1884 Mortgages for Italian property

Hello italymag peeps,

this is my first message on the board but i've been following other threads for a while now.

I'm in the process (hopefully) of buying a new house in Abruzzo. At the moment i'm desperately trying to establish the most cost-efficient way to pay for the pesky thing! Essentially, i need a mortgage, or other substantial loan (the house will cost E52K), but the terms for Italian mortgages seem onerous to me - max 80% LTV, large fees, big commissions, early redemption penalties etc etc. And when i add in the rest of the fees i simply don't have enough dosh to cover the deposit, taxes, legal fees etc. Anyway, i don't own a property in the UK (or anywhere else for that matter) and was wondering whether British banks will lend to first time buyers who want to buy abroad? People keep mentioning that that's the best option (given that i should be able to pay off the bulk of the mortgage off in about 2 years when some shares mature) but i can't for the life of me work out whether it's possible. Can anyone tell me whether a British lender will loan against foreign property but on normal British terms? Is it a feasible option or do i have to go down the Euro/Italian mortgage route?

All assistance gratefully received...

Bruno (no i'm not italian - my dad is from Swindon and my mum's from Norwich!)

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/15/2005 - 10:03

I don't know of any such conventional mortgages in the UK.

If you are employed you can try Banca Woolwich etc.

Otherwise you might get a commercial lender to take you seriously if you have assets that you can pledge (you mention shares). Try HSBC - they have a online "chat" facility, or drop into a branch (they seemed a bit more clued up when I was looking into this0.

Good, luck!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/15/2005 - 11:58

I'm not sure this is possible either. When I looked into it, an italian mortgage seemed cheaper due to a lower interest rate, but those change, as we know, and with the uncertainty of future exchange rates it just seemed more straightforward to remortgage my home in England.

How about taking out a really massive unsecured loan!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/15/2005 - 14:38

Try [url]www.downlandmortgages.co.uk[/url] - we found them very helpful when we wanted to buy a second property for letting purposes. Contact name is Sheila Baker. e mail [email]infor@downlandmortgages.co.uk[/email]. Good luck!!
Kathy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/16/2005 - 04:36

I've been working with Unicredit Banca in Italy (formerly Abbey National). Don't really find their terms too onerous. Yes, 80% is generally the max (but good luck finding anything higher for an Italian property, even from a British bank), the fees aren't too bad (in the hundreds of euros, not thousands, including the survey) and the early repayment penalty is only 1% if you take a variable rate loan. I can't imagine that a British bank taking Italian collateral would be cheaper, especially given the cost of the survey they would need to do, the hiring of a local attorney to place the mortgage against the property title and the rest of the transactions fees for doing a cross-border transaction. Unless you're re-mortgaging a British property to take the cash out to buy in Italy, you are probably much better off using an Italian bank.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/16/2005 - 06:33

I am working through Banca Woolwich and not having any probs - you could try them as well (also max 80% though).

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/16/2005 - 07:43

So you've finally found a place, Sano? Whereabouts?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/16/2005 - 08:17

[QUOTE=Wishful Thinker]So you've finally found a place, Sano? Whereabouts?[/QUOTE]

Actually, have found a mortgage, still working on a place - any suggestions?