The First Question To Ask Before Buying A Home In Italy

Now that you know what’s the Most Common Mistake People Does In Buying A House In Italy  and you have read the a Step By Step Guide To Buy A Real Estate In Italy  it’s time to get into the game.

 

The (real) first question to ask when you buy a house in Italy

In the initial post I said that the first question to ask yourself is “Do you really understand how the process to buy a house work IN ITALY?” In truth this is not a real question but an admission, and the only correct answer is “No, I don’t”. No shame on this, I work as a lawyer from 1998 and I am still very cautious about real estate in Italy. Thus the following question is the real deal:

“Why do you want to buy a house in Italy”?

This is a good question in any country, but it’s particularly important in Italy. Tax and notary cost can be very high in Italy, and you have to choose among two completely different process to buy your real estate. Once you have picked the wrong process, switching to the other is so expensive that you will probably drop the idea to fix the issue, or incur in a heavy financial loss.

 

Why do you want to buy a house in Italy?

There are many answers to this question, but you can merge most of them in 3 groups:

  1. You want to live in Italy (to work or retire there)
  2. You want enjoy Italy from time to time (a vacation house for your family and maybe sometimes for your best friends and relatives)
  3. You want to invest in real estate in Italy (and sell the house later)

If you want to live in Italy or just enjoy the Italian life from time to time (point 1 and 2), you can follow the standard process explained in the Step By Step Guide To Buy A Real Estate In Italy .

You should just take into consideration whether you will be permitted to work and stay in the Italy. This is not connected to real estate but to immigration into Italy, and I will write more about it in a different post. However to make it simpler, I will share a short summary here.

Living and Working in Italy for EU and EEA citizen
In general any resident of a EU country has no limit to establish himself in Italy or to find a job. You still need to file some extra paperwork than an Italian citizen, but this could be done by you or by a local agency. No need to pay a lawyer. A very similar favourable treatment is reserved to the EEA countries and Switzerland. EEA stays for European Economic Area and includes all the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Living and Working in Italy for citizen of any other country
All the other country usually requires an immigration visa. USA, Japan and some other nations have a better treatment coming from the days of the Cold War, but even their citizen can’t stay forever without an immigration process. If you are in doubt, contact your Embassy or an immigration lawyer.

Buying a House in Italy for yourself

In summary, if you want to buy the house for yourself, and your major concern ISN’T the financial investment, you can follow the standard procedure and buy the house in your name. You’re only concern will be the cost of tax and notary, and to be sure that you can enjoy the house the time you want (immigration).

On the contrary, if you are concerned about the real estate investment, you should probably Buy A House In Italy Through A Trust Or A Company .

 

Exception to the rule: if the price of the house is significant – I would say over half a million euro – you should probably consider the house an investment nonetheless, and purchase the house through a trust or a company . It’s going to be slightly more expensive the moment of the purchase, but very convenient in the middle and long run.

 

Just a final note. These articles may provide much information to purchase your house in Italy, but it can never provide ALL the answers. Sometimes the right answer depends from the right question. Feel free to ask a question in the comment below and – before paying any money – check a local source or appoint a local lawyer. You can read a more complete disclaimer here.

 

Image Credit: Images.trulia.com

 

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