Yes you can. A non-binding offer  or “una offerta senza impegno”, can be done for example to test the water, so see what a seller thinks of your offer. Or simply in case essential  information is missing and a final decision cannot yet be made.

The compromesso is a preliminary contract. It has a specific name because it deals with the sale of real estate.

This depends on the price tag of the property. For an inexpensive apartment €2,500 may prove your good intentions, for an average country house a payment in the range of € 10,000 – €15,000 would be considered  a minimum.

This is not required, we do however recommend to have the contract drawn up by a notary and signed at a notary.

This is normally agreed between the parties, 20% to 30% of the total amount is considered normal.

If between the preliminary contract and final deed is a time lapse of more than 30 days the preliminary contract will have to be registered at the “agenzia delle entrate” or tax office. The notary will handle this part. The costs are related to the property price.

Home inspections like they are for example performed in the U.S.A. are not usual here in Italy. We can however easily arrange for a geometra to do a thorough inspection of the property and all the related paperwork. The geometra will then declare what he has ascertained.

Good question! When buying a house you need to be a 100% sure about what you are buying, so what the state of the property is and whether the required documents are present and in order. For this is it wise to contact a geometra, a bureaucratic tiger who will check all possible files and whether for example the floor plans are according to reality, work has been done according to building permits and so on. The notary will check previous deeds, check whether the documents are present and valid. A lawyer may be useful in case neither the geometra o notary are known to you or recommended by trustworthy people. A lawyer could then check whether the work is done right, more than doing the job himself.

Here in Italy the agent who makes the deal gets paid by both the seller and the buyer. The standard percentage, according to the Chamber of Commerce is 3% and over that commission a “”% VAT needs to be paid as well.

Often the mandate for the seller and the document a potential buyers signs for having seen a property states that the commission needs to be paid “when the offer is accepted”, which is not the moment of the deed but sometimes much sooner. Be aware of this as with large investments you may want to make different arrangements.

For information on our own policies simply contact us directly!

A codice fiscale is a personal tax number that you need for anything and everything. You can obtain a CF though the Italian consulate in the country where you live or simply visit the Agenzia delle Entrate when you are here in Italy.

Excellent question… Here we do not have a general answer. Sometimes an owner is willing to go down €5,000 on a small property, we’ve also seen cuts of half a million on a two million property or even more. This really depends on the specific property. Your agent should be able to give an indication of what kind of offer can be made. If the seller is a foreigner the margins are often very modest.

Yes it is. There are several companies with activities dedicated to just that. Making sure you pay less than the fees the banks will charge when sending money from foreign accounts to an account here in Italy. As we have good experiences with Smart Currency Exchange, fast replies, clear and transparant explanations, good service, that is the company we recommend.