Transferring funds
Following on from the offer being accepted sufficient funds must then be transferred to cover the deposit (preliminare or compromesso), which is usually 20-30% of the purchase price. The deposit and fee are paid and the preliminary contract (contratto preliminare or compromesso) is signed.
It is preferable that all clients return here to pay the deposit and sign the compromesso but sometimes you just don’t have the time to do this. We understand this. In this case the signing can be done by mail and fax: we send you the text by post, you sign it and send it back, by fax and normal post. But first you have to make sure the entire agreed amount of the down payment has been transferred.
You will need to instruct your bank at home that all expenses have to be at the charge of the sender (you), and let your bank make sure the correct amount will arrive into your account. Although we stress this time and time again, incomplete amounts still keep arriving, causing extra administrative work and a loss of time in the completion procedure of the compromesso.
Alternatively you can transfer your funds through a variety of specialist companies (see below). Many of them guarantee no charges and offer better exchange rates than your bank.
At the signing of the preliminary contract La Porta Verde’s fee, 3% of the agreed purchase price (plus IVA at 20%), have to be paid too. You will receive an invoice with the amount and bank account number. This does not mean, of course, that we stop assisting you after we’ve been paid! Our service will continue until the final completion, without extra charges!
It is now law that both the Compromesso and final contracts be registered and a fee for the first registration will be calculated by the agent. It is not an extra fee, simply divided into two halves. You are issued a receipt by the tax office.
Things may then go quiet for a while, but it takes time for the notary to prepare the final contract.
Example of how currency fluctuations can affect your purchase...
When purchasing a property abroad it is imperative to understand how sharp movements in the currency market can affect the final purchase price of your home abroad.
Here is an example of what can happen...
In January 2007 Mr X had found a house Italy for which he had a balance of 150,000 Euros to pay. In the third week of January, when the Euro reached 1.52 to the Pound, the property would have cost him £98,684.21.
When Mr X came to make the final payment on 3rd March, the Euro had dropped back to 1.46, the result of which was a final price of £102,739.72 - an additional cost of a staggering £4,055.51 in around five weeks.
Mr X could have prevented this loss by securing the exchange rate with what is called a Forward Contract. This contract is particularly useful when the exchange rate is advantageous but the currency itself is not needed until a future date. Forward Contracts which are usually unobtainable from the high street banks are just one example of the many services that reputable foreign exchange companies can provide. This combined with a far superior exchange rate compared to that offered by the banks, is the reason why more and more overseas homebuyers are turning towards currency specialists for assistance in exchanging and transferring their funds to Italy.
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