Before rushing out to buy your property it is best to carefully consider the location. The most common complaint amongst foreign homeowners is that they chose the wrong location. Before committing yourself consider your needs both in the short and long term.

Accessibility
Where are the local airports and train stations? If you are going to buy a Casale (farmhouse) in the middle of the countryside you might find some roads inaccessible without a 4 x 4. Is the area still accessible if it snows or if it is icy? Is the area prone to flooding or other natural disasters?

Facilities
How far are you form the nearest supermarkets, towns, schools and playgrounds, hospitals, doctors, dentists, hairdressers, sports facilities, bars, restaurants, hotels (needed if you can't put all your visitors up?) beaches, mountains, and so on. If you have children it's not much good if you have to travel over an hour each way to the nearest school.

Resale value
Is your house resalable? At some point you may wish to resell your property. Is the area fashionable? Does the area have all the facilities to attract new buyers? Consider what might be important to other buyers. You may not have children living with you but prospective buyers such as Italian families invariably continue to house their children until they leave to marry and as such may have different requirements than you.

These are just some of the questions often over looked by foreign buyers of Italian property. Ideally it would be best to spend some time in the area to answer these and any other questions you may have at first hand before committing your property search to any one location.

World of Property, International Homes - www.international-homes.com and Homes overseas - www.homesoverseas.co.uk

Or, you could try searching through Italy's own national real estate magazines such as:

Casa per Casa - www.casapercasa.it, Dimore-homes - www.dimore.com, Cerca Casa - www.cercacasa.it, Ville & Casali, Seconda mano, Piu Case (Milan based), Porta Portesse Immobiliare (Rome based)