In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
as ian and sandra said it is difficult....
however i can tell you about estate agents specifically and work her in italy in general....
to be an estate agent here in italy you need to take an exam as a mediator.... a specific exam with much of it having little to do with selling houses but lots to do with the italian civil code... a list of laws of aprox 200 odd pages that you have to learn... all in italian....
the exam is difficult to pass depending on where you live.... and is controlled by the chamber of commerce in the area where you live...you have to be a resident before you can take it..... there is no regulation controlling the examining body....if other estate agents registered in the area do not want you or any other to pass the exam will be set to a standard that is either impossible to pass or will require you to know someone or pay someone in order that the pass will be fixed....
in certain areas of calabria the exam is marketed at around e4000 guaranteed pass without study....
to operate after the exam you register with the chamber of commerce and with the tax authorities as evryone here that is self employed has to register for vat
in all to do the job well you will need a vast knowledge of the italian civil code and the updates that apply....look at all postings by charles joseph to get a good example of the knowledge all good estate agents should have....
saying all that this is the legal way of doing things and there might be alternatives helping an official estate agency but wages will be low.... to be honest... your decision will make your life difficult there are other countries in europe with much less regulation and rules ...if you have not already set your heart on the place
as for construction with albanians working for e5.00 per hour very experienced and speaking italian you will be competing in a hard market... i think in sterling that will be about £3.25 per hour ...tops...
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In response to the other questions about Sardinia and Cagliari,
As far as I know there are no direct flights from manchester to Cagliari or anywhere in Sardinia, you would need to fly via the mainland (rome etc) or fly from luton direct to Cagliari on Easyjet or Stanstead to Algero on Rianair. Both cost from around £60 each way depending on time of year etc etc.
Sardinia has fairly high house prices in the cities and on the coasts but my girlfriends brother in-law who is an estate agent and has a few shops in cagliari says it is not good or bad ATM but the prices have been steadily increasing as they have all over europe I guess.
There is a lot of competition from "cash in hand" estate agents and a lot of properties get sold this way or by the vendor themselves since estate agents here charge quite high fees, around 3-6% to both the vendor and purchaser.
If you do move to Sardinia look us up as we are always interested in meeting newcomers here and would be happy to advise having done it ourselves only a year ago.
Sardinia.....
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 07/25/2005 - 09:32In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[QUOTE=Jennifer]Dear All,
I hope you are all well? I am an experienced estate agent and my partner has a wealth of construction expertise. We are planning on a holiday to Sardinia with a view to a potential permanent relocation. I am really struggling to obtain the information required via the internet. Please can anyone assist me whether there are flights from Manchester to Cagliar and if so how long are the flights? What are the requirements for work permits, residency and is there a website you would recommend to support us with this information? Is there work available for an estate agent and constructor?
I would greatly appreciate any advice on why people should invest in Sardinia? Are there any international mortgages available? I would like to know whether there is a property boom and would appreciate any further information to support me about living, working and moving to Sardinia.
Your help and support is greatly appreciated.
Kindest Regards
Jennifer Wood[/QUOTE]
It's easy enough to get to Sardinia although i've no idea from Manchester.There are few flights within Europe that take more than 2 hours to go anywhere.
As someone has probably already said in order to be an estate agent it's necessary to take state exams (in italian)enroll in the chamber of commerce,with the fiscal people VAT and the rest .
find a place suitable as a base or office (it's not easy to be allowed to use your own home for these things).
I would imagine that the biggest obstacle would be the lead in time (ie. money going out,expenses incurred,etc) until such time as you'd actually start selling property (ie. money coming in)Some of the most exclusive places in Europe perhaps the world are along the coast of the island, i would imagine it being VERY difficult to get in on that business (people like lord Forte, the prime minister of Italy and the Aga khan are involved in real estate on this island)As far as the construction business is concerned of course there's space but the iter is long,you'd have to know people,have equipment,know where to recruit workers,need legal,fiscal advice.
In fact both activities require an extreme degree of integration into the local society and Sardinia is not the easiest place for that.In any case language in all functions would be a sine qua non condition.
People will and do increasingly invest in Sardinia which has sea only comparable with places like maldives etc absolutely fantastic and you're still in the heart of Europe....
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Jennifer,
you can fly to sardinia with Ryan Air through London with ryan air.
Sardinia is a beautiful region of Italy, best sea in the world, very good food, amazing people.
Now. downsides.
It is not cheap at all, as full of tourists if you wish to buy on the coast. It gets better if stay inland.
It is not easy to find a job at all, many people emigrate from sardinia.
Worth trying though...
Paola
jennifer.
you will find a wealth of info on this forum about all manner of things and most of it extremely relevant - but sometimes its not what you what to hear!!
Permanent relocation is a big, big decision and I don't believe that you can eat the elephant all in one go............
You have so many questions.......I think it might be useful for you to try and break these down into catagories, and perhaps post them around the different forums - and you will get useful responses which should allow you to build up a porfolio of information specific to your situation.
As it stands it looks like a very tall order, quite daunting, to try and provide all of this for you in one go.
Look at the different forum headings and re-address your questions.
For your self - one of my first ports of call in any information search these days is Google - just type in your key words and see what you get - more often than not you can then surf to approapraite sites.
I hope this does'nt sound patronisng - I'm really trying to be helpful.
Tenamoci in contatto
Ian and Sandra