You asked for it….the whole kit and caboodle.
Perfect, Christmas in Italy. Now, let me go back just a bit. Kailee, Ashtyn and Brett are all obsessed with musical theatre, all 3 performed in high school and are incredible & very talented!! One of Kailee’s favorite musicals is “Mama Mia”. I had never saw it, and once I did I became OBSESSED. I literally told everyone, that’s it….I’m moving to Greece! I wanted an old rundown shack of a farmhouse/B&B that Mike and I could renovate and live the dream…they think I’m crazy. Have your heard Amanda Seyfried sing:
Ok sorry, I told you I was obsessed. There’s something about dreaming something so out there, that everyone thinks you’re crazy! Yet, your best friends in the entire universe know you are crazy enough to actually make it happen. Just ask Kim and Aubrey! If you haven’t listened to the Mama Mia soundtrack both 1 and 2 I highly recommend it!!
Despite all of that, and we all have our financial restraints, but if you make sacrifices it can be done. It does not take a million dollars.
(Step 1 – research)
This is when I discovered Chris from Super Savvy Travelers. We got rid of cable when Mike got laid off and I become obsessed with YouTube videos. Not just anyone, but informative travel ones. I found Chris and reached out to her and was actually shocked when she replied. I had never done anything like that before. She recommended her attorney, Nick Metta and had wonderful information. I looked so forward to her next video coming out. From there I started searching on my own. I found Raphel Di Furia who does “The Italian Real Estate Podcast” on Youtube with Attorney Marco Permunian from “Italian Real Estate Lawyers”. I ultimately reached out to both attorney’s and for our personal experience, Attorney Marco and his “package deal’ ..if you will – seemed best for us. One fee. Payable in 2 equal installments. I trust Chris and she highly recommends Nick Metta from personal experience, so you are in excellent hands with either Attorney should you go that route. Obviously do your own research and read reviews and watch informative videos and make your own personal decision.
Why did we use an attorney?
Mike can reno like Bob the Builder. He can work with the best of them, from plumber, electrician and carpenter….BUT, we don’t know anything….ok we know less than anything about Italian real estate law. Then, there was this thing called Covid, restricting travel. After reaching out to the Attorney, we originally spoke with Anita all via email. Once we submitted the signed contract to hire him for his services, we then dealt 99% of the time with Attorney Marco’s Assistant, Linda. Again, all through email. We gave our “wish list’ and Linda performed a property search.
Mike and Kerri Smart’s wishlist
1-Low budget – under 45,000 euros
2-Has a roof
3-Has plumbing
4-In a village with transportation…even an old borrowed bike will do 🙂
What we DID have to do:
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Immediately apply for your Italian Codice Fiscale (tax ID number). This CAN be done all via email. Or at least our local office in Miami allowed it. Linda actually sent us a draft email and had us forward to the consulate office- Codice Fiscale department. I can’t say they were efficient. We had originally been told “next week” after our initial email contact. When weeks went by and nothing, we were told to send our documents, she never received them. Um, yes you did because I actually asked you to confirm my email our documents (passport copies and birth certificate copies) to which you replied, “received”. So be patient. BUT don’t piss off your local consulate office. YOU NEED THIS DOCUMENT TO PURCHASE YOUR HOME AND BASICALLY ANY OTHER MAJOR PURCHASE/utilities IN ITALY. So apply early and have it for when you need it. It cost nothing. There was no expense to apply or receive this.
What we did NOT have to do:
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We did not have to open an Italian bank account. I will repeat that for those in the back…..we didn’t have to open an Italian bank account.
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We did not speak to a real estate agent. It’s actually advised you don’t especially once you’re under the legal agreement of the attorney. They will handle everything. Come to find out, if you reach out on your own to an Italian agent, you could be responsible for paying them a commission fee just for your inquiries….so look but don’t touch! Window shop. It’s encouraged you search on different sites, they actually recommended ones to us, saying they were the more “trusted and I guess legitimate agencies” to work with. There is nothing worse than thinking you found your dream home and there’s 5 pictures. 1 in focus, 3 are of the bathroom ceiling and then the final one is of the old very loved “cantina”….which may or may not even be yours!! Oh, then there’s a video….ya not so much. But honestly if you are able to contact a seller directly, wonderful. If you are working with an Attorney they contact the agent.
(Step 3 – Find your patience….remember your grandmother and 5th grade teacher telling you “patience is a virtue”)
Your dream home is out there, if you have patience. We thought we found the most perfect “terrace” yes, the home wasn’t ideal. I fell in love with the massive terrace overlooking the valley in Poggio Bustone. We offered and it was sold to a different buyer. We offered on a 2nd home in the same location. This was sold to a different buyer. Then the feeling sets in, there is nothing and I repeat NOTHING in our price range. Forget it….I should have looked in Greece. Yes, I was getting discouraged and yet I continued to search and search and search…..you know when you see someone briskly walking, and you say “look at them walking with a purpose”. That was me, searching with a purpose. We had gone back over a week’s time of the Attorney’s office answering questions for us….
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Can we actually purchase without being an Italian citizen? Yes
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Do we have to be in Italy for any of this transaction? No
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Will you conduct an “inspection” of the property? Yes. It’s called a survey
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Will you take additional photos and videos so we know what we are wiring money 5000 miles away on? Yes
On August 26th, 2020 my dad passed away. The last few years had just instantly become even harder. Where do I put all of that hurt and emotion and sadness….Into House Hunters International on HGTV and home searching. My dad, a Vietnam Veteran 100% disabled from Agent Orange was 69 years young. I had already known, but this confirmed how short our lives truly are. The contract to work with our Attorney was finally signed on our daughter Kailee’s birthday September 16, 20020. No we didn’t plan that, honest to God. Then some time in October while randomly searching yet another day away, I saw our home. It was listed as: ”The Guardian of the Castle”. It was in Poggio Nativo, outside of Rome and attached to the ancient castle wall. It had 3 floors and green shutters and this ever so charming green arched window that opened into the step down kitchen area…..SOLD. Well, first I showed Mike and Kailee and Kailee’s reply at this point in the game is “Mom, buy the house in freaking Italy already”. I decided to ask a few questions….you know like the important ones. #1 Is it haunted? #2 Why are they selling? Linda asked the agent to ask the sellers a little about the home. It got back to us that the mother had just passed. It was the family holiday home. It was hardly used and came fully furnished. I decided to act and not lose this home!
We moved forward with the next step….
But, not like our American ones it’s more what is visible to the surveyor’s eye and overall sight of the property.
Nonetheless, it’s 450.00 euros and peace of mind. We can’t be there and the Attorney’s office will be present and take additional photos and videos. I’ll pay that just for some good photos!! Our home purchase is proof that the survey didn’t truly pick up on some major issues. But, it was not earth shattering. Things like plumbing issues are hard to detect unless the person looking is looking for issues.
This was scheduled on Wednesday 11/4/2021.
Once we heard back from the Survey that the property was in overall satisfactory condition. All major systems were working properly etc. etc. We decided to move forward with the offer. I did feel a personal connection to this home. Their mother had just recently passed….my father had just passed and I felt for their loss. I have attached the letter we submitted with our offer. Do I think it helped them accept our offer? I have no idea. I do know it came from my heart, it was genuine and I meant every words in the letter. I wanted the seller to connect with us, the buyer. In the event there were other interested parties. I highly recommend if you find your dream home, include a heartfelt letter. It can’t hurt.
We were told they were out of town and they would let us know probably in a few days. Are you kidding? In the US we put a deadline on that sucker lol. Patience…..remember!!
Official offer to purchase was signed on November 6th, 2020.
We heard back days later that the seller accepted our offer!! OMG this is happening!! Of all days this happened to take place on Veteran’s Day! My dad 😇 I know had a role in this!!
Offer accepted and formal offer signed on November 11, 2020.
From this point we now had to wire funds to the appropriate people. In Italy you send the deposit to the seller. This is much different than in the USA. Here, we would put that in an escrow fund and it is transferred to the seller at the sale of the home at closing. I did reach out about this and this is how it is done in Italy. There is no worry though, if the seller changed their mind after you send the deposit, they are required to pay you back double your deposit. You are protected with your formal offer.
$5000.00 deposit sent to seller (in euros)
$4000.00 payment sent to the real estate agent (in euros)
I must add here, each agent basically determines their commission. Some, negotiate that and it is paid by the seller, this is how it was explained to us. This agent wouldn’t negotiate and unfortunately we had to work with her as she was the listing agent. She was horrible and it burns my butt she received $4000.00. The only thing she negotiated, in Italy you pay a VAT tax. That was inclusive with the agents fee. So VAT plus commission was $4000.00.
This next step is essential. The notary is an official who checks all the documents. This is a separate expense. If the Notary finds any inconsistencies, the formal offer would not be valid and you receive your deposit back. The notary outlines our payment options to handle the taxes and gave us 2 options. Our home was listed as 2 properties so we had to decide how we wanted to handle that. Use 1 as our “primary residence” and then we would be taxed at 2% not 7 or 9 %, doing this would give us 18 months to become a resident. If at that point we don’t fulfill those requirements we would then be responsible for the difference in tax amount.
This fee for the Notary was $3300.00 (euros) this is inclusive of the taxes.
Once all official documents were signed, we had to find a Notary here in the US to sign an Apostle. We went to our local Chase Bank and the Notary there was able to complete this. I believe we paid $25.00. The documents were then sent to Tallahassee, Florida and sent back to us. Once we received the official Apostle, it was sent via regular-expedited mail to Italy. To the Attorney’s office. This gives the Attorney Special Power of Attorney to conduct on our behalf. We were not present in Italy for any of this.
Once everything was submitted and finalized the deed is scheduled. The Attorney had to be present for this and I believe there was an additional $500.00 fee. He had to travel for this transaction/procedure. This was scheduled for January 28, 2021.
Just when we thought everything was moving right along, we received an email that there was an issue with the Notary filing the papers with the official records. I sign everything “Kerri Lee Smart”. However, my maiden name is “Kerri Lee Dunn Smart” apparently on the Apostle the maiden name was there, but on the documents it was not. I have no idea. I haven’t signed Dunn on anything so how it ended up on it? This was a delay but it all worked out correctly. So FYI just be aware of any name issues. These are all official documents and it can effect the filing.
Our Codice Fiscale
Our Offer to purchase & formal offer
What we said: We have business to conduct on our newly purchased home. We’re meeting the agent to exchange keys, the deed and set utilities up. We were asked if we had a return date: Yes showed our flight back to USA. That was it! We had a home in Italy we have never actually seen with our own eyes. Yes we bought it “sight unseen”. Yes we bought it without traveling to Italy, without having an Italian bank account, without being an Italian citizen and……without speaking Italian. We did it!
I know this was a lot, but it was a few months process. I hope it makes sense. I tried to recall everything!
Our home was listed in the village as 2 separate homes. It’s 2 units on the books. So we had 2 tax options to consider. The fee was for the Notary to run all her checks on the home & make sure all documents had no discrepancies etc., the notary in Italy is not like a notary in the USA. They’re an official professional who is required to complete the home purchase transaction. This is separate from the Attorney fees.
This is typed from my phone notes on the airplane. I’m still trying to figure out how to get this blog into a website format. So I apologize for how sloppy it is. I hope this week home I can play around with it on WiFi. When my eyes fully open. I included the before photos sent from the survey. I will be sharing the much anticipated after photos soon!!
