Italian renovation projects | Super Savvy Travelers, LLC

June 11, 2020

Calabria Joins The Ranks Of The 1 Euro Italian House Program

Ciao Amici (Friends!)

“Chris here from Super Savvy Travelers!” And in the last few weeks over 200,000 of you have heard that phrase on our Super Savvy Youtube channel.
Thank you! It has been a pleasure being in communication with you all!

Honestly the 1 Euro Italian House trend has just gotten bigger and bigger. A couple of weeks ago, I swore to you that there were none in Calabria that I could find.

Well, it appears that Mayor Michele Conia has risen to the challenge and made 1 Euro Italian houses available in his community of Cinquefrondi.

Cinquefondi literally translates to “Five Fronds” and the village is named for the fact that there were five separate communities of Greek and Byzantine origin that all came together and formed one community during the Middle Ages.

1 Eur italianhouse — Ancient Italian House

Cinque Frondi is located on the bunion of the boot that is the Italian Peninsula. It rides along the crest of the Aspromonte Mountains and affords access to the sea on both sides.

1 Euro House Cinquefrondi — Cinquefrondi

Mayor Michele, along with many other mayors in the region have been attempting to reverse the depopulation of their towns and villages due to the exodus of young people who have had to leave and look for work in the more populated areas.

He has christened his repatriation project, “Operation Beauty” and we whole heartedly support him in his efforts.

Cinquefrondi has also advertised the fact that it is a “Covid Free” community in that they were able to side step the COVID virus completely.

In fact, much of Calabria was able to escape the ravages of this virus by shutting down quickly and keeping a close eye on it. I have heard that there was not a single case of COVID in our village of Santa Domenica Talao either so well done to all of our mayors and city leaders in Calabria! You guys did great!

Here is a map of where we are n Santa Domenica Talao for comparison.

Santa Domenica Talao map — Santa Domenica Talao; Riviera Dei Cedri

Now let’s go over some facts about the 1 euro Italian house programs.

Normally if you elect to purchase a 1 Euro Italian house, you have to have a 5,000 Euro deposit. In addition if you do not complete the renovations within 3 years, you will be facing a fee of 20,000 Euros.

In Cinquefrondi, the 5,000 Euro deposit is waived but they ask you to purchase an insurance policy in the amount of 250 Euros per year until the works are complete.

The 20,000 Euro fee is in also effect in Cinquefrondi if the works are not completed in three years.

So it appears that the community has tried to sweeten the pot dramatically in order to bring people in.

That said, is a 1 Euro Italian house for you?

In addition to the factors listed above, there are other factors you need to consider.

The houses available for 1 Euro in Cinquefrondi are very old and are located in the ancient part of the city. These ancient houses lean on each other. What happens to the structural integrity of the building as a whole? Can you fortify your house so that it doesn’t fall if the others never get renovated?
Does the housing market in Cinquefrondi support a renovation cost of 10-20K Euros that it will cost to renovate one of these places.
How can you protect yourself if the builders get backlogged and it takes longer than there years to renovate?

None of these questions are designed to put you off the 1 Euro houses but merely to have you take a look and see if this will work for you.

In any case I would definitely run everything by an attorney because he will know what questions to ask and what points to clarify in a contract. We highly recommend Nic Metta at Studio Legale Metta for this purpose.

This may be the deal of the century for you so check it out thoroughly!

Now I want to give a shout out to Dave and his Youtube channel Dauv0. Dave is in Mussomelli (Messina) Sicily and has his finger on the pulse of everything about 1 Euro houses all over Italy. We will be teaming up with Dave for some really fun and exciting projects so stay tuned to both of our channels. You are going to love it!

If you are looking for a 1 Euro Italian property. You need to watch our video on the subject. This will give you the truth abut 1 Euro Italian houses.

AND if you are looking at purchasing a property in Italy and/or moving there you MUST study our online video course and Ebook. It gives you EVERYTHING you need to know about purchasing a home and/or moving to Italy.

You can also get your personal Move to Italy Action Plan/Checklist here.

Caio!

Chris

June 6, 2020June 6, 2020

Everything You Need To Know About Purchasing Your Italian House

Purchase property in Italy

Everything, EVERYTHING You Need To Know About Buying Property (For As Little As 1 Euro) And Moving To Italy; Avoid The Pitfalls That Could Cost You Your Dream!

Ciao Friends!

Congratulations on your plan to purchase property in Italy. The rise in popularity of the 1 Euro Italian houses has enticed many people to start looking at making the dream of owning property and possibly living in Italy a reality.

BUT There are so many possible pitfalls!

You are dealing with a completely different property purchase process, a completely different building and renovation model, you don’t know the language and worse yet, you don’t know what questions to ask your attorney and tax specialist. And having them educate you can be hugely expensive.

As you may know, I have literally done YEARS worth of research on purchasing properties not only in Italy, but also in Spain, Greece and other European countries. With my husband, I have successfully bought and renovated several properties in Southern Italy.

In my experience as a real estate expert, here are just a few mistakes I have heard, read about or experienced myself in various different countries:

*When we were first looking at properties, we were approached with an offer to purchase a property for 120,000 Euros. 10 years later that property NEVER got built. Had we paid, we would be out 120,000 Euros.
(POSSIBLE LOSS 120,000 Euros)

*A person recently came to me with an offer to purchase an apartment for 10,000 Euros. The contract turned out to be a rental contract that guaranteed the BUYER ongoing fees! She would not have owned the property at all!
(POSSIBLE LOSS 10,000 + 1400 Euros per year + other possible fees as yet undetermined!)

*A property “renovated” by a friend of the agent that was completely messed up. That property is STILL on the market 10 years later for almost half of what the buyer paid to renovate it.
(POSSIBLE LOSS 100,000 Euros)

*A property in Spain where the buyer purchased and moved in, only to find that the builder had not gotten the required permits and the place was torn down. Of course, the builder was long gone.
(ACTUAL LOSS 325,000 Euros)

Obviously this is only a partial list of the pitfalls I have seen.
And without someone who knows and has been through the process to guide you through it, you could make some very expensive and heartbreaking mistakes.

Since purchasing our house in Italy has been such a life changing event, we want to be able to share our knowledge so that you can avoid the pitfalls and obtain your dream.

For that reason Pete and I have gotten down to some intense research and answered every question we could possibly think of. Then when we were almost done we asked for YOUR questions so we could be sure we addressed EVERYTHING you needed to know.

We also had to pull in all of our experts from the legal, real estate, and economic fields so that we could be sure of giving you the correct data.

And we did it!

Welcome to “Everything, EVERYTHING You Need To Know About Buying A Property And Moving To Italy; Avoid The Pitfalls That Could Cost You Your Dream” online course and Ebook!

This online course is designed to be light but also packed with vital information. The Ebook can be printed out and tabbed, highlighted and notated so that you know EXACTLY what to ask you legal and tax specialist so you save time and money getting EXACTLY the advice you need from them.

And since our passion is to help others find their dreams, we purposely priced this offer at LESS THAN YOU WOULD PAY FOR HALF AN HOUR WITH YOUR ATTORNEY.

Attorneys and tax professionals are vitally important but they can be expensive if you don’t know what questions to ask them.

We knew you would love this course but that you also would want to know how to book your perfect BNB for your property viewing trips.

Staying in a hotel is not an option because you won’t get a feel for what it is like to live in a town or village unless you LIVE there even for a short time. So we created “Your Guide To Finding The Perfect BNB For Your Property Viewing Trips” Ebook. This little gem helps you create your viewing trip experience so that it matches as closely as possibly your actual living experience so you can make the best choices possible.

This Ebook is a FREE GIVEAWAY that comes with your course.

AND since we know that finding your perfect property takes time and that you may spend way too much time filtering through properties that will not work for you on real estate websites, we created your “Find My Property Dream Checklist” Which ALSO COMES FREE with your course!

With all this area information we feel that we will send you out into the world of Italian real estate armed and ready for anything!

And all for less than half an hour with your attorney!

Click here for details on how to get this vital package of information!

And write us with any questions you might have! And subscribe to our Super Savvy Travelers Youtube channel because we will be continuing to post super valuable content for those looking for properties or who just love Italy!

Happy House Hunting! We will see you in Italy!

XO Chris and Pete; Super Savvy Travelers, LLC

July 3, 2019July 4, 2019

Love and Renovation Italian Style!

Our lady's generous back side

Ciao Everyone!

Who hasn’t wanted to rescue an ancient house that was once filled with families, honor, fine food and love?

Millions of us have watched “Under the Tuscan Sun”, some of us many times (that would be me!) and as we did so we dreamed of perhaps one day, finding a house that speaks to us and begs us to give it a second chance at glory.

As you may know, my husband and I purchased a house in the Calabrian hill town of Santa Domenica Talao, Italy. Our village, like so many others in the area, has a lot of abandoned ruins.

Back in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s many Italians fled Italy to America looking for a better life. Most of them were from Calabria and, although they have made great contributions to us in America in terms of food, family and culture, they left holes in their villages. As a result the abandoned homes have been left to degenerate into a sad state of disrepair.

As you wander through our village you see these empty old beauties and you can’t help but think about how they might look all done up like new. But many of them have been salvaged and brought back to life, once again filled with love and family.

Houses lining the street leading to the piazza

The street leading to the piazza is lined with beautifully renovated houses, all except for the ancient beauty that rises up over the street like a grand old lady, the only house on the block that needs a redo.

And, ever since my husband and I looked at her when we were in the market for our current house, we have never gotten free of her mysterious pull and finally after 9 years, we decided to purchase her and turn her into a BNB.

This lovely lady standing at Via XXIV Maggio, is ours at last.

Not the new one, the pink building next to it — Not the new one, the pink one next to it.

This was not a simple Italian property transaction. My husband and I decided to use some retirement money to set up a self directed IRA and purchase, renovate and run the BNB through this company. This means that we had to set up a separate company and deal with all of the tax and bureaucratic infrastructure that goes along with it.

Add to that the trouble we ran into getting the tax ID number and some other assorted bits of trouble and, well it took a bit to get it done.

Happily we had some big hitters and “get it done” people on our side. I want to take the opportunity to send out massive kudos to Antonello Lucchesi, our architect and Ivan De Luca, our estate agent and all around get it done guy. These two ran into so many obstacles and found ways around them all. It was really epic!

I also have to thank our seller Anne for being to gosh darned patient with our bits of trouble and hanging in with it all.

At Last it is Time to Renovate!

While Pete and I were in Santa Domenica last time, we had the opportunity to sit down with Antonello and his staff and go over the layout of all the rooms.

From the front, the house looks a lot smaller than it is. She has a ground floor and another floor above it however her generous backside rolls down the hill giving two more good sized floors that can be turned into accommodations.

In the end we will have four “studiette” apartments with ensuite bath and coffee and fridge facilities and a full sized, one bedroom apartment.

Most of the apartments will have views of the mountains and the sea and one will have a balcony overlooking the street. We also have a large roof terrace where residents can enjoy sweeping views of the mountains and the sea from high above the village.

Balcony view — Balcony View of the mountains and sea

We have decided that we wanted a communal kitchen and eating area where breakfast will be served daily and where we can have events and classes.

And the best news we received while we were there? The cooking school that our mayor has been wooing is finally going to arrive!

As our renovations progress we plan to be in conversations with the cooking school to see about putting together vacation packages for those who want to learn real Calabrian cooking from the masters. In addition we will have ladies from our village teaching classes on everything from pasta making to meats to all of the seemingly millions of appetizers that one finds here.

We will have morning field trips down to the world famous Pasticceria Arrone for coffee and to die for cakes, beach trips, photography tours and whatever else we can think of.

So with the final signatures on all the documents and the money having changed hands, we are ready to start phase 2, renovations!

Stay with us along the way and watch as this beauty regains her past glory and takes her rightful place as one of Santa Domenica’s leading ladies of the piazza.