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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:

the main property: a villa of 800 sqm on 3 levels
the second property: a farmhouse of 150 sqm on 2 levels
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

Tags: buying a property investment in Tuscany real estate second home tax

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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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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Starting an “agriturismo” .

November 8th, 2009

A lot of foreigners dream of starting a new life. They are tired of their busy life, the bad climate and they dream of starting of a new life in a quiet place, in the country, preferable where the sun shines 300 days on 365.

One of the possibilities to achieve their dream is to open an “agriturismo”, better known as farm tourism. Most people think that the word “agriturismo” is connected to renting rooms and in the meanwhile producing their own wine, olive oil, cheese, … These products we offer to our guests and what is left we sale as “prodotti tipici” on the local market.

This responds at what we call in Italian “la dolce vita”

About 5 years ago in fact this was still reality. One bought an existing “azienda agricola” (farm) and with help from the European Community and Italy itself, installed a lot of sleeping rooms and earned a lot of money. Most of his time the owner dedicated to the tourism and what was left he spent on the production of the “prodotti tipici”.

But as all fairytales have an end, also this happy story finished. Because the incentives given by Europe mainly where dedicated to give some help to the farmers and because at the end of the agriculture few or nothing was left, the government decided to change the law and to avoid the abuses regarding the “agriturismo”

The two headlines of this law are the following:

The hours to dedicate to room renting may not exceed the hours to dedicate to the agriculture
The earning by the room renting may not exceed the earning by agriculture

This is a very important modification of the old law with consequence that an “agriturismo” has become a busy activity. To simplify the work it’s possible to hand over the agriculture in part or completely to a local farmer. With the local farmer the owner usually makes a contract and in this way the owner can spend almost all his time to the room renting and thus to the direct contact with the guests.

For those who are searching a balance between producing wine, olive oil, cheese, … and room renting the running of an “agriturismo” is an ideal activity. Furthermore there are a lot of tax benefits that makes it even more interesting.

Ing. Günther Desaever

www.livingintuscany.eu

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Renovation tax benefit of 36%

August 15th, 2009

In Italy, for the renovation of your home, there are some tax advantages. In this first article we’ll talk about the 36% deduction.

The Finance Act 2008 (law 449/97), which has been extended until 31 December of 2010, allows home owners a deduction of 36% from personal income tax (so called IRPEF) for renovation works at their home in Italy.

These renovation works can be divided in:

manutenzione ordinaria: current maintenance works such as substitution of floors, windows, …
manutenzione straordinaria: extraordinary maintenance works such as renovating the roof, building of technical spaces, …
restauro e risanamento conservativo: restoration and conservative recovery works such as reparation of roof, floors without changing the original materials
Ristrutturazione edilizia: restructuring works such as demolition and rebuilding of some parts of the building

The benefit is available for each renovated property, has a maximum of 48.000 €, and is paid out over a period of up to 10 years maximum.

The deduction is valid for all people who have an income in Italy and who pay regularly income taxes, the benefit may be divided in case of more than one owner.

An example:

If a property owner has done renovation works for a total cost of 40.000 €, then he may deduct 14.400 € from his personal income tax over 10 years, which means a tax saving of 1.440 € every year.

Another advantage of the Finance Act is that the VAT amount (so called IVA) is fixed at 10% for the provision of services and supplies of materials, goods for renovation works.

How to obtain the benefit?

First of all, before starting the renovation works, it’s necessary to send a notification to the “Agenzia delle Entrate di Pescara (adress Via Rio Sparto 21, 65100 Pescara). It’s very important to send the notification before initiating the works!!

The notification, which can be downloaded on the website of the “Agenzia delle Entrate”, must contain the following items:

copy of the planning permission for the renovation works (statement of building activity beginning or DIA, concessione edilizia)
copy of the land and building cadastral survey (visure catastale)
copy of the payment receipts of the Municipal tax on buildings (ICI) from 1997

After the works

To profit from the benefit all the works done, need to be paid by bank transfer; a short description of the finished works is required and the data, VAT number of the contractor or builder needs to be indicated.

For a possible control after having finished the works, it’s important to keep all the receipts of the bank transfers and the receipts of the purchased materials.

For more information you can always have a look at the following link http://www.agenziaentrate.it/ilwwcm/connect/Nsi/Documentazione/Guide+Fiscali/Guida+ristrutturazioni+edilizie+2008/

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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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