You might be able to narrow down the near-infinite options if you think about:1) Is there one airport in Italy that would be better for most of my guests to use arriving and departing from Italy?2) How is the wedding party going to get from the airport to the wedding destination? Will they all need to take the train or are they ok with renting cars? 3) Would a fairly flat wedding venue be best because some people can't climb steep hills or many stairs?4) Will most be spending fewer than 5 days in Italy? Does it make sense to pick a venue close enough to an airport that they won't spend a whole day getting to the wedding, or needing to spend a night at the airport on their way home to catch a crack-of-dawn flight?
My unscientific answer is that most Italians don't need to buy a house. They inherit one, sometimes even more than one. Most Italians are not interested in buying a property in an area where they were not born or have close ties. In short, there is very little in the way of a "domestic market" for home buying and selling, and until very recently, property taxes were incredibly low, so not much incentive to cut the price to sell a house one might have inherited. Unlike many other housing markets, sellers do not invest a lot in refurbishing a house to attract buyers, and buyers don't expect it. So if a house is sitting on the market for 2 or 3 years collecting dust, there is still no impetus to cut the price or improve the property. There is not a competitive market that gives an advantage to the seller for making those moves.Foreign buyers often find the process of buying property in Italy extremely daunting. In some areas of Italy very popular with foreign tourists there are consortiums and companies that notably streamline and simplfy the process, or hold hands through every step of the process. But as you know, the area where you are looking is spotty in that regard -- there are a few enclaves in the Ligurian entroterra where foreigners have bought up a lot of property (Belgians in particular I believe, other far north Europeans). Areas around Bordighera used to be extremely popular with "Brits," but that was the last century! I know a non-Italian married couple who years ago fell in love with the area where you are looking but ended up crossing the border into France to buy a house because the process of buying property was so much more straightforward there (and between them they spoke about 6 languages and had lived in several different countries). But i am very sympathetic to your desires. It is a quite beautiful area of the world and prices for charming small houses can be astonishingly inexpensive -- at least at first blush. Who knows what it ultimately does to your pocket book once you factor in renovation, car purchase etc. It that part of Italy it is sometimes necessary to hire helicopters to deliver materials to property renovtions in farms and towns perched on those vertiginous hillsides. good luck!
Hello,I have never bought a house in Italy, although I have lived and rented here 11 years (paying my taxes!). One of the major reasons I did not buy is because it can be quite difficult to resell a house if you no longer want to live in it. So if you are concerned that you or your daughter be able to sell the house quickly, to convert it to cash, just be aware that it is very typical for even lovely, modernized houses to remain on the market for 3 or 4 years and longer -- unless perhaps you choose a highly desirable active tourist area or an Italian city with lots of jobs to offer. When I first moved to Italy, I did intend to buy, but after seeing many freshly renovated and furnished rentals in charming areas, I decided to rent instead. with 4 year contracts that I keep renewing. The "upsides" have delighted me: my landlord arranges for all repairs and supervises them (even though I pay for them). He speaks on the phone to all the utlity people to arrange for hookups/billings for heat, phone, cable, internet. My landlord does all the landscaping chores on the property. Fortunately the furniture that came with the apartment was a tasteful mix of vintage and cheap new things, and it didn't take me long to realize that furniture shopping and delivery would have been a very time-consuming chore for me had I been starting from scratch with a bare space. I was happy to stick to hanging artwork and buying a few houseplants. Overtime, I've changed some curtains, lamps and bought different dining chairs. Finally, my landlord likes to speak English, and has been extraordinarily helpful to me in so many ways having nothing to do with the property. One can't count on that (some landlords are absentee) but my landlord has untangled many an Italian knot for me that spared me loads of angst or irritation or wasted time.Although I love the Italian countryside, I feel personally much better off in a town with food shops, a small supermarket and a weekly market I can no longer imagine living anwyhere in Italy without a train station (perhaps difficult in some dream areas of Toscana). While I leased a car for my first few months in Itay, and had a parking space for it, I soon learned that when I used the car to go to other towns, finding a place to park it there was quite an aggravation, especially on a market day. Plus, living in a town with a train station has meant I have seen a lot more of Italy's museums and churches than I think I would have had I thought about driving to all those destinations (especially Italian cities, where I hate to drive). It's been a lot cheaper not to own and maintain a car, have insurance (complicated in Italy as well). But I confess I will sometimes rent a car to take a trip, and i will take local taxi rides. My regular taxi driver also does a lot to help me -- carrying heavy things, letting me use his office address as a package delivery address, waiting for me when I take my cat to the vet -- so grateful)If this is a once in a lifetime move and you hope to not move again, access to transportation other than driving yourself + a small network of local helpers who understand English is a real asset. While the town where I rent has less than 7,000 (one third in the historic center, the rest on the periphery), I can walk to the pharmacy, food stores, post office, bank, train station, bus stop, the local doctor, all that I need, plus there is a weekly market for household goods and practical clothing, and we have a couple of nice places to eat. The walls of my Italian building are so thick I do not hear my neighbors, I haven't missed having a detached house, and have plenty of privacy. I feel very safe here because everyone knows who I am and I know they would help me in any emergency. (I once dropped my wallet and it got home before I did. It seems everybody knows where l'Americana lives, and of course they know my landlord, etc.)Good luck with your search! I have been really very happy living in a small town in Italy all these years. I had to make many adjustments from suburban and urban life, but I prefer I adjust than for italy to change. That's a bit of a controversial statement, because of course Italians themselves have many ideas for their future and aren't obliged to maintain their country as a museum for me, but it is also true and not romantic to say that many aspects of Italian life are far superior to the other industrialized nations. Italy is very clean, very safe, with very good food, in so many places so very beautiful to look at, and with a very generous, caring people by and large. I know from experience this Italian culture is quite an accomplishment others have not managed to figure out how to have.
You can download from the internet a generic "Delega" form in Italian. When properly filled out and signed, it makes another person your "delegate" to conduct for you the transactions you specify (at the post office, the pharmacy, etc). Your friend in Lucca will probably need to confirm with local authorities if this is sufficient for getting any permits you need or whether you need to send additional identification or documents.Here's a link. http://bibliotecaliviano.cab.unipd.it/usa-la-biblioteca/contenuti-usa-la-biblioteca/documenti-pdf/delega-prestito
Comments posted
You might be able to narrow down the near-infinite options if you think about:1) Is there one airport in Italy that would be better for most of my guests to use arriving and departing from Italy?2) How is the wedding party going to get from the airport to the wedding destination? Will they all need to take the train or are they ok with renting cars? 3) Would a fairly flat wedding venue be best because some people can't climb steep hills or many stairs?4) Will most be spending fewer than 5 days in Italy? Does it make sense to pick a venue close enough to an airport that they won't spend a whole day getting to the wedding, or needing to spend a night at the airport on their way home to catch a crack-of-dawn flight?
Thank you stevegwmonkseaton for your kind words!
My unscientific answer is that most Italians don't need to buy a house. They inherit one, sometimes even more than one. Most Italians are not interested in buying a property in an area where they were not born or have close ties. In short, there is very little in the way of a "domestic market" for home buying and selling, and until very recently, property taxes were incredibly low, so not much incentive to cut the price to sell a house one might have inherited. Unlike many other housing markets, sellers do not invest a lot in refurbishing a house to attract buyers, and buyers don't expect it. So if a house is sitting on the market for 2 or 3 years collecting dust, there is still no impetus to cut the price or improve the property. There is not a competitive market that gives an advantage to the seller for making those moves.Foreign buyers often find the process of buying property in Italy extremely daunting. In some areas of Italy very popular with foreign tourists there are consortiums and companies that notably streamline and simplfy the process, or hold hands through every step of the process. But as you know, the area where you are looking is spotty in that regard -- there are a few enclaves in the Ligurian entroterra where foreigners have bought up a lot of property (Belgians in particular I believe, other far north Europeans). Areas around Bordighera used to be extremely popular with "Brits," but that was the last century! I know a non-Italian married couple who years ago fell in love with the area where you are looking but ended up crossing the border into France to buy a house because the process of buying property was so much more straightforward there (and between them they spoke about 6 languages and had lived in several different countries). But i am very sympathetic to your desires. It is a quite beautiful area of the world and prices for charming small houses can be astonishingly inexpensive -- at least at first blush. Who knows what it ultimately does to your pocket book once you factor in renovation, car purchase etc. It that part of Italy it is sometimes necessary to hire helicopters to deliver materials to property renovtions in farms and towns perched on those vertiginous hillsides. good luck!
Hello,I have never bought a house in Italy, although I have lived and rented here 11 years (paying my taxes!). One of the major reasons I did not buy is because it can be quite difficult to resell a house if you no longer want to live in it. So if you are concerned that you or your daughter be able to sell the house quickly, to convert it to cash, just be aware that it is very typical for even lovely, modernized houses to remain on the market for 3 or 4 years and longer -- unless perhaps you choose a highly desirable active tourist area or an Italian city with lots of jobs to offer. When I first moved to Italy, I did intend to buy, but after seeing many freshly renovated and furnished rentals in charming areas, I decided to rent instead. with 4 year contracts that I keep renewing. The "upsides" have delighted me: my landlord arranges for all repairs and supervises them (even though I pay for them). He speaks on the phone to all the utlity people to arrange for hookups/billings for heat, phone, cable, internet. My landlord does all the landscaping chores on the property. Fortunately the furniture that came with the apartment was a tasteful mix of vintage and cheap new things, and it didn't take me long to realize that furniture shopping and delivery would have been a very time-consuming chore for me had I been starting from scratch with a bare space. I was happy to stick to hanging artwork and buying a few houseplants. Overtime, I've changed some curtains, lamps and bought different dining chairs. Finally, my landlord likes to speak English, and has been extraordinarily helpful to me in so many ways having nothing to do with the property. One can't count on that (some landlords are absentee) but my landlord has untangled many an Italian knot for me that spared me loads of angst or irritation or wasted time.Although I love the Italian countryside, I feel personally much better off in a town with food shops, a small supermarket and a weekly market I can no longer imagine living anwyhere in Italy without a train station (perhaps difficult in some dream areas of Toscana). While I leased a car for my first few months in Itay, and had a parking space for it, I soon learned that when I used the car to go to other towns, finding a place to park it there was quite an aggravation, especially on a market day. Plus, living in a town with a train station has meant I have seen a lot more of Italy's museums and churches than I think I would have had I thought about driving to all those destinations (especially Italian cities, where I hate to drive). It's been a lot cheaper not to own and maintain a car, have insurance (complicated in Italy as well). But I confess I will sometimes rent a car to take a trip, and i will take local taxi rides. My regular taxi driver also does a lot to help me -- carrying heavy things, letting me use his office address as a package delivery address, waiting for me when I take my cat to the vet -- so grateful)If this is a once in a lifetime move and you hope to not move again, access to transportation other than driving yourself + a small network of local helpers who understand English is a real asset. While the town where I rent has less than 7,000 (one third in the historic center, the rest on the periphery), I can walk to the pharmacy, food stores, post office, bank, train station, bus stop, the local doctor, all that I need, plus there is a weekly market for household goods and practical clothing, and we have a couple of nice places to eat. The walls of my Italian building are so thick I do not hear my neighbors, I haven't missed having a detached house, and have plenty of privacy. I feel very safe here because everyone knows who I am and I know they would help me in any emergency. (I once dropped my wallet and it got home before I did. It seems everybody knows where l'Americana lives, and of course they know my landlord, etc.)Good luck with your search! I have been really very happy living in a small town in Italy all these years. I had to make many adjustments from suburban and urban life, but I prefer I adjust than for italy to change. That's a bit of a controversial statement, because of course Italians themselves have many ideas for their future and aren't obliged to maintain their country as a museum for me, but it is also true and not romantic to say that many aspects of Italian life are far superior to the other industrialized nations. Italy is very clean, very safe, with very good food, in so many places so very beautiful to look at, and with a very generous, caring people by and large. I know from experience this Italian culture is quite an accomplishment others have not managed to figure out how to have.
You can download from the internet a generic "Delega" form in Italian. When properly filled out and signed, it makes another person your "delegate" to conduct for you the transactions you specify (at the post office, the pharmacy, etc). Your friend in Lucca will probably need to confirm with local authorities if this is sufficient for getting any permits you need or whether you need to send additional identification or documents.Here's a link. http://bibliotecaliviano.cab.unipd.it/usa-la-biblioteca/contenuti-usa-la-biblioteca/documenti-pdf/delega-prestito