# Where to buy a house?



## Maria-B (Mar 23, 2010)

Hello,

My name is Maria and my husband and I just recently started talking about our dream to someday live in Italy.

We would like to look into purchasing a property that can be used for both personal and income purposes. We are interested in a location that could be rented out during the peak tourist seasons and then could be used by our family at other times. 

We are interested in either southern Italy (for beach and summer holiday-takers) or the Tuscany/Roma area for tourists from abroad. 

A little background - my parents are native to Italy, immigrating to the US as teenagers. I am currently undergoing the process of becoming a dual citizen through jus sanguinis as they were both still Italian citizens at the time of my birth. After I acquire my citizenship, my husband and son will also be able to get theirs through me.

I have a LOT of family in the Calabria area, as well as some in Sicily and the Aeolian Islands whom I have visited over a dozen times in my lifetime. I have also lived in Rome for a period of 4 months during college.

I absolutely LOVE Italy, and my husband has been there twice with me and has also fallen in love with it. Having been surrounded by the culture pretty much all my life I am well aware of the differences between their lifestyle and my own, and I can't say that deters me at all. My grandparents live and work their own farm in the mountains of Calabria, and even the cold trickle of a shower that we must take when we're visiting doesn't seem enough to make us want to change our minds about the location 

I am *close* to fluent in Italian, understanding close to everything and able to hold conversations without outside help. 

We are looking for an area that is popular but not a designated *tourist trap*... which is why we are leaning toward some lesser known city or town in Calabria (also considering my family is nearby it might make certain arrangements easier.)

Has anyone underwent anything similar? Also, I am interested in hearing advice on living in Italy with a small child. My son is 6 months old. We are probably not going to head over there anytime soon, since the citizenship process can take up to a year to complete, but he will still be little when we do go.

Also, my husband is currently working full time as a helicopter mechanic. He also holds the FAA certification to work on any civilian aircraft... anyone aware of any jobs on the peninsula related to this field? It is pretty specialized work, so I'm hoping that there is the possibility they would higher a foreigner for this type of job.

I know this is long, but we are just starting on our journey, so I have lots of questions! ANY help would be greatly appreciated!


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

You either will need to hire somebody to look after the rental or if your family can help they could handle those things that are needed routinely.

The Rome/tuscan areas will be much more expensive . You should be able to rent them out more often and hopefully for more but the price to buy will offset this.

Remember if you rent it out you'll have the tax issues to deal with.

I know around here some of the real estate agents offer investment properties that they handle all the rental issues for. It could be something to consider.


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## stefanaccio (Sep 25, 2007)

A possibility might be for your husband to try to find a gig with the US armed forces in Italy. Aviano has a large air station.


/SNIP/


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