Hi everyone I have been

10/09/2019 - 06:27

Hi everyone

I have been formulating a dream over the last year or so, and that is saving up to move to Italy and retire at age 51 or 52. I am by no means wealthy, but I could probably save enough to have apx. 26.500 euro a year for 25 years to live off + whatever interest may accrue.

My idea is, buy a cheap house in Cuneo (I really want views and solitude above all else), and just spend my time restoring it myself over time, with nothing else to do. I can't build a roof, but I can install a kitchen, put in ordinary windows, put up insulation, lay a floor and plaster and paint.

I am looking at these 20.000 euro houses on idealista.it, like this one: https://www.idealista.it/en/immobile/15293309/

or this on: https://www.idealista.it/en/immobile/12482638/

Am I a complete idiot for thinking that this is actually doable? Are these houses basically all ready to be torn down, or are they livable without spending 100.000 euros on renovating?

This one is pretty great, but I realize it has nothing to start with, except that view: https://www.idealista.it/en/immobile/14766238/

Topic

Property

Location

Cuneo Province

Comment

I don't know about the Cuneo area but I have a place in Calabria. The prices are extremely low if you purchase in a hill town versus a place but the sea. We have many properties in our village that are very inexpensive and do not need super extensive repairs.

So I would have to say in our village a 25,000 property is very doable. My village is Santa Domenica Talao.

See my ad at the link

https://www.italymagazine.com/property-for-sale-in-italy/123847-lago-maggiore-inexpensive-apartment

This is completely do-able as far as buying a house at that price. You must realise that Italy has been in a recession on and off for the longest time and old places in small villages are not really much sort after by younger Italians who mostly want to move to bigger towns and cities and then they usually want something new with all the modern conveniences.

This house looks big, habitable and in sound condition. I would have the roof checked out and have the plumbing and electricity checked out but otherwise, it almost looks like you could move in as soon as buying it.

I recently bought a 60sqm apartment, about 200 years old, but in fair condition in the historic centre of a town in Umbria, about 30 mins drive from both Perugia and Assisi. The town is a delight and I just love my little place. I paid Euro 9500.

The bathroom was functioning but super super small, so I decided to have it knocked down and rebuilt from scratch. So far, with other renovations, I have spent about Euro 9000. I am finding the trades and materials to be very reasonable compared to Australia.

More complicated would be organising your visa, buying the house and then knowing what and who to pay for things like utilities.

Thanks for the reply.

Your case certainly makes my plan sound somewhat realistic.

May I ask, what are the communal expenses for such a flat? I have been trying to gauge the apx. level of fixed expenses for the house, but they seem very low. About 1,000 euros annually for various taxes and renovation. Does that sound right?

Water, exectricity, etc comes on top of that of course.

Calculating the council rates is quite complicated. I had been told by my real estate agent, who went on to the website that calculates the rates and told me that I would be up for Euro 220 pa for my property. When I went to the comune (council) to speak to the dept which handles rates she calculated it for me and it turned out to be twice that. Being married it is paid by both spouses. We were due to pay Euro 220 each but because I am in the process of renovating my place and it does not have water and is being renovated, they consider that to be non abitabile and so we were given a 50% discount on that amount.

It is difficult to say what I will pay for electricity because although I have had the electricity connected, I have not used any electricity. As a secondo casa (foreign owned houses where the owner is not a resident are classed as owning a second house) you pay more for your access fee (I think it is around Euro 23 per month as opposed to a resident who pays about Euro 11 per month) and then I think the usage might be more expensive as well. Electricity is expensive in Italy.

I elected to have everything electric including my stove and oven because I couldn't be bothered also paying a monthly access fee for the gas.

You also need to pay water (which I haven't had connected yet) and rubbish collection which I was told was about Euro 145 per year.

Be careful that you check with the notaio if you are paying a reasonable price for your house. I paid only Euro 9500 for my house, which on the cadastal value is valued at Euro 36000. The tax department will come after you a number of years later if they think that you have dodged any taxes by paying a very low price. I paid Euro 750 for a geometra to go through my house and do an inspection report which included numerous photos to demonstrate that the state of the house was such that it was only worth the price I paid. This report also allowed me to demonstrate to the council that the house was not liveable and so gaining that 50% rates discount. So I had to pay money to gain money because I also paid less taxes when I purchased the house.

Something not right as house tax is payable on the house, not the number living there. It would be for 2 people if the house is in both names. Rubbish tax is a different matter and normally based on number and sqm of the house.

{Duplicate post}

Maybe the real estate agent got it wrong or wanted to convince me that the rates were very reasonable for the property as I was quite anxious about how much they would cost. It would be nice to think that the woman at the comune was incorrect and that I would be able t o pay less but I feel that she does these calculations every day and so is probably right.

The woman at the commune is correct.

The house tax (IMU) is easily calculated (see stevemonkseatons reply below on where to do it)

If the house is jointly owned then the cost is split between the two people - so technically your agent was also correct.

So IMU is E440, and your share is E220

(Luckily, I insisted that only I bought my holiday place in Italy- the Notary was gobsmacked, as my wife was present at the purchase signing, and he made her counter sign to confirm she wasn't buying)

God luck.

You can calculate it here, information required would be on your deeds and/or you agent should be able to tell you before buy.

I have an apartment on a hill overlooking Lake Maggiore in the region of Piemonte.. I'm asking €105.000, but it is all done, furnished and all, nothing for you to instal or remodel

Well, I had in mind to get someone to put in a fireplace, since it has the exhaust tube in the wall which allows one to have it. Most tenents have a fire place in their apartments.

The place is EXTREMELY quiet.

See my ad at the link

https://www.italymagazine.com/property-for-sale-in-italy/123847-lago-maggiore-inexpensive-apartment

Annual fix expenses are property tax €816 and condo services (water included, exterior lighting, exterior cleaning and gardening) €992.