# Buying a house in Italy a dream or a nightmare



## rocco850

6 months ago we made an offer on a small house in Puglia Italy. It was suppose to be a joyous experience but dealing with the italian laws has turned out to be a nightmare. We have spent the last 3 weeks in Italy trying to finalize the purchase. Because it is impossible to do from the states. It is the same old story they need one more document every day. It seems there is no set list of required documents available and what is needed is subject to change hourly. Today we arrived at the notaio office to sign the documents. I do not speak much italian but my wife does speak very well. Not perfect but she understands and speaks with everyone here in italian and they all understand her perfectly. The notaio would not allow her to translate for me. Neither would he let another person who was with us translate and she is in fact a translator? Just one more awful day! To top off the day we were informed they would need another 4000 euro because they had made an error in the calculations.

My God it is frustrating. We love the house and are in fact living in it now. You can imagine the seller is as frustrated as we are.

Be advised this process is SLOW and painful. Just this week we sat in offices over 16 hours and accomplished nothing.

Also as a side note. If you open a checking account to pay for the property and fees. Which you almost have to do. The bank requires you to show your actual social security cards. Knowing the number does you no good at all. You must present the card. This change occurred on July 1 of this year. This is in addition to the documents required. We had to have a friend break into our home in the states and then break into our safe. Which cost a considerable amount to buy and a lot of frustration and time for our friend. He was successful and we did get the cards. For additional documentation it was citizenship, birth record, marriage certificate, codice fiscale, oh yes and proof of where we obtained the money to purchase this home. Talk about no privacy. What business is it of the bank where I got my money. The kicker, the cost of an account that does not give you an ATM card is 200 euros a year!

No wonder Italians are fed up. It is almost impossible to accomplish anything.

So for everyone planning on this type of adventure be well prepared. You will need an extra large bottle of asprin. Maybe two bottles to be safe.

We still love it here and the people are wonderful, the food fantastic and when we are not sitting in an office accomplishing nothing we are over joyed to have a home here. Hopefully some day soon this will be gone and it will actually, legally be ours!

Best of luck to all who have the same dream as us!


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## pudd 2

rocco sorry you have had such a hard ride but as whith every thing in italy it depends on the comune who you know ect , it does not flow easey even for the itaiians 

find a freind italian who you can trust listen and things should work out good luck


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## rocco850

Thanks for the info but in our case it seems we know everyone. We have a large family here but it is a very small town with only 800 residents. The sellers son is the sindaco! We have had two attorneys call for assistance but the law seems to be the rule. It is just as hard for the locals. We are dual citizens American/Italian so there is no discrimination involved. Just red tape. Any purchase over 900 euros requires a check and next year the figure changes to 500 euros. Seems extremely socialistic! We are happy and eventually it should all work out. We just have to grin and hang on! In 6 years we will retire here if all goes well. It is just hard to believe thing can move so slowly.


Regards,

Rocco


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## travelinggaby

Welcome to Italy, I feel your pain....

Travelinggaby
Gabyaroundtheworld.blogspot.com


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## NickZ

rocco850 said:


> Because it is impossible to do from the states. It is the same old story they need one more document every day. It seems there is no set list of required documents available and what is needed is subject to change hourly.
> 
> 
> Today we arrived at the notaio office to sign the documents. I do not speak much italian but my wife does speak very well. Not perfect but she understands and speaks with everyone here in italian and they all understand her perfectly. The notaio would not allow her to translate for me. Neither would he let another person who was with us translate and she is in fact a translator?
> 
> My God it is frustrating. We love the house and are in fact living in it now. You can imagine the seller is as frustrated as we are.
> 
> For additional documentation it was citizenship, birth record, marriage certificate, codice fiscale, oh yes and proof of where we obtained the money to purchase this home. Talk about no privacy. What business is it of the bank where I got my money. The kicker, the cost of an account that does not give you an ATM card is 200 euros a year!


I get the impression somebody has been leading you on.

You don't need to be in Italy . Just give somebody a limited power of attorney. Fairly common.

The Notaio needs to protect your interests. Your wife isn't an independent third party to the transaction. Imagine if she asked the Notaio to put the house in only her name not letting you in on it. The document requests sounds strange. Is this a single seller property?

I've no idea what was wrong with the translator you brought. Who provide the translator?

I'm surprised you've been allowed to move in. It can be so hard to get people out that most sane sellers won't allow this.

Sounds like you got a non resident bank account. Since you're Italian I've no idea why you did that. Most of the banks offer online bank accounts for zero or close to zero cost.

The bank is just enforcing the anti terrorism / anti laundering laws. Most imposed by the US.


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## rocco850

Well it is official, we own a house in Italy. After jumping through many hoops and paying close to double what we expected it has happened. We obtained a procura so my cousin could sign the documents because I do not speak italian well enough to suit the notaio. I was at the point I would pretty much do most anything to complete the sale. It was frustrating and we spent many wasted hours fulfilling italian requirements but now it is ours.


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## pudd 2

rocco850 said:


> Well it is official, we own a house in Italy. After jumping through many hoops and paying close to double what we expected it has happened. We obtained a procura so my cousin could sign the documents because I do not speak italian well enough to suit the notaio. I was at the point I would pretty much do most anything to complete the sale. It was frustrating and we spent many wasted hours fulfilling italian requirements but now it is ours.


congrats somthing gained easy is not Always the best you fought fought for this 

and i hope you are verry happy in your new home :fingerscrossed:


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## Lizy95

rocco850 said:


> 6 months ago we made an offer on a small house in Puglia Italy. It was suppose to be a joyous experience but dealing with the italian laws has turned out to be a nightmare. We have spent the last 3 weeks in Italy trying to finalize the purchase. Because it is impossible to do from the states. It is the same old story they need one more document every day. It seems there is no set list of required documents available and what is needed is subject to change hourly. Today we arrived at the notaio office to sign the documents. I do not speak much italian but my wife does speak very well. Not perfect but she understands and speaks with everyone here in italian and they all understand her perfectly. The notaio would not allow her to translate for me. Neither would he let another person who was with us translate and she is in fact a translator? Just one more awful day! To top off the day we were informed they would need another 4000 euro because they had made an error in the calculations.
> 
> My God it is frustrating. We love the house and are in fact living in it now. You can imagine the seller is as frustrated as we are.
> 
> Be advised this process is SLOW and painful. Just this week we sat in offices over 16 hours and accomplished nothing.
> 
> Also as a side note. If you open a checking account to pay for the property and fees. Which you almost have to do. The bank requires you to show your actual social security cards. Knowing the number does you no good at all. You must present the card. This change occurred on July 1 of this year. This is in addition to the documents required. We had to have a friend break into our home in the states and then break into our safe. Which cost a considerable amount to buy and a lot of frustration and time for our friend. He was successful and we did get the cards. For additional documentation it was citizenship, birth record, marriage certificate, codice fiscale, oh yes and proof of where we obtained the money to purchase this home. Talk about no privacy. What business is it of the bank where I got my money. The kicker, the cost of an account that does not give you an ATM card is 200 euros a year!
> 
> No wonder Italians are fed up. It is almost impossible to accomplish anything.
> 
> So for everyone planning on this type of adventure be well prepared. You will need an extra large bottle of asprin. Maybe two bottles to be safe.
> 
> We still love it here and the people are wonderful, the food fantastic and when we are not sitting in an office accomplishing nothing we are over joyed to have a home here. Hopefully some day soon this will be gone and it will actually, legally be ours!
> 
> Best of luck to all who have the same dream as us!


Hello Rocco, 
I assume you managed to get past all the horrors of buying a house in Italy when you live in the U.S. My husband and I are contemplating the same move. Do you know of any property management companies that would help by maintaining the yard and paying some bills while we are out of the country?


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## NickZ

Lizy this is a seven year old thread. 

Where are you looking?

For what you're asking you'd do better asking one of your neighbors or the estate agent. 

These days most (virtually all) bills are electronic. If you have an internet connection you can pay them. Or with direct debit they pay themselves.


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## fatimab

Congratulations to gain something is not an easy task


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## Lizy95

NickZ said:


> Lizy this is a seven year old thread.
> 
> Where are you looking?
> 
> For what you're asking you'd do better asking one of your neighbors or the estate agent.
> 
> These days most (virtually all) bills are electronic. If you have an internet connection you can pay them. Or with direct debit they pay themselves.


Thanks for replying Nick. Yes, I am aware it's an old post but I couldn't find information anywhere and hoped someone would see it and recommend a property management company. The problem is I've been told one of the bills needed to be in person at first and we probably won't be in Italy until next year so I didn't want any problems. I also didn't want the grass in the yard to become a jungle. We prefer not to ask too many favors from neighbors we don't even know yet and would prefer to pay. The property is in Abruzzo. Silvi Marina, near Pescara
Thanks


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## NickZ

I wasn't suggesting asking your neighbors for a favour. But reality is they'll know who locally would be willing to do that work and who you might be able to trust.

I can't think of any bill you can't pay online. It might be a problem getting hold of the bill but once you have it they all come with IBAN numbers so you could even make payments from abroad.

Have you already bought?


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## Lizy95

NickZ said:


> I wasn't suggesting asking your neighbors for a favour. But reality is they'll know who locally would be willing to do that work and who you might be able to trust.
> 
> I can't think of any bill you can't pay online. It might be a problem getting hold of the bill but once you have it they all come with IBAN numbers so you could even make payments from abroad.
> 
> Have you already bought?


 Almost. The closing should be the first week of June.


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## GeordieBorn

A lot of estate agent in the area do property management, but I have no idea on cost, likely high. There are also a lot of English speaking people living there (some American) who may be willing/wanting to take on work. It may be a case of using an agent until you have more time to seek out these people. We lived about 30 minutes from there and in our old area alone there 3 houses with English speaking families. The next village across there is a couple that do this very job, unfortunately they are currently looking to move to Spain.


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