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Making a new opening in an existing supporting wall according the Italian earthquake law

July 14th, 2010

In a renovation project it often occurs that you’d like to create a new opening in an existing supporting wall. In England, the USA and most countries it’s mostly sufficient to put an architrave above the opening. This architrave can be in wood, steel, reinforced concrete, bricks or a combination of bricks and reinforced concrete.

In Italy however a new opening is much more complicated and a simple architrave isn’t enough. Only for a small opening of about 90 cm, an architrave can be used. Because Italy is a country with serious risks for earthquakes they have a very rigid earthquake law, the so called “legge antisismica”. Therefore it’s necessary to place a rigid frame around the opening. This frame can be in metal or reinforced concrete.

It’s obvious that for this type of intervention next to an architect also an engineer is necessary in order to project the structural part and to calculate the reinforced concrete beam or to determine the type and dimensions of the steel profiles.

Therefore the price for realizing a new opening in Italy is higher than in countries such as England and the USA

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Posted in anti-seismic law, architect, buying a house in Italy, engineer, geometra, renovation

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A simple small investment of about 200 € can save you thousand of euro’s.

April 5th, 2010

Photo from fOTOGLIF

A question that future owners of a property to renovate, often ask is the following:

I’d like to buy a property to renovate but I have no idea what the renovating costs could be. What can I do to avoid a wrong purchase?

In fact: estimating the costs necessary to renovate a property isn’t easy at all if you don’t have any technical experience or background. You may have an impression about the needed works and costs but experience learns that mostly this impression doesn’t corrispond with the reality.

A building engineer, architect of geometra can answer your questions such as:

- what’s the cost for renovating the wooden floors?

- how much do I have to calculate for changing the windows?

- what’s the cost for realising another bathroom?

- Can I get rid of the humidity in the wals of the living room?

- etc.

I suggest future investors, buyers of a renovating property to ask advice to an expert before making an offer. This expert, mostly a building engineer, an architect or a geometra, can give you a more realistic image of the renovating works, costs and necessary time.

A simple, non detailed estimate of the costs of about 200 € can save you a lot of time and costs. Furthermore this small investment can be very important when you have to negotiate about the asking price.

For example: is the asking price 250.000 € but you can prove that the renovation costs mount up to 40.000 € indeed of 20.000 € (suggested by the agency) then you can make an offer of 210.000 €. Another advantage of the estimate, prepared and signed by an expert is that it has more value than your ownmade estimate.

A simple small investment of about 200 € before the purchase of a renovating property can save you thousand of euro’s. Money that you’d rather like to spend for renovating your property I guess!

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Posted in Tuscan real estate, architect, buying a house in Italy, country houses, engineer, geometra, investment properties, renovation, second home

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Luxury villa of 1000 sqm now for 720.000 €

March 10th, 2010

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In our last article we spoke about the prices of Italian properties that are falling down. Here is another beautiful property for sale at a VERY interesting price. The property is situated in Umbria and is composed of 3 units:

  1. the main property: a villa of 800 sqm on 3 levels
  2. the second property: a farmhouse of 150 sqm on 2 levels
  3. 2 garages of 75 sqm and 60 sqm

The property dates back to early 20th century and is situated at only 300 meters of the small idyllic town Massa Martana (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massa_Martana). The position and the division of the property makes it an ideal opportunity to transform it in a luxury hotel with restaurant or as a private sanatorium, nursing house. 

The region Umbria also provides a lot of contributions for these activities. Next to these contributions there are also the tax reduction of 36% for restauration works and the tax reduction of 55% for works regarding energy saving such as insulating walls and roof,  energy saving glass, …. For more information about these incentives http://www.livingintuscany.eu/blog/2009/08/renovation-tax-benefit-of-36/

It’s also possible to demolish the second property and the garages and to recycle the volume to build another large unique second property in stile. According to the “piano casa” approved by the government Berlusconi with purpose to relaunch the Italian economy, it’s possible to rebuild this new second property with an augmentation of volume of 35%. More information on http://www.livingintuscany.eu/blog/category/piano-casa/

More information on this very interesting investment you can find on the following site http://www.umbrialiving.eu/en/villa-7

   

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Posted in Tuscan real estate, buying a house in Italy, investment properties, luxury villa, piano casa, renovation, second home, tax

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Beware before buying a farm house (casa rurale) in Tuscany

January 17th, 2010

  
During a trip in the beautiful Tuscany it’s difficult not to notice the many fascinating farm houses (case rurale). You find them everywhere in Tuscany, in the countryside, on a hill from where you have a beautiful view on the surroundings.

Sometimes they are composed of only 1 building, but usually close to the main building there are some smaller buildings (fienili) which previously served to stack the hay or to store material and which now are mostly converted into apartments.
For those who want to invest in property or who can afford a second home, the farm houses are an ideal opportunity. Because of their size they are also very suitable to be converted into B & B, hotel or farm tourism (agriturismo).

Farmhouses for free

If you are planning to purchase a farm house then you should be aware of the following information:
In the past a farmhouse in Tuscany belonged to a farm, which is considered a small company or a small firm (azienda agricola).
In the 70′s the city offered a lot of work and most farmers with their complete family, left the countryside to move to the city to find a job. The consequence was that a lot of farms became completely deserted.
The first to value the enormous potential of these large farms were the foreigners, especially the Germans and the British who bought up these properties to use them as second homes or tourist activity.

Tax introduced by the municipality

For a long time buying and renovating a farm house in the Tuscan country was considered an optimal investment. In the 90′s however the municipalities began to see the importance of the purchase by foreigners and Italians and introduced a tax, in this way the public treasury earned some extra money. The tax, the so called “oneri per deruralizzazione” is literally a tax for the modification of a farm house into a general house; this means that any other person, different to a farmer, need to pay this tax in order to live in a farm house.

Beware before you buy

You would not be the first one to buy a farm house without having ever heard of this tax. Agencies rather forget to mention this with disastrous consequences for your budget. Perhaps you have already spent the maximum of your savings to purchase the property, imagine that before starting the renovation, you have to spend another tens of thousands of euros, pounds.
However, there is 1 option that excludes you to pay this tax: starting an agriturismo (farm tourism), Opening an agriturismo is only possible when you have an azienda agricola or small firm, a private person therefore can not start an agriturismo. However you must consider that opening an agriturismo is a rather intense activity.

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Posted in Tuscan real estate, buying a house in Italy, country houses, investment properties, renovation, second home, tax

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Characteristic cieloterra in tiny Tuscan village of about 200 sqm

December 10th, 2009

 

For those who are looking for a good investment or simply a second home at an excellente price, here’s your chance.

This property of about 200 square metres is available for the price of 230.000€.

The property on 3 levels is situated in a tiny Tuscan village close to the Chianti gate, at half an hour of Florence and Arezzo.

The house has been renovated this year and only need some internal finishing works such as floors, heating elements, doors, …

Also included in the price is 10.000 sqm of land.

The very interesting price is due to the fact that the actual owner has been moved to Rome for his job

For more information and pictures have a look at http://www.livingintuscany.eu/128/huis.php?id=128

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Investing in tourism in Tuscany

December 2nd, 2009

 

In time of crisis it’s normal to ask the question “is investing in Tuscany still a good idea?”

Indeed it is and this for the following reasons:

 

 When people hear the word Tuscany they immediately think about

  • The art cities Florence, Siena, Pisa, …
  • The splendid beaches and coasts (a total of 633 km) such as Le cinque terre, Elba, Forte dei Marmi
  • The beautiful rural country zones like the Chianti, Montepulciano, …
  • The natural wellness centers such as Saturnia, Rapolano terme,
  • The plenty events during the summer with wine festivals, sagre, live music, …

 Finding a person who isn’t in love with Tuscany is hard to find.

 

12.000 hotels, 40 million tourists every year

Do you know that there are about 12.000 hotels, campings, B&B, farm holidays (agriturismo) only in Tuscany. These structures give work to 70.000 persons, even to 131.000 persons if you include the restaurants.

Tuscany has more than 6.500 restaurants, pizzeria; 50 ski structures; 17 golf circuits; 39 wellness centers.

Every year more than 40 million tourists are traveling in Tuscany: This number is more or less stable because Tuscany has reached the maximum number for hotels, campings, … Have you ever tried to book your summer holiday in Tuscany some months before leaving. Hard to find some room free isn’t it? Tourism is and will always be the main activity for Tuscany.

There are some places where, from June to September, you see more tourists than Italians. Have you ever heard of the Dutch invasion on the camping of Figline Valdarno?

 

Investing in tourism 

My experience have learned me that the best investment you can make is investing in tourism, in no other region of Italy you have 12.000 holiday accommodations and every year 40 million of tourists. However these amazing numbers, there are still a lot of palaces, farm houses, small towns (borghi) that have an enormous potential to be transformed in accommodation. It’s true that not everyone has the possibility to purchase these properties but for those who have the money this is an excellent investment.

 

Also the Tuscan region offers a lot of incentives for the tourism and there are also the 36% and 55% tax benefits for renovation works.

 

Those who have invested

To finish here is a short list of some famous persons and companies that invested in tourism in Tuscany

 

Sting – Figline Valdarno

Belgium minister – Gaiole in Chianti

British minister – Castelnuovo Berardenga

Ferragamo – Borgo il Borro

Leonardo Pieraccioni – Florence

Deutsche Bank – Castelnuovo Berardenga

Antonio Banderas

Gerry Rafferty – Grosseto

Some Belgians that I know personally

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Tuscan real estate, country houses, investment properties, renovation, tax

New investment projects in the heart of Tuscany

July 15th, 2009

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Two more investment projects in the heart of Tuscany at only 30 minutes from the beautiful Florence

Investment project n° 1:
Characteristic country house on two levels of about 350 sqm on two levels with 2500 sqm of land situated in the countryside at only half an hour drive from Florence. The restoration has initiated but needs to be finished, 30% has …
Price: 365.000 €
http://www.livingintuscany.eu/125/huis.php?id=125

Investment project n° 2:
Historical Villa, dating back to the 16th century, composed of a large main building of about 650 sqm on 3 floors and a smaller building of about 65 sqm on 2 floors. The Villa is situated on a hill which …
Price: 700.000 € (negotiable!)
http://www.livingintuscany.eu/126/huis.php?id=126

 

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Good news for homebuyers thanks to the “Piano casa”

July 6th, 2009

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If the “piano casa” (house project) of the government will be approved this could mean that times are getting better for those who are looking for a property in Italy.
The law provides an increase of 20% of the volume of the existing building in case of renovation and provides an increase of 35% in case of demolition and reconstruction of the building with modern, ecological materials and techniques.
With this law a lot of smaller properties have the possibility to be enlarged, which creates a new market of medium properties. This means that a property with one bedroom can be transformed into a property with two bedrooms, a property with two bedrooms in one with three bedrooms.

A simple example:
a property of 65 sqm on two levels has a minimum volume of 175,50 mc
an increasement of 20% means 35 mc or 13 sqm which is more than the minimum for a double bedroom.

Not only will it be possible to increase the volume but also the building cost will be reduced by 50% and of course are still valid the tax reduction of 36% for renovation, 55% for interventions that improves the energy efficiency and 10% VAT for renovations.
Another advantage of the law is that the building permit in the future will be replaced by a much more simple procedure, in this way reducing drastically the bureaucracy and accelerating the hand over of the permit.
Last advantage is the fact that industrial buildings, warehouses, … in the future could be transformed in apartments, lofts,… of course, that they have all the necessary requests to be habitable.
The law is valid only for existing buildings and doesn’t include properties in historical centres, properties of historical and/or artistically value and monuments.
Recording the Italian Constitution, the text of the government defines the general structure. It’s up to the single Regions to establish in which way and how they will apply the text to allow the use of these advantages.

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How to restore a wooden floor according Italian anti-seismic law

June 13th, 2009
Different from most countries not subject to earthquakes, the Italian law obliges engineers to use specific techniques to improve the main structures of buildings such as floors, foundations, roof, walls,….
In this first part we will explain how to restore an existing wooden floor.
A typically wooden floor in Tuscan style is composed of wooden beams and joists, “cotto” floor and ceiling tiles, bedding lime/mortar
The intervention required by the anti-seismic law is to reinforce the existing floor, substituting the bedding lime/mortar with a reinforced concrete slab, creating thus a rigid structure with the underneath wooden beams and the surrounding perimeter walls.
First of all the floor tiles and the underlying mortar/lime bedding need to be removed. In case some ceiling tiles are broken and joists have an excessive deformation these need to be replaced.
Second step is to realise a concrete slab of about 5cm above the ceiling tiles. The slab will be reinforced with an electro-welded mesh, connected to the surrounding perimeter walls and the underneath wooden beams by high tensile steel rods at predetermined intervals. This method is called the “metodo legno – calcestruzzo”.
The ultimate step is to replace the floor tiles.
The advantage of this method is the fact that a composite floor has been created with excellent static characteristics without any visible aesthetical damage.

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Interesting investment properties in Tuscany at reduced price

June 8th, 2009

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For those who are looking for interesting investment properties in Tuscany at reduced price, here are 3 proposals. The properties are so called “podere” which means a group of stone houses in typical Tuscan style, that once belonged to a farm. Some farms were so big that they could be described as small villages.
The structures are completely to restore but have all the potential to be transformed in a luxury residence or country hotel.

“Podere Vivaio” -Rufina (Florence)

the “podere Vivaio” is situated in the famous “Chianti” region, famous for its wine. The “podere Vivaio” is composed of 4 buildings, with in the centre a little square. The major building (298 m2) has, next to a big cellar and storage, the living function on the first floor and in part on the ground floor. 2 other buildings (98 and 106 m2) have got …

http://www.livingintuscany.eu/1/huis.php?id=1

Podere of 600 sqm – Talla (Arezzo)

The property is composed of 2 large buildings and a smaller building – former “essacatoio” – for a total of ca. 600 sqm, surrounded by 35 ha of land. The buildings, with the oldest part dating …

http://www.livingintuscany.eu/121/huis.php?id=121

Podere of 2000 qm – Talla (Arezzo)

farm situated in an isolated and unspoilt setting at about 20km from Talla. The property is composed of 3 large buildings, divided around a square with in the centre a smaller building. Two other smaller buildings of about 90 sqm are situated at short distance of the main buildings. The entire property includes 13 ha of land with possibility to buy more land. The property is completely to restore …

http://www.livingintuscany.eu/122/huis.php?id=122

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