Investing in property
We all know what happens to the stock market from time to time and 9/11 certainly gave it a beating. We can't remember it ever being so unstable. Strangely though, property never seems to be so affected. We admit there are times when prioperty prices dip a little but they soon recover and always seem to keep way ahead of inflation.
Even if you buy a complete ruin you are likely to be making a good investment as it can't get any worse, won't cost you anything to run and will always be creeping up in value. The
cubatura will always be there if it is registered with the
comune, so it can always be rebuilt if necessary.
The important thing here in Italy is this thing called
cubatura, the cubic volume of a building. It means that you can create a new house in the same site using the same cubic volume, and this is where the value of a ruin is so vital. Often you can increase the size of a porperty by 100m2 as well but building on agricultural land is completely forbidden these days.
To effect a good investment you need to look at property through different eyes. Don't buy a property just because it appeals to you but what you can do to it to improve it. Weigh up the costs of this and compare with other properties on the market. For example, some properties can be vastly, and I mean vastly, improved by clearing them out and giving the walls a coat of paint. You can add thousands to its value and make it much more saleable.
Remember too that you will have costs of purchase, normally 15% of the purchase price, plus costs of sale and
capital gains tax on the difference if sold within five years. So all that needs to be covered before you can start to make a profit.
Probably the best investment is to buy a large farmhouse and divide it up into smaller holiday apartments with shared pool and sell each one individually. We know several developers who do this and very successfully. We are happy to advise you on this as we understand how to achieve the best results and make them attractive to potential buyers.
Buying off plan
When a developer is planning to build a group of houses or apartments he will be keen to sell one or two as soon as possible to encourage further sales. Often prices rise as the project nears completion and fewer properties are left. Getting in at the beginning of the project before work commences can be a good investment. Some investors will buy several properties this way and then sell them once the project is complete, for a handsome profit. Of course they also get first choice and the best of the bunch.