# Buying with Ancient Properties. Help?



## londonjj

Hello all. I was wondering if anyone can help. I am currently thinking of purchasing a property in Abruzzo and have been there for property inspections through Ancient Properties. They have quite a few very interesting properties although I do not want to incurr in any problems. Can anyone tell me a little about them? Cheers!


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## Jon C

*ancient Properties*

Hi,

After many hours looking at property in Abruzzo we finally found a house in Casalbordino

We bought the property through Paola at Ancient Properties and have not had any problems at all 

Paola has helped us from the initial purchasing of our house to sorting out bank accounts through to the renovation plans being passed with the local Commune and all the translations between

We could not fault Paola in any way 
We are going to continue to use ancient properties for our next purchase in the Vasto area

Hope this is of use 
If I can be of any more help please reply

Regards,

Jon C.







londonjj said:


> Hello all. I was wondering if anyone can help. I am currently thinking of purchasing a property in Abruzzo and have been there for property inspections through Ancient Properties. They have quite a few very interesting properties although I do not want to incurr in any problems. Can anyone tell me a little about them? Cheers!


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## polenta

Hello, I met Paola when she worked at Sweet Italy Estates and have transitioned with her to her new company, Ancient Properties. She is very pleasant and accommadating but has not been very thorough - confusing dates, forgetting to following up on questions, etc. I would encourage you to be well prepared, keep notes and follow-up every conversation/exchange with an email documenting the event. Most important to me, I trust Paola so can put up with some disorganization. Best of luck.


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## polenta

Hi Jon, wondering if you would indulge me. I and two friends are negotiating the purchase of a house through Paola. Am wondering who you used for a Geometra, architect, etc; how your earthquake assesment went and what the overall costs were associated with consultation and oversight of reconstruction? Thank you for your time.David




Jon C said:


> Hi,
> 
> After many hours looking at property in Abruzzo we finally found a house in Casalbordino
> 
> We bought the property through Paola at Ancient Properties and have not had any problems at all
> 
> Paola has helped us from the initial purchasing of our house to sorting out bank accounts through to the renovation plans being passed with the local Commune and all the translations between
> 
> We could not fault Paola in any way
> We are going to continue to use ancient properties for our next purchase in the Vasto area
> 
> Hope this is of use
> If I can be of any more help please reply
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Jon C.


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## Nardini

The best - indeed, the only sensible advice to give is to look at the offerings of several agencies for your property. Talk to them in person and agree the commission charge they will make (it should be less than 3%). If you agree and feel you can trust them, look at the properties they have on offer and check the prices that other agencies are asking in the same area. 

If you find something you like, find a notaio that is not related to the agency, nor recommended by them. The notaio will look at the details of the property and check the legality of the property (the word you do not want to hear is "abusivo"*). 

After you have agreed in principal to buy, you might then find an architect or (more cheaply) a geometra (surveyor) to look at the property for structural problems and ideas for how it might be restructured to comply with both the law and your tastes. He may give you an idea as to what the likely costs will be as well - although, do not take these costs as fixed costs at all.

Above all, check the legality of the property before making an offer though. A broken building can always be restored, an illegal one could be pulled down!

*Ancient Properties describe this as "systems in norm". Be very, very wary of the answer being "no".


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## valerie1

*Ancient Properties*

We have dealt with Ancient Properties and can not fault them. We met Paola thru Sweet italy Estates but found our property when she set up herself as Ancient Properties. She has looked after us very well and we do not hesitate in recommending her. She can offer a full service with geometra and architect.
The sale went thru like a dream - just waiting to sell our property in the UK so we can make our move to Italy! Anyone looking for a property in North Wales?


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## vedaandmatt

hi there, where you happy with the service? had any troubles at all??
cheers



Jon C said:


> Hi,
> 
> After many hours looking at property in Abruzzo we finally found a house in Casalbordino
> 
> We bought the property through Paola at Ancient Properties and have not had any problems at all
> 
> Paola has helped us from the initial purchasing of our house to sorting out bank accounts through to the renovation plans being passed with the local Commune and all the translations between
> 
> We could not fault Paola in any way
> We are going to continue to use ancient properties for our next purchase in the Vasto area
> 
> Hope this is of use
> If I can be of any more help please reply
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Jon C.


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## vedaandmatt

hey there, heard about it ...mmm dont know though! check these ones out: Houses and Properties for sale in Abruzzo, Italy, Sweet Italy Estates - The biggest address in Italian Properties, Abruzzo Property - Investment Property Italy & Italian Abruzzo Apartments



londonjj said:


> Hello all. I was wondering if anyone can help. I am currently thinking of purchasing a property in Abruzzo and have been there for property inspections through Ancient Properties. They have quite a few very interesting properties although I do not want to incurr in any problems. Can anyone tell me a little about them? Cheers!


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## valerie1

*Ancient Properties*



londonjj said:


> Hello all. I was wondering if anyone can help. I am currently thinking of purchasing a property in Abruzzo and have been there for property inspections through Ancient Properties. They have quite a few very interesting properties although I do not want to incurr in any problems. Can anyone tell me a little about them? Cheers!



Hi 
We have dealt with Ancient Properties and have purchased a property through them. The service we have received has been excellent and I would recommend the company. Paola has looked after us and is still doing so as we are hoping to start renovations soon. 

If you have any more direct questions please ask them I would be happy to help.

If you mention my name to Paola she will tell you what she has done for us.

Valerie


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## miolas

Here is another real estate agency that can be (warmly) recommended in the Abruzzo area:

Property for sale in italy, Abruzzo property, Estate Agency in Navelli Abruzzo Italy 

They respect the FIAP rules and are very careful in the legal process. The contact person is also a Paola (an architect) who speaks very good English and is excellent in customer service. They do a good pre-selection on their places, so you do not waist time (or less) vising properties that are impossible to start with. Can be warmly recomenneded ! (do ask more info / ref on this agency via private message, if you want)


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## miolas

Ref to previous message: Sorry, meant FIAIP not FIAP. This one:

F.I.A.I.P. - Federazione Italiana Agenti Immobiliari Professionali


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## johnnymath

*progress*



valerie said:


> Hi
> We have dealt with Ancient Properties and have purchased a property through them. The service we have received has been excellent and I would recommend the company. Paola has looked after us and is still doing so as we are hoping to start renovations soon.
> 
> If you have any more direct questions please ask them I would be happy to help.
> 
> If you mention my name to Paola she will tell you what she has done for us.
> 
> Valerie


We have just purchased a property thro AP and Paola has been tremendously helpful. I just wondered how you r renovations etc have progressed and, if you made use of AP services, how good were they eg in terms of quality of work, timescales , costs etc. Any advice or informatio you can offer would be very welcome.
Many thanks,
John


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## valerie1

johnnymath said:


> We have just purchased a property thro AP and Paola has been tremendously helpful. I just wondered how you r renovations etc have progressed and, if you made use of AP services, how good were they eg in terms of quality of work, timescales , costs etc. Any advice or informatio you can offer would be very welcome.
> Many thanks,
> John


Hi John
I am pleased that you found Paola so helpful.
We have not started our renorvations yet as we need to sell our property in the uk first. We are hoping to do a fair amount of work ourselves. But Paola has been gathering quotes for the harder work and as always is looking after us well.
Where have you purchased? We have purchased near Casalanguida maybe we could meet up sometime?
Regards
Valerie


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## johnnymath

*thanks*



valerie said:


> Hi John
> I am pleased that you found Paola so helpful.
> We have not started our renorvations yet as we need to sell our property in the uk first. We are hoping to do a fair amount of work ourselves. But Paola has been gathering quotes for the harder work and as always is looking after us well.
> Where have you purchased? We have purchased near Casalanguida maybe we could meet up sometime?
> Regards
> Valerie


Dear Valerie,
Many thanks for your reply. We have just begun renovations by way of an urgent intervention to restore the roof of our old house just outside (surprise, surprise!) Casalanguida!. It would be good to continue to compare notes, share info and advice etc as we each progress through renovations. I live in Scotland (and will continue to do so for the next 3/4 years then hopefully retire to Italy) so will depend on professionals in Italy to carry out the work on our behalf so you can understand how important references etc will be to me. I expect that Paola will mange this work for us. We will be holidaying near Casalanguida in October when we will also be firming up renovation plans with architects, builders etc and if convenient and possible it would be good to meet over a glass of montepulciano.
Best wishes,
John


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## valerie1

johnnymath said:


> Dear Valerie,
> Many thanks for your reply. We have just begun renovations by way of an urgent intervention to restore the roof of our old house just outside (surprise, surprise!) Casalanguida!. It would be good to continue to compare notes, share info and advice etc as we each progress through renovations. I live in Scotland (and will continue to do so for the next 3/4 years then hopefully retire to Italy) so will depend on professionals in Italy to carry out the work on our behalf so you can understand how important references etc will be to me. I expect that Paola will mange this work for us. We will be holidaying near Casalanguida in October when we will also be firming up renovation plans with architects, builders etc and if convenient and possible it would be good to meet over a glass of montepulciano.
> Best wishes,
> John


Hi John
We live in North Wales and can't wait to move out but alas we have to wait for the housing market to improve. We spent our summer holiday camping in Vasto as the house had no water and we could not do much without it. Paola has advised me that she will be meeting up with the builder to receive his estimate next week. We need to have the foundations sorted and some repairs to the roof. We have also meet with the electrician and await his estimate. We are keen to have solar power. 

I am not quite sure when we will be going over but once the builder has done his job we will likely pop over just to inspect the work - a long weekend.
Are you flying over in October? We drove down as we wanted to take some things to the house. It was a long way but we enjoyed it stopping in France and Imola.

How much do you need to do on your property? And do you have much land. It is possible that Paola showed you our property as we mentioned that she had showed someone. I have great plans for the land although my husband is not much of a gardener.

Hope tohear from you soon.

Best regards
Valerie


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## johnnymath

*volpe*



valerie said:


> Hi John
> We live in North Wales and can't wait to move out but alas we have to wait for the housing market to improve. We spent our summer holiday camping in Vasto as the house had no water and we could not do much without it. Paola has advised me that she will be meeting up with the builder to receive his estimate next week. We need to have the foundations sorted and some repairs to the roof. We have also meet with the electrician and await his estimate. We are keen to have solar power.
> 
> I am not quite sure when we will be going over but once the builder has done his job we will likely pop over just to inspect the work - a long weekend.
> Are you flying over in October? We drove down as we wanted to take some things to the house. It was a long way but we enjoyed it stopping in France and Imola.
> 
> How much do you need to do on your property? And do you have much land. It is possible that Paola showed you our property as we mentioned that she had showed someone. I have great plans for the land although my husband is not much of a gardener.
> 
> Hope tohear from you soon.
> 
> Best regards
> Valerie


Dear Valerie,
How good to hear from you again.
The house is very old (former Baron's home - altho' not grand or pretentious however). The house is known locally as Casa Piccione (house of the pigeons) but in a recent visit to the property a fox fell from the chimney so the house will be called Casa Volpe! What attracted me and my wife Maureen to the house were the vaulted ceilings thorughout, frescos on the top floor, most of which we'll lose thro' water ingress but which we hope to restore, the cotto floors and the impressive stonework. The cellar in particular we thought was potentially outstanding - you can probably sense how much we fell in love with the place! The house needs full renovation which we hope to largely complete within 1 year and, with Paola's help, I'm cautiously optimistic - altho' my good friend Mike assures me that it is more likely to take 3 or 4 (Mike has recently completed renovations of his house near Perugia). We have agreed circa 2300 sq m (1/2 acre) but will hopefully be able to negotiate with the landowner to buy another similar amount. The land is quite stark however and will need work to create an outdoor living space eg trees, patio area, pool? etc but I am not a great gardener either! We will be meeting Geometra etc for the first time in October, so things should start to heat up around then. All being well, we hope to be in a position one year from now to be transporting stuff to Italy.
Kindest regards and I hope that you will be in touch again soon.
John


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## ANDYJ

Just bringing this thread up to date
I would love to know how things went for you guys


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