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| Italy Buying Guide Newsletter |
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| Hello there, Welcome to 2009! Italians are all very happy to see the end of this last leap year – even on the national news it was reported how glad people generally are to see 2008 end, as leap years are known to be unlucky. And it has been a doosey of a year, hasn’t it? I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that Woolworths, Whittards and MFI – among other well-known high street chains - have gone into liquidation. Though Italy is bracing itself for economic hardship, the crisis there is in no way comparable with what is happening in the UK. Comforting news for those of us who see our future in Italy, and maybe the incentive you need if you are thinking of your move to Italy…?. What we need is to plunge into fresh new waters. And that’s exactly what happens every year at the end of December on the coast of Liguria. Known as the “cimento invernale” it is the bizarre practice of going for a swim in the middle of winter. The problem isn’t so much the swimming – the sea temperature at the end of December was a comfortable 15 degrees – but getting out of the water (outside temperature 5 degrees)... The practice seems to be traditional to Liguria, known for its mild winters, (so ‘cimento’) – so swimmers are not quite as crazy as they might seem. Since I moved to Italy six and a half years ago, I’ve seen lots of changes. It is amazing how a society can change in a short space of time. People no longer smoke in bars and restaurants, most drivers and their front seat passengers now wear seatbelts (though the same can’t be said for their backseat passengers, and children are still left to roam around in the car while travelling), plus the opening hours of shops and supermarkets have changed. When I moved to Italy even large supermarkets closed for the lunch siesta and everything was shut on Sundays. This is no longer the case, though I have yet to see a supermarket or shop open 24 hours a day, something I marvelled at when I visited London a few years ago. If I compare Italy today with the Italy of my student days, the changes are even more noticeable. In those days – the mid 1980s – everything was bought in cash (no cheques, no debit or credit cards), while this practice has now been reversed and it is rare to see cash used apart from in the smallest purchases. We are starting to see ‘buy now, pay later’ advertisements, and I wonder how the current financial crisis will affect that particular trend. The buying process has also changed considerably. Only six years ago it was still common practice to pay the majority of the price of a property ‘under the table’. The notary chose the appropriate moment to tactfully leave the room so that buyer and vendor could exchange enormous amounts of cash in his absence. This practise has thankfully been swept away by reforms that allow buyers to pay tax on the Land Registry value of a house and not on its commercial value. Buyers no longer need walk along a busy street with their life savings in cash stuffed in their pockets, terrified of being robbed! A simple banker’s draft, issued on the day of the sale, is sufficient. Today even the preliminary purchase contract, which is signed when the deposit is paid, is officially registered at the local tax office, a further guarantee when purchasing a property. To end, one little piece of interesting housing market news. From the 1st of February 2009, Italian citizens will be allowed to buy property... in Croatia! Until now it has been practically impossible for Italians to buy property there. You may ask what this has to do with Italy’s housing market. Well, Italian property experts believe that the deregulation of the Croatian housing market will affect property prices and availability in the north-east of Italy, where many people of Croatian descent will be tempted to get more for their money in Croatia, rather than buying holiday properties at home. The consequence of a Croatian property rush may well be felt in Trieste and the entire Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy. This may well mean that you will have a lot more property to choose from, plus more bargaining power, if you are thinking of buying a holiday home in this part of Italy this year – something to bear in mind. Enjoy the rest of this month’s newsletter. This month’s feature analyses the results of an annual survey on the best and worst Italian cities to live in, published at the end of December by the national newspaper IlSole24Ore. We then have wise words from financial fundi Charles Purdy and a top tip before saying goodbye for another month. May you realise your Italian dream in 2009! And please remember – give me a ring if you
want to discuss anything about Italy. I am here to help - Until next time, Kind regards, Gianna Williams |
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Doing your homeworkFor the last 19 years, the national newspaper IlSole24Ore has been conducting its annual ‘Quality of life in Italy’s cities’ survey, which considers life in the 103 principal cities of Italy. The survey scores each city according to its performance in six different categories: business, services and environment, public order, population density, lifestyle and entertainment, and considers such indicators as unemployment levels, the number of books bought, number of bars and restaurants per capita, the number of businesses registered, number of bank accounts, number of young people with a degree, number of accidents and even the difference in temperature between seasons. This year, Aosta was declared the best city in Italy to live in, while the worst city is Caltanissetta, in Sicily. Last year Trento was the winner and Agrigento, again in Sicily, the loser. Aosta won first place this year thanks
to its strong performance in the entertainment category (1st place),
5th place for general lifestyle and 6th place for population density,
though it only placed 32nd in terms of public order and only 67th for
quality of health and environment. Neither Rome nor Milan made it to the Top Ten this year. Milan was sixth last year and it has sunk down to 20th, while Rome, which was 8th last year, has sunk to 28th place. However, I have to wonder at this list: I don’t know what it is like to live there, but I remember Agrigento as a really marvellous, historic town with spectacular views over Greek temples and the sea. Can it really be the worst city in Italy to live in? For those who love historic buildings and winding medieval alleys, can modern Sondrio really be considered more desirable than Agrigento? Again, let’s consider income: Italy is still the kind of economy where a large percentage of turnover is made ‘under-the-table’ to avoid taxation. A city or region cannot be judged on its PIL when most of that PIL is invisible to the state. In agricultural areas, such as the South, where many people are living off the land, or exchanging foodstuffs and goods rather than buying and selling them (just as we here in Liguria barter our grappa for wild boar from a friendly hunter), how can their food purchases be judged on, say, the number of supermarkets? I also have to wonder if there is also a vast difference between living in a place as a citizen and resident, and having a holiday home in that place or visiting as a tourist. The category that would most interest me in this case is how a city performs in the public order category, in which case you’d choose to move to Oristano, in Sardinia, which has the lowest number of thefts in Italy. The results of the survey have also been applied to Italy’s regions and this year Valle D’Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli Venezia Giulia - all three of which are Alpine regions - have come out on top, while Calabria, Campania, Puglia and Sicily, all in the far south, had the worst scores overall. Again I really have to wonder about these results. For a foreigner looking for ‘a place in the sun’, Valle D’Aosta, Trentino and Friuli would be far from ideal. Surely, Sicily and Puglia are a better choice, whatever the official income pro capita or the number of bus services are? If you are interested in finding out more, have a look at the results of the survey on: ilsole24ore I do think however that this survey underlines that it is essential to do a bit of homework on where you want to buy – and why. Also to me it underscores the point that figures are all very well as a basis on which to work, but you do need to question them and do your own analysis of what it is precisely that you need from your home, be it a permanent place of abode, a holiday home or an investment option. Please do contact me if you would like
any input on your decision as to where to buy – I am more than
happy to help with this. If you would like to be put in touch with a
reputable agent just go to this link and fill in the form – I
will get straight back to you: Also, you will find a fair bit of information
in our Italy Guide. To get a copy go to: |
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Sterling and the Euro in these tough timesby Smart Currency’s Charles Purdy.I am often asked where I see Sterling going to against the Euro and the likely timescales. And my answer is: “The more I know about the foreign currency market the more I realise I know very little about the foreign currency market!” (This is me paraphrasing a former head of the International Monetary Fund) Take for example the recent 6% rise of sterling against the Euro (going from €1.03/ £1 up to €1.10/£1 ) in only one week. The claim made in the newspapers was that the market was finally pricing in the significant problems in Euro land. I, however, suspect that the real reason for the 6% change comes down to a large amount of people betting that sterling would weaken enough so that £1 would equal 1 euro. Those that held out for the £1 = 1 euro lost as it never happened…and when everyone heads for an exit at the same time it’s possible to see the aforementioned 6% movement. But no one can be 100% sure what the real reason was. What does this mean for normal people like you and me? I think it means that you should apply a lot of common sense and set very realistic budgets. Budgets need to be based on attainable exchange rates and it will benefit you to work with currency experts such as ourselves. We will act as a sounding board and use the mechanisms available to secure appropriate exchange rates on your behalf over the required period. Don’t try and make sense of what is happening in the medium term because no one has any clear idea where any currency is heading relative to another. Keep it simple and allow us to keep an expert eye on the situation on your behalf. We’ve assisted thousands of people to save anywhere from £50 to £20,000 by thinking Smart. Give us a call to find out just how much we can save you. To read the latest on Serling and the Euro go to: http://www.ItalyBuyingGuide.com/Currency220109.htm
Why
overseas property buyers lose money... This 10-page educational report outlines:
And just a couple remarks about the report from our readers...
To get a copy of the report at no charge go to: http://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/freereport.htm To get a Better-than-Bank
rate go to: http://www.smartCurrencyExchange.com/smartsquotation.htm
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Le Terraza di Pizzo
Italy is gaining ground both as a leisure
and an investment property destination. Le Terraza di Pizzo is a fantastic
new development that oozes Italian style and character, located near
the historic town of Pizzo in Calabria, southern Italy. |
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Top Tip
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| Rent or advertise a rental property in Italy Do you have a holiday home in Italy that
you want to rent out? OR Before recommending the site to you, I did a bit of background research… The company has been around since 1999, and have grown continuously since then - by an amazing 100% in each of the last 4 years! Over 17,000 owners advertise over 28,000 properties on the site and they have over 1.5 million visitors to the site every month. I’ve been informed that HolidayLettings.co.uk
also have an excellent reputation for telephone customer service provided
by real people in their Oxford, UK office. And looking at their stats,
last Thursday, the 8th January, over 75,000 unique visitors came to
the site and between them generated over 1 million hits. |
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| Italy Property Buying & Investment Guide
If you haven't already purchased our excellent FULL Guide...why not get a copy today? The completely educational guide covers the start to finish process of buying a property in Italy. Every step is outlined starting with the initial idea to buy in Italy all the way through to areas, how to buy land, investment options and many top tips. This guide is for anyone thinking about or currently in the process of buying property or land in Italy. In the course of three years our Guide has been graded a 9 out of 10 and we’ve received huge amounts of positive feedback. There’s a money-back guaran.tee if you don’t like the Guide so there’s no risk in buying one – please get yourself a copy to ensure you know what to do and what not to do when buying in Italy. More information about the Guide got to: http://www.ItalyBuyingGuide.com/guide.htm
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We all know that these are financially trying times. But it is at just such times that really canny investors or property purchasers find the real bargains and benefit from them in the long run. My advice in Italy would perhaps be to head for the tried and trusted markets. There are plenty of opportunities there and the main reason for choosing them is that such a variety of property is still available in Italy – especially at the moment. In essence, you can find a great investment in just about any part of Italy ... if you know what to look for. Best of luck in the New Year, and please
keep in touch with us. We at the Italy Buying Guide are in constant
contact with really reputable property people, plus we hear really exciting
and sometimes invaluable advice from other readers who are either in
the process of buying a property in Italy or who have already done so.
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