Interview with Tony Sizer, now owner of a beautiful property in Umbria bought through Great Estate Immobiliare
When did you have the first contact? We found The Great Estate Group when they had at least three interesting properties advertised with Rightmove Italy. I contacted Great Estate and arranged some viewings. Roberto Biggera was first to contact me to arrange timings.
We have bought a farmhouse that is in need of renovation.
We have chosen a property in Umbria because it has a great landscape and is close to many historic cities such as Rome, Siena, Arezzo, Citta della Pieve etc and also close to Lake Trasimeno , good for watersports and swimming.
With Roberto we looked at around 15 properties and eventually decided on one we believe has great potential. We were disappointed when our offer on another property, which was originally accepted, was subsequently rejected when another buyer offered more money. It took several months to receive our money entitlement but Roberto was very helpful in recovering this.
No the process can take time but is not difficult with the support of Roberto given our Italian is currently poor.
We think the service has been extremely helpful. It is more of an overall package including help with various contacts from architects, developers to taxes and how the commune works. The help and the translation from Roberto has been outstanding.
As foreigners who are not familiar with the house purchase process in Italy, we are very pleased with the service provided and have felt confident in the advice we were given.
Overall it has been a better experience than buying a house in the UK!!
Edited by Roberto Biggera and translated by Tanya Pia Starrett
