When you come to take the tour of homes for sale in Italy with an estate agent, there are a number of important questions you need to ask so you can achieve a balanced perspective of the property you are viewing.

Hopefully, the solutions your mediator selects for you to view will reflect the criteria you laid out in your initial briefing, so all the houses should have positive aspects that meet some or most of your property needs. The following 5 questions are ones we consider most critical pointers to get an overall view.

1. What do you like most about this property?

Your mediator goes to view hundreds of properties each month with potential clients. It’s likely he/she has been out to the real estate you are inspecting on several occasions. Take advantage of his/her detailed knowledge and critical sense of the overall worth or value of particular housing solutions. You may find some interesting details in the his/her summary that you could otherwise have overlooked or discounted.

2. Does anything about this house worry or concern you in any way?

Your experienced and professional agent knows exactly what your needs are. This question pinpoints any negative details about the buildings which the mediator might try to brush over in some circumstances. You should hope he will be able to give you some assurances that it does meet most of your major requirements and is unlikely to prove a white elephant if it should come down to renovations or maintenance costs at a later date. It is in his best interests to provide you with honest, factual responses to your queries, so you don’t back out of the purchase part way through the process or end up buying a house in the peninsula that is not entirely suited to your needs and budget.

3. Does the price reflect current market values?

Your local estate agent will know the prices of similar properties in the area. You can get them to discuss the price in detail and you might find out whether the owner will accept offers at a lower price or be open to negotiations on fitments, etc.

4. How long has this real estate been for sale?

This is an important question to ask. Of course, if the housing market in the area is depressed then it could be that all properties are taking a long time to sell, but if this dwelling has been on the market for a long while when compared to other similar houses you may want to find out the reasons for this.

5. If renovations are essential, ask how much they will be likely to cost

Once the final deed on your new property purchase has been completed you will have no way to negotiate further discounts or any other deal on this dwelling, so if renovations are essential you really need to find out true costs prior to purchasing it.

The above questions are very important to ask but some other simple queries that could be useful when you’re looking for your home in Italy include:

– What is included in the sale?
– How long did the previous owners live in that dwelling
– What offers have been made on the property
– Have major renovations or works been undertaken, do they have receipts for these works?
– How old is this real estate?
– Details about the local neighbourhood

You will certainly think of plenty more questions to ask your estate agent as you tour your selected abodes. Always take a notebook and pen along with you so you can jot down notes as you look round and ideally take photographs as you inspect the houses as these will jog your memory when you come to make your final decision on the best abode for you in Italy.