When buying a property in Italy, you have to trust the system, says Sharon Maes, who with her husband Brendon, had been looking for a home for some years.
The couple, from East Sussex, have been searching for a home on the northern Italian lakes but have ‘never been brave enough’ to commit says Sharon, 50, who retired early from investment banking. “But we wanted the Italian dream.” They had searched around Lake Iseo, the much more well-known Lake Como, and over the years nearly bought two or three properties, according to Sharon, who with Belgian roots, has an EU passport.
Their search took them to seek the help of A Place in the Sun and they flew out with Lucy Alexander to Lake Garda in October 2023 with a £200k budget. But they didn’t find their place, and still didn’t after flying back to Italy two weeks later. Says Sharon: “We realised that our budget was too low to get what we wanted in Garda. We put in an offer on a one-bed apartment and the vendor was being very difficult so we took a step back to have a re-think.”
En route to Venice for Sharon’s 50th, the couple swung by Lake Maggiore and it proved to be a fateful diversion. The lake is very popular with Milanese buyers, being so easily reached from the city and two airports, but in the summer it does get full of American tourists too for its beautiful Belle Epoque villas and gardens and lakeside villages.
“We loved the lake and looked at a property. On the way back from Venice we decided to look at it again. We have bought and sold a lot of properties in the UK so when we knew, we knew.”
The couple put in an offer on a 110 sq m two-bedroom property with a lake view that started with an asking price of €350,000 but then after some hard negotiation, it got down to €255,000. It’s part of a building with seven apartments sharing a lovely garden on the lakeside near Stresa. Sharon says the same sort of apartment would cost around €400,000 if in Lake Garda.
She says the estate agent earnt their €9000 fee – in Italy the buyer pays 3% of the sale price to the estate agent. “You have to trust in the system,” she says of the Italian buying process which seemed frightening to begin with, but ‘smooth when it happened’.
After putting in their offer they paid a 10% deposit direct to the vendor. “It was scary, it was paid to a lawyer,” says Sharon. “But the estate agent was working for us, every step of the way. She helped us set up a bank account and the utilities.” They completed in September 2024. “In the end the process was so much better than in the UK. It’s also refreshing getting personalised service from our bank manager.”
The 1970s apartment needed work. The couple have a contractor working on the property who will be re-wiring and putting in a new kitchen and bathrooms – they reckon the cost will be around €30k. “It’s a bit nerve-wracking overseeing it remotely but, yes we have to trust the system!”
Community charges will be around €800 a year. Their plan is to use it two months in the spring and two months in the autumn – Brendon is semi-retired at 60 so they have some flexibility. They just need to work out how to take il gatto. “Our cat may not take to our Italian project,” she says.
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