here. One of the troubles with this question I’ve found is that many, many of those that go off never come back on forums like this and say they’ve left and why. I can somewhat understand why, but it may be very helpful for others looking to buy or even those thinking of leaving. I don’t think I know of any holiday home buyer that has left, then again I don’t know too many in that bracket.As to price, it depends on what you call cheap, a few I know the price involved vary from just under €100,000 to under €300,000.

Thanks SteveI've heard of a lot of property being bought for £30,000 to £60,000 and wondered if it was people in that sort of price range where if they left it wouldn't be exactly losing a 'fortune' whereas if they had £300,000 invested that could make heck of a difference to their life if they couldn't sell.I agree about knowing other peoples experiences can be so helpful. We have been thinking about the move for several years now but still very undecided. We were ready to do it before the crash and then businesses were very difficult to sell so we have still got it on the back burner :(Many thanksJoy