In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
That's a great idea Rosie. I'm surprised so few people take matters into their own hands and sell their own properties in this way.
Many expatriates are much happier purchasing from another expatriate than from an Italian. I guess this is because they speak the same language and it's unlikely that an expatriate vendor is selling a house co-owned by a family of 23 individuals 2 of whom are bankrupt and 3 of whom keep changing their mind about selling! Expatriates will also pay more for a property.
I suggest you create a detailed web page/site packed with 20+ photographs of the property and as much information as you can muster - room sizes, annual heating costs, potential rental revenues, local amenities etc.
Then advertise your web page through Google Adwords ([url]http://www.google.com/adwords)[/url]. You'll need to carefully pick a selection of search phrases for which your ad will be displayed e.g. "property ascoli", "estate agent ascoli", "ascoli estate agent", "property in italy" and so on. If the house is right, and the price is right, and you get your search phrases right, you'll get plenty of leads and hopefully a quick and economical sale.
Good luck.
Agents
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/20/2005 - 04:54In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hi Issy, there are good and bad agents eveywhere and we have good relationships with many in Marche that are listed on our site. If not though why not try [url]www.holidayinmarche.com[/url] the site is organised by Sally Thwaites who represents all manner of things as well as useful information. One section is specifically designed 'for sale by owner'. If you would like any more info, feel free to email.
Hope this is useful
Pam
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In response the the claim that agents 'do very little' for their 6%; to be fair, qualified and registered Italian Estate Agents who are doing their job properly do a lot more than English agents would on behalf of buyers; running them around, translation, para-legal work and a lot more, so their fee is maybe not as unreasonable as you'd think.
On the other hand, the 3% marketing fee charged to vendors is often not a reflection of the effort they put into the marketing campaign. This is partly because in Italy the practice is for homes to be spread among multiple agents, each of whom is less incentivised to market the home. Many Italian agents are hopelessley behind the times when it comes to using up-to-date marketing techniques on the Internet too.
In the end, the amount you pay your agent can only be justified if the agent adds value to your house by bringing your more or better clients. Yes, you're free to advertise the house in Exchange and Mart or pin a notice up in the local telephone booth, but historically, people have chosen to use agents because they'll get some more back for their house than they pay them in fees.
Finally, remember that the amount that agents charge is not fixed, so you a free to negotiate the fee, whether you are a buyer or a seller.
You might like to take a look here and see how we do things:
[url]http://www.itili.com/sell/[/url]
Are you selling your house in AP, if so why not create a web site. If it is a holiday home maybe someone from the U.K would be interested. Agents find buyers, thats their role, found yourself a buyer, save 6% and get a good english speaking lawyer to do the transaction.