Italian Mortgages

As first steps, in the UK try Barclays (Woolwich). In Italy try Banca per la Casa (Unicredito). Maximum mortgages in both cases are likely to be around 70% loan to value.

the suggestions above are as good as any... however be prepared for very detailed paperwork regarding earnings and tax returns... plus a long term working for the same company proof... also bank statemenst showing a good deal of money left over each month ...it takes ages.. and is not at all guaranteed that even after the paperwork is all done that even if you think you have met the criteria that the loan will be given...they also have very complicated mortgages and rates... not suprised i guess... and costs are quite high...they will also often get you to pay their prefered geometra for a valuation... at a cost to you ...and then turn down the loan... persistence and patience... and nothing out of the normal in your background ... are all requirements... had more people turned down than accepted and as i say it doesnt seem to matter which bank you use there are specialist agencies in the UK that deal in these sorts of things but cannot say i would reccomend any as they sometimes seem to be as hopeless and as slow as the banks they deal with...

Hi Sarah & MarkDepends if your friends are buying a holiday home or planning to move out permanently? If just a holiday home they have many more options. I will e-mail you. Karen

Thanks for your comments so far everyone - thought it may be tricky. They are actually from the Netherlands and for now it would be a holiday home. They prefer to try to get a mortgage here in Italy rather than back at home.

BCC Picena do mortgages but will only lend 50% to non-residents. It seems that most banks also prefer/inist upon a guarantor.

We have our mortgage with Banca Woolwich (Milan branch). Yes, it was a bit of a palaver to set up, with lots and lots of form filling and sending of pay slips etc, but no more so than in the UK (we've just changed our UK mortgage and it was equally time consuming). They were helpful and efficient and they speak good English if necessary. At the time (6 years ago) there weren't many options available to us for a euro mortgage, but I think more Italian banks offer mortgages to foreigners now.

Thanks Fox, I will pass on you information. By the sounds of things it is quite difficult to get a mortgage in Holland at the moment, so Italy may be the easier option!