We do all the hard work, searching through dozens of estate agents’ books, scouring the local classifieds and free press, liasing with reliable, qualified agents in your chosen area to come up with a preliminary shortlist of properties for your first viewing trip based on your requirements and budget.

It makes sense to make sure you have someone with expertise and experience on your side, on location and not stuck in an office in a completely different country.

The first trip will consist of two solid days of viewing, usually between 12 and 20 apartments, villas or houses in your chosen area of Lake Garda, depending on your specifications. This may seem like a lot, but during your first trip we try to spread the net as wide as possible, as we are still getting to know you and your requirements, and often we (and you) cannot tell what might or might not suit until you see the properties in person.

On several occasions, clients have ended up buying properties that were the complete opposite of what they thought they were looking for, so, during this first trip at least, we try to be as flexible as possible while still providing a focused, targeted search customized for you.

As we sift through the market before you arrive, most of the hard work has already been done, meaning that during those two days you will see the very best the entire market for the area has to offer – not just the properties listed by certain agents – and, as a result, most of our clients manage to find their perfect home on the very first visit.

However, if that’s not the case for you, our service includes return airport transfers for up to three two-day viewing trips within a six month period, and all transport and on-site interpreting during viewings with local agents and vendors until you find the perfect home or investment for you.

Remember: we are working only for you, the buyer. We have many trusted local agents we work with but are not affiliated with them and work purely in your interests. Italian estate agents are required by law to be completely impartial, but will naturally lean towards the interests of the vendor, especially if it’s a local developer they want to keep good relations with for the future!

One half of Garda Homes is an Italian geometra, which is a sort of cross between an architect and surveyor, who will undertake all price negotiations on your behalf. Not only is he native to the area, language and dialect but is a professional in the property industry with over twenty years experience. Vendors and agents know this, and it makes an excellent basis for the start of negotiations when it comes to making an offer.

This is an area where our services can pay for our fee many times over. Obviously, we can provide no guarantees as occasionally a property is placed on the market at an already reduced price, making further reductions difficult if not impossible. But we can assure you that, with our help, you will no longer be a “vulnerable foreigner”, but will have local expertise and contacts working on your behalf to get the best price possible.

• the written offer (proposta di acquisto)
• preliminary contract of sale (contratto preliminare di vendita, sometimes referred to incorrectly as a “compromesso”)
• technical specifications, if applicable
• condominium regulations
• final deed of sale with sworn translation and interpreting at the notary’s office (rogito notarile)
• mortgage deeds and accompanying documents

Your translations will include detailed, easy-to-understand explanations of the various clauses, and where an article is referred to of the Italian Civil Code (Italian contracts are littered with them!), we will also explain the article in question so you understand fully what you are signing.

For the average purchase, we provide several thousand euros’ worth of professional legal translations and interpreting, provided by a qualified translator experienced in Italian property law.

• getting your codice fiscale
• opening a bank account
• arranging an Italian mortgage if required
• arranging for the most cost-effective way of exchanging currency and transferring funds

Pre-completion formalities included in our service:

• collecting the deeds from the notary following completion
• arranging utilities set-up and direct debits
• registering for Italian residency, if required
• arranging home insurance including earthquake cover, building and contents and public liability

With six years experience in managing over 20 Lake Garda properties available for holiday rental through our sister site Garda Holidays, we can take care of everything, from marketing to bookings, credit card payments, security deposits, key handovers, guest assistance, troubleshooting, emergency contact, cleaning, laundry, maintenance and repairs.

For a successful holiday rental property, it is essential that your home be spotlessly clean for every arrival, with beds made up, appliances in perfect working order and a local contact who can drop everything and come running when your guests have problems or need assistance. You need someone who will be available 365 days a year no matter what, with a reliable team of cleaners, plumbers, electricians, handymen who can prevent a small problem becoming a big one for you as property owner and provider of a rental home.

You can also rest assured that your home is being well taken care of, despite a heavy flow of guests coming and going. We will check your property before and after every guest, and let you know promptly if there have been any breakages or damages. If repairs need taking care of, we will do that too.

Contact us today to find out what sort of rental income you could expect to earn from your property.

We will create a bespoke management service for you, according to your wishes and requirements, including any or all of the following:

• monthly property check and review
• organisation and assistance with tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians, repairs, handymen
• on call service for burglar alarms, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• cleaning, laundry and ironing
• pre-arrival shop – we’ll fill the fridge for you for your arrival
• gardening and pool cleaning
• key holding and emergency contact

Contact us for more information and references.

Once you have completed on your Lake Garda holiday home and have the keys in your hand, unless you purchased a fully furnished property, you will need to source and fit a kitchen (usually Italian properties do not come with a fitted kitchen, even brand new properties), furnish and fit the entire place. Deliveries may be made on different dates at different times, and sometimes in several installments. Then you may need to be present at the property for several days to let tradesmen in, oversee the fitting and then call in plumbers and electricians to attach the gas, water and electrics.

Included in our property finding and purchase consulting service is free assistance with sourcing kitchens and furniture, accepting deliveries and overseeing fitting until your home is ready for occupancy.

Even if you have already found your Lake Garda property, we can still help. Contact us today for a quote.

By “yourself”, we mean, with our help. We are about to start our seventh full-scale restoration on behalf of our UK-based clients. Here is what they have to say:

“Enzo and his team have done a fantastic job,getting plans approved, and then carrying out the complete project in around 8 months from purchase to our first summer holiday in the property. The finish is to a very high specification, and Enzo sourced all the ‘non standard items’, such as stairway, baths, fire surrounds and the fire in the bedroom. We had to give 150% trust to Enzo on his selection of some materials and also some of the design as we were unable to give a hands on approach ourselves.The project was managed very professionally, and we have a home from home that we could not be happier with.”

and…

“Throughout this project we placed complete trust in Sarah and Enzo from our position of real ignorance. Our expectations were exceeded and our fears were in no way realised. I cannot remember enjoying a project more because of the personal touch, efficiency and dedication that they showed. From property viewing to property buying to property restoration I have nothing but praise, and I am happy to reiterate this in person.”

Whether you found your Lake Garda property through us, or already have a rustico you need help project managing, contact us. We’d be happy to put you in touch with past clients, so you can discuss with them the entire process and hear from the horse’s mouth what restoring a property on Lake Garda can be like with the right help.

1. By condensing months of searching into short but intense, well-organized viewing trips of apartments, villas and houses, with simultaneous interpreting and translations, transport and optional photo/video recording of properties.
2. You get to view the best available options suiting your requirements and budget from the entire property market. Why limit yourself to only those agents who can speak English, or who advertise internationally on the Internet? They represent a tiny sample of what is really available to Italian buyers. We’ll put you on an equal footing with them.
3. There are no conflicts of interest, as we are not linked to any estate agent, which means that you will be getting the best, independent advice. from a team with years of hands-on experience in the Lake Garda property and rental markets. We will not pressure you into buying a given property: we don’t need to, because we are independent and working solely for you. Nor will we give up on you. We know that the satisfaction of our clients will is vital to our long-term future development.
4. We do all the legwork prior to viewing, saving you thousands in wasted flights and hotel bills.
5. We will protect you from agents who try to inflate property prices for foreign buyers. While Agents and sellers treat us well as we are, in their eyes, a source of qualified buyers, they know us and respect us. They won’t even try to pull the wool over your eyes if we are present.
6. We can, and will, verify every word the agent or seller tells you.
7. We are totally independent, and therefore impartial. We will give honest advice on the properties we are viewing, warts and all.
8. We know the areas intimately, with the Italian half of the Garda Homes partnership born and having lived and worked in the area all his life, and the other having lived and worked here for nearly fourteen years. Unlike generalist property finders for the whole of Italy, we specialise in Lake Garda only and are “on the ground” at all times.
9. Our services do not stop at finding the property: once you’ve found your Lake Garda home, that’s when the real work starts. Checking the title, running land registry searches, translating contracts, liasing with the estate agent, notary, geometra, and seller, arranging completion, set-up of bank accounts, utility connections, payment of local property taxes…

Simply put? Don’t buy property on Lake Garda without us.

But don’t take out word for it. This is what one of our clients wrote to us shortly after their first (successful) viewing trip:

“On our last day which we kept free to enjoy the area on our own, we met someone who had been visiting Lake Garda for a number of months in a bid to find a property. She explained the entire trauma she had gone through and the difficulties she had encountered (that you warned us about). She wished that she had known about your firm. It would have saved her endless fruitless visits and problems with agents and vendors…”

Why not find out whether your Lake Garda property requirements are feasible? Contact us today for a free, no obligation consultation.

(top photograph by Janet Czekirda)