Abbastanza Buono - Living in Italy: Capannori

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Italian House Purchase Process

We have made progress on the purchase of our new place in Capannori. Yesterday we met with our agent, our geometra and a translator to go over the compromesso. Everything is in order and we will meet again on Monday with the seller to sign the agreement and make the initial payment.

The compromesso is the traditional initial contract that is entered into when buying property in Italy. Nowadays, there is also a pre-compromesso contract that many people enter into. It is a two page agreement that in essence reserves the property to the potential buyer. A price and basic terms are set down, a small, non-refundable deposit is payed and the seller agrees not to sell to anyone else.

The compromesso is a six or eight page contract that sets forth the terms in more detail and a third of the total purchase price is paid. It requires more time to draw up because it requires a variety of technical information that the geometra gets from the commune land office including confirmation that the seller has the right to sell the property.

The final contract (l’atto or deed) is entered into some time after that and the rest of the purchase price is paid. We will come back in April to finalize everything. The signing of the atto is done with all parties (including geometra, agent(s), bank representative if a mortgage is involved, translator, etc.) present in the office of a notaio (notary-real estate attorney).

We are happy with the way things are coming along and happy that we do not have to come back in January. That seemed like a good idea at first but on further reflection it just is too much. We have a lot of work to do both at our house and our Issaquah property so not having to be back here until April is wonderful. At that time we will move our furniture out of storage and get the place all spiffed up. Some lights have to be installed and we need to try to sell a few things we no longer need such as the dishwasher and garden machinery. There will also be paperwork to deal with such as utilities and registering our residency in our new commune.

Capannori is, by area, is one of the largest communi in Italy. Dom says it is about the size of Kent being long and narrow. A commune is something of a cross between a city and a county. Within each commune are a number of towns and villages, most of which have their own citizens’ committee. However, the mayor and council govern the entire commune and it takes care of such things as land records, building permits, capital projects, etc. Our apartment actually looks out at the Capannori government building which is quite modern. An interesting fact is that for many years the seat of the Capannori government was in the city of Lucca even though Lucca is a separate commune.

This week we have spent some time exploring the town of Capannori which is located about 7 km. east of the town of Lucca. It is much smaller but has all the services we need within walking distance. There is an old part of town where the big church is located as well as the new part where the commune offices are, the municipal swimming pool, some store and lots of apartments and town houses. There are bars, bakeries, butchers, gelaterie, hardware and other stores. In addition there is bus service into Lucca, the autostrada entrance is 3 km. away and the Capannori train station (on the Lucca-Florence line) is less than 2 km. away. We are really looking forward to having easier access to almost everything.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

We're Buying an Apartment!

It has been a busy weekend for us. On Friday we drove to Lucca, stayed in Partigliano overnight and started the process of buying an apartment.

It is located in the town of Capannori 7 km east of Lucca. The town is a mix of old and new with a large, modern square that is ringed by the Comune of Capannori government offices, a supermarket, and a number of apartment buildings some of which have commercial establishments on the ground floor. Our apartment is on the 6th floor (5th Italian-style and, yes, it does have an elevator). It overlooks the square and has wonderful views south to the Pisan hills and north to the hills of Lucca and the mountains.

In addition to being closer to Lucca than Partigliano, Capannori is a great spot for cycling and walking. We are minutes from the autostrada. There is frequent bus service into Lucca and there is a Capannori train station on the line between Lucca and Florence. There are a bar and a newsstand on the ground floor of our building, a gelateria less than a block away, several restaurants, a pasticceria, banks, and other shops all on the square or a short walk away in the older part of Capannori. All of this means it will be much more guest friendly. Capannori is pronounced cah-PAHN-or-ee, something it took us years to figure out.

The apartment itself was all redone not many years ago and the current style is very modern. It has a large living/dining area, a small but well laid out kitchen with a pantry, three bedrooms, 1 ½ baths and a large storage room. There is also a large terrace with double doors accessing it and space for the washing machine out there.

The process of buying a house in Italy is multi-step. On Friday evening we signed an offer and made a small deposit. It was immediately accepted and the next step is to do a compromesso, a contract that spells out what the buyer and seller both have to do before the purchase is completed. It will be done in early November before we leave. At that time we will pay 30% of the total purchase price. In January we will return and complete the final contract and pay the rest of the purchase price. In the meantime, the seller has a number of things to take care of including painting the interior. We are fortunate that we negotiated the purchase of the kitchen, which is beautiful, as part of the deal. It is not uncommon here for sellers to take the kitchen with them. In January we will also move have our furniture, etc. moved from storage into the apartment.

Here are lots of pictures in sort of an odd order. It seems to be difficult to get the pictures to load into the blog as I think they should.