Buying a house in Italy – part 3

By the time we made up our minds and chose the house we saw a year earlier, it was officially on the market, meaning you could find it on real estate listings and a real estate agency had been chosen by the seller to take care of all necessary steps and paperwork for a sale. Daniel Boesch was the official agent, working for Engel & Völkers, an international agency with offices worldwide.

Daniel Boesch, a native Swiss who had also lived in the US for a few years, turned out as a perfect choice: Ted speaks English, I speak English and German, and Daniel speaks English, German and Italian.

In the US it is common practice that an object is represented by the seller’s agent and a buyer hires another agent to represent the buyers interests. Usually the seller and the buyer don’t communicate directly or meet, any contact is done through the agents. In Italy things are a little different: the seller chooses an agent and that is automatically the buyers agent as well. “So what about a conflict of interest?” we wondered, but we liked Daniel, we would have chosen him ourselves I guess, so it was no big deal, just a little unusual…

Working with an international agency like Engel & Völkers is more expensive; they charge a higher percentage of the sales price, but it has also a big advantage: they’re used to working with people from all over the world. Applying for a “codice fiscale” for example, the equivalent of a social security number, was already applied for by Engel & Völkers before we even knew that we needed one. In Italy, a codice fiscale is your identity number. You need it for opening a bank account, applying for Internet, getting accounts for utilities, property taxes and house insurance; and of course if you buy property there. At one of our meetings Daniel just mentioned: “Oh, by the way, here are your codice fiscale numbers! They are very important, don’t loose them.”

By that time we had a partner joining our house purchase. We briefly met her at our weekly hikes with the Paso Robles Newcomers group and once she heard that we are about to buy a house in Italy, she approached us and asked to be a partner in our adventure.

We met a few times to define all possible scenarios and agreed to do this together, then made a contract with lots of „what ifs“.

The biggest advantage to have a partner is of course the financial aspect, the biggest disadvantage is the discrepancy of experience and expectation. The advantage shows up right away, the disadvantages slowly show the more decisions you have to make. Our partners lack of experience (having been in Italy only once on a guided 10-day tour and never travelled abroad much, slowed down our decision making a lot. We had spend a month last summer together (Verona and Salò) before signing the papers, then a few more weeks in winter at our house, trying to buy the basics and make it work. Lots of „yes, buts“ and resistance from our partner about what we need or want, what we think is necessary vs just a plain luxury complicated the whole process, so in the end, we didn’t get as much done as we hoped for, and when we left, we were looking forward to spending all our future travels to Muslone not together, but separate.

I think our big discrepancy came from our different expectations. She wants to use the house for 2 or 3 weeks a year as a hub to travel other places; we want to spend way more time there, 3 or 4 months, during which we connect with the locals, invite friends, have family stay with us. We like to enjoy this little slice of heaven, sit in the garden, read a book, cook fresh pasta, sew a dress. We love markets, swimming in the lake, writing, gardening, sitting in front of the house and drink a glass of wine.

Her biggest challenges are renting a car, driving through narrow streets, stick shift, parking, paying, buying a ticket, finding groceries, winetasting rooms etc. For her, life in Europe is so different: how do I switch on the washing machine, dishwasher, why do I need a €1 coin for a shopping cart, and why are all stores closed from 12-3pm? She just did not realize that life on another continent is very different! Being on a group tour with Americans only, everything is organized to accommodate Americans of course. Living in Italy is very different. I moved from one continent to another 28 1/2 years ago. I experienced that culture shock before and I had the advantage of being younger, more flexible and very curious.

This summer Ted and I stayed at the house by ourselves and we enjoyed it A LOT! All in all we are ok to have our partner, but as I said earlier, keeping the traveling separate is key!