Real Estate across the mountains…

I’ve been a Broker for over 10 years here in Tennessee, I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the subject. I’ve been a top agent since I began my career, managed agents, recruited, even trained across the Nation on the subject. Naturally I did alot of reading on the international subject when we started “dreaming” about getting away for awhile…

I read articles, books, blogs-I read people’s horror stories, watched movies that “hollywooded” the experience, researched the local laws and customs and searched…I searched and searched internet sites..you would not believe what I saw…

*stacks of rocks called “ruins”…for sale??!!

*pictures with people, dogs, cats, soot falling out of fireplaces, tables and chairs thrown to the floor

*some had NO picture except the view (always a white flag)

*no areas, town names, addresses? How could you google earth these??

*homes that looked for sale only to find they were only selling a room, a basement (cantina) or half the house??

WHAT A LESSON!

Then it hit me……..my next job in Italy..I could be a “stager” for the local real estate agents, help take the marketing photo’s, I mean…there was an obvious need right? WRONG

Just as I have learned over and over in Italy-nothing is like home…Real Estate is no different. The term “Agency” (representation) is really not discussed. No one works for the seller-whoever brings the buyer first wins…it is crazy. As a Buyer-it is super! They treat you very well, service your every need and I was blessed to find an agent who spoke English, trained in the US, but was very Italian-Sarita and Mauro Vincent run Italian Property Galleries-the website was quick, easy and had a “Buying International Guide” I found quite helpful.

After narrowing down my list to about 4 properties we lined up a date on the trip to view these. We knew we wanted to be within an hour of Florence and Lucca and I was drawn to the hilltop towns…We met Mauro at a local bar to begin our morning search. Mauro and his keys-this guy seriously must have had a key to every property in Tuscany in his trunk! After finding the ones we needed, he smiled and said “Follow me!”.

LESSON ONE-Ride with the Real Estate person if possible. Otherwise you will have to drive untold speeds, up hills you are not familiar with , making your kids very carsick and grumpy…

LESSON TWO-Wear long pants, even if it is summer…the “off the beaten path” home that looked so romantic and private on the website could be in the middle of nowhere , with no road leading to it and you may be forced to walk through tall grass, brambles, etc. If this happens just leave the teenager in the car…it will make life easier.

LESSON THREE-“Small but cozy” in the US means double the square feet than “small and cozy” in Italy. EVERYthing is small and cramped. If only one person can fit in the kitchen you might want to keep looking.

LESSON FOUR-Wear comfy shoes, if you think they drive fast, these agents walk fast through cobble stone villages. The car park could be a long way from the “flat with a view” you just had to see!

LESSON FIVE-Take a flashlight, a “fixer upper” usually means no power, and these homes are made of block, cement, 100 yr old tile and plaster-not a ton of natural light always available and you really need to SEE what it is you are going to be “fixing up”.

After we climbed up five separate hilltop villages , had a coffee and pastry (again) we decided to take a nap! I felt like I had run a marathon. But it was interesting…no two properties were alike-no cookie cutter subdivisions these places had charm, history…some had too much history-we actually saw one apartment that used to be the town jail! The one I thought would be “the” one (Casa Noscasta) was…not the one one. The one the “kid” thought would be “the” one (Casa Melody)…we could only get one person in the apartment at a time, the one I had almost crossed off the list for being tooooooo atop a mountain…now that one had potential….

The next morning, the girls were exhausted-14 days they had walked, toured, eaten their way through Tuscany-so Mom and Dad took a moment to revisit the little hilltop village Crasciana once again…alone….

Casa Zodiaco (don’t ask me, they name all the houses there) seemed to be just the right size, no view but price was great, loved the windows, old tile,village was so sweet, owner lived across the street, that would come in handy, and the local bar and pizza was a nice touch, only 15 minutes to Bagni Di Lucca which I had fallen for…hmmm…interesting, very interesting…oh well, tomorrow we go to London…how will this journey end?

Visiting Vico with agent Mauro.