Il mio palazzotto ad Ostuni

Benvenuto in Italia! Questo è il mio primo progetto qui.

***la mia scrittura italiana potrebbe essere cattiva. Per favore correggimi nei commenti. 😅***

It takes some time to really understand a immobiliare mercato. Combine that with not speaking the same linguaggio, not understanding the ‘rules’ or even how to make and offer… and one may find an entire year slip through their finger tips before feeling comfortable purchasing a prima casa in Italia!

With a lot of trust (that does not come easy with me) and a lot of help from numerous individuals checking each others work (because when I do not speak the language, I feel like I need a checks and balance system to protect myself). I did compra la mia prima casa. Il mio agente immobiliare lo è Mariangela con Coldwell Banker a Ostuni. Mariangela spent a great deal of time showing me the property but also making me feel comfortable. She was helpful in working with my team of engineers, commercialistas, attornies, and notarios – all of which you will need to inspect and close on a property in Italy ‘safely’. I used a friend we met before moving to Ostuni, Davide Buffalino with Bufalino Construction to hire all the people above that Mariangela worked with. Being from the USA it was much easier to deal with one person (for me) than attempting to find everyone individually.

Two Italian government agencies not communicating *Shocking* lol

I first saw the property, around Thanksgiving in November of 2021, it took almost 8 months to close on the home. I closed on the property July 15th, 2022. To be fair, we did find out that the home had an addition that was considered an ‘illegal build’ with the urbanization & planning department. This is what took so long for me to buy the property as we had to submit plans to the communè as well as urbanization & Planning to confirm its legality prior to purchasing. The communè said the structure was legal while the urbanization and planning department said it was illegal. It is not uncommon for two government agencies in Italy to not communicate. *scioccante* either way, Mariangela & Davide worked with me through all of this.

Once I purchased the property. (purchased = acquistato) I had about 15 days before all of Italy shut down for August. Thats an entire other blog but just be prepared. In August, Italy is closed. If you email or call, plan on that call or email being deleted and you will need to send it again September 1st. LOL.

Italy closing in August

I was not able to pull together a final set of plans prior to August but I did draw the current floor plan of the home for you to get an understanding of the space I am working with. The Floor plans will coordinate with the photos below.