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"I found it!"
If my husband had a nickel for every time I ran into the home office to disturb him with this declaration, we would have already paid for a house in Italy. After three years, and hundreds (if not a thousand) of hours scouring the internet looking at potential homes for sale I have a few thoughts and a handful of lessons learned to share.
Where to begin hunting and narrowing options
So you also are daydreaming (or maybe actively planning) the purchase of a property in Italy. How do you begin house hunting? Maybe like I did. I started out following an Instagram page called Cheap Old Houses featuring beautiful (but neglected) old homes in the United States. Occasionally they would throw in a foreign property and I would see the names of others who liked those posts. I then began to follow the pages of My Cheap Italian Home, Cheap Property Europe, Bargain Homes Abroad, and Cheap Italian Dream Homes. These served as a starting point for my obsession and searches.
For those of you that have not already identified a region, much less a specific town, that you are interested in, I recommend that you take time to just browse these collections for awhile. Most of these are by subscription, but it will help you get a very general feeling for regions and even the distinctive architecture of those regions. I am no expert, but by now I could probably guess pretty well if a home came from Lombardy or Puglia just by looking at it. And while they are both awesome, you might just realize that you prefer a certain style. This can help you to begin to narrow your focus.
Other factors that I began to realize were important to me:
The size of the town. I knew I wanted to be located within a town center with enough services and people to feel vibrant, but still small enough to feel like I could become a part of it. Or you, like my sister-in-law, may find anything smaller than Milan to be way too small. Or, you may not care that you never see another person and have to drive some distance to reach services. Consider these preferences. And be careful when you see the ads because they FREQUENTLY will say they are in a particular town (which you'll research and it seems to fit your profile), only to find out it is kilometers away from that town and is simply lumped into that town's borders. If something appeals to you, you'll definitely want to ask the listing agent where specifically the property is located.
The weather. I found a great site that I referred to when I thought I found a property I was interested in. Weather Spark has weather information on many (but not all) locations and breaks the data into useful comparisons. Plus it has a cool feature that allows to you compare multiple locations at the same time. Since I like the climate I live in now, I would frequently compare a prospective location to my own. And while I don't (yet) have plans to live full time in Italy, since I want to be able to visit in any given month, Weather Spark identifies those (snowy) places I really don't want to consider.
The terrain. So. Funny story. We thought we were going to love Todi. On paper it seemed to be just the thing we were looking for. On our recent scouting trip, it seemed to hold up to those factors in person. We even found an amazing property that we absolutely loved. So...what happened? Those hills happened. I think Todi serves as the proverbial parents' story about walking to school, in the rain, up hill, both ways. When returning to our rental after dinner one night, my son stopped...just stopped...in the middle of the road and said, "I cannot take another step". Call us wimps...but those hills are not for the weak. I looked at my husband and said, "I can't do this...Can you imagine walking uphill ALL THE TIME?!" So, yeah, those hill towns are amazing and charming. But you better carefully consider if that charm is worth all the effort every time you leave the house. (And I am not bashing Todi...I will simply visit Todi.)
Your purpose for buying. Is this for permanent retirement? Is it for investment purposes? Or is it for a hybrid reason? Being very clear on this can help in a few ways. For example, initially I would see homes that spoke to my heart. But because our purpose is (for the short term) primarily investment (first) and vacation home (second), I was able to eliminate places that were more about me, than about who we wanted to attract as short term renters. We told ourselves that we have time to buy our dream home when our children are out of the house. For now it has to make financial sense and can serve as our toe in the pool for exploring other areas of Italy on a more leisurely basis.
House research resources
In addition the Instagram and weather resources I mentioned above, here are a few others that have been part of my arsenal of research:
Google maps. I "drove" all over Italian towns before I ever set foot in them. I was so thorough in my research drives, that I remembered streets, stores, and landmarks when I actually visited the towns. I got exceptionally good at even finding the listed houses based on what I could identify in the listing photos. Although it isn't perfect, if you can't be there in person, Google maps can give you a pretty good start to "seeing" the area you are in. One of the biggest weakness I found was the mapping of historic centers that are primarily walking, or too narrow for the Google cars to drive in.
For investors. AirDNA was a good paid resource for evaluating rental markets once you have narrowed it down to a few. It definitely helped lead us in one direction over another based on the data it presents.
Other Instagram accounts. If you follow even just a few of the ones I mentioned above, you'll start to recognize a lot of other creator names with similar, or parallel, functions, who all seem to offer something for us dreamers. Information on citizenship, relocating, language, and more, is all available to be found.
Facebook Groups. I came late to this realization! I wish I had joined an expat group earlier! For the most part everyone is willing to be of help and I immediately connected with a few people who I can't wait to have the opportunity to meet when back in Italy. When home purchase issues become a little more immediate, I will source advice on renovation contractors for sure. And even little living tips that I haven't had a reason to think about yet (like, what items can't you seem to get in Italy that you miss from home and should bring with you).
Create your own agency/listings resource list. You'll start to recognize the agency names, especially if you are focused in a particular area. I created my own Google Doc with links of homes I was following as well as the link directly to the agency. Every month or so I would go through my links to clean them up for the homes that sold, or to see any new listings from that agency. There is no country wide listing system in Italy, so it is work to find agencies (even if they have a website presence), but once you have them on your list you can just visit them from time to time to see what is new. And if they offer a notification system for new listings, you can sign up for that too.
Final thoughts
This isn't my biggest take away, but I feel compelled to make mention of it. I'm sorry, but Italian property listings, for the most part, are abysmal. I cannot imagine some of them being much worse in their "marketing". Dark, blurry pictures. Missing and incomplete room photos. The number of times I would shake my head about how they thought they were going to sell a property with this level of marketing. Honestly, I would like to offer myself up to any Italian agencies who want me to capture the listings using modern day social media and tools! I have seen some progress in the three years since I started perusing listings, but I just mention this as a word of warning that you are going to have to expect, and look beyond, this weakness. I honestly find it perplexing. But this is why you'll want to use some of the other resources I mention above to get a better "picture" of the listing (if possible).
And finally, you can do all the research you're able to, but for the most part, nothing can replace the "vibe check". I had a list of towns we wanted to check out during our recent trip. Sometimes it was simply a drive into the town with a quick walk around. For us, the vibe check was immediate. There were small towns that are famous for their beauty and popularity but, for us, were entirely lacking in the X factor. And others that we didn't know what to expect, but walked in and thought...I found it!
How have you managed your home searches? Are there any tips or resources you can share? Comment and subscribe!