With the property market on hold and in-person house viewings suspended, many agents are offering online viewings instead – but would you buy or rent a home you’ve never seen in person?
Read here the true experiences of three American couples who have dared to buy in Italy during lockdown and travel ban.
Yes, We Purchased Two Houses Through
a Video Call
2020 has been a challenging time for the world due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. In early 2020, many states in the U.S. were shutdown with a stay-at-home order in effect. During that time, we decided to look at homes in Europe via the Internet. Italy was at the top of our list because we had recently visited and because we love the history, culture and traditions of the Italian people. Pat and I are both of European descent, Me from Italy and Pat from Spain.
The main reason we were looking to invest in Italy is we began to see a declining stock market in the U.S. and wanted to invest our money in Real Estate. This enabled us to seek a great opportunity for a return on our investment along with an amazing country to visit. Purchasing during the pandemic, we were able to find many properties with reduced prices, creating great value for us. We also were driven by the accessibility to the rest of Europe by Italy’s central location.
In the beginning, we conducted hours, days and weeks of research on the process of purchasing property in Italy. We discovered many laws, rules and regulations which needed to be followed. The process is very different from the U.S. At first, we were hesitant but the more we learned about the process the more comfortable we felt.