House hunting - June 2007 (Day 4)

Time to head back home, digest what we have done and find the money and sort out the legals and .......

Ciampino is a 3 to 4 hour drive but the flight isn't till the evening so, even though it's an hour away and in completely the wrong direction, we head back to the house and, yes, it's still there and still idyllic. We also go up into the town of Monte San Martino and have a wander around. It is so beautiful with magnificent views. The only thing missing is a visit to the church which is kept locked outside service times. We'd like to have seen the wonderful medieval paintings, of which the best are by the Crivelli brothers, but that will have to wait till we are there on a Sunday and can go to mass.

After that, it's a leisurely drive back in the trusty, but extremely mucky, little Lancia. The autostrada that runs from the Adriatic to Rome (the A24) is a sensational drive with great, sweeping viaducts and long tunnels (one over 10km and containing an underground nuclear physics lab) as it cuts through the the Gran Sasso mountains and under the highest peak in the Appenines, the Corno Grande.

We are still far too early to check in so decide to head (through heavy, late afternoon traffic) to Castel Gandolfo, a suburb of Rome where the Pope has his summer residence. We drive through the town till we find a cafe perched high above the lake and sit on the terrace enjoying ice creams. I look further up and realise that, just a little above us, is something I've seen before: the Papal residence. Not a bad place for a bit of a sit down (and the ice cream is great too).

Then it's an uneventful flight home (Ciampino is a bit of a dump with not enough seats) and back to reality.

House Hunting - June 2007 (Day 3)

In the morning we drove to Amandola to see Alessia and Gildo at A&G. They were very professional and took us through the properties on their database so we could choose the ones that most interested us. Then it was off on a breakneck tour of the area. We had been warned about Gildo and his motorbike but it was still a great struggle for the little Lancia to keep up with him as he zipped through the traffic. when we arrived at the first house I pulled together my Italian to say "non è una Ferrari, è una piccola macchina" (it's not a Ferrari, it's a little car.) The first house was bit of a dump but the second was the best we had seen since Monte San Martino the previous morning. It was already partly restored and had great views. Somehow though it wasn't quite right - I think we really wanted to be in the hills and this was near Petritoli, only some 10 miles inland.

We had now seen all we were going to see and it looked like the Monte San Martino house was definitely favourite so we rang Lokation and arranged to meet them later in the afternoon to see it again. But before then we would need lunch. We tried Ortezzano first as it was only a few miles away and we had had a very nice dinner there but Tuesday was obviously when all the restaurants there closed so we went right down to the coast at Pedaso. It was getting late now and we were really getting hungry but we didn't see anywhere that looked attractive. Eventually we saw a little cafe in a modern building in a side street. Beggars can't be choosers so we decided to give it a go. It was rammed! We asked, in pidgin Italian, if there was still food available were told yes but we'd not have much choice. Just bring it on we said. And that was definitely the right thing to say. It was fantastic with the highlight being a wonderful seafood pasta served, completely without pretension, in an aluminium pan. Sadly, we didn't make a note of exactly where it was but, next time we are in Pedaso, we'll definitely hunt it out.

It was with a considerable degree of trepidation that we returned to Monte San Martino and drove down the long lane that leads to it past workers tending to the groves of fruit trees that surround the house. Waiting for us when we got there was the owner accompanied by an elderly retriever.

We loved the house first time round but would it still look as good when we saw it again? The answer was a clear yes. It was a classic Italian farmhouse, surrounded by trees with great views and the river passing by.

Delio Mancini is nearly 80 but very spry and alert; and obviously still ready to spend time in his fields. My Italian was still very limited but, after we had seen the house, he showed me round the land and we managed to chat about the land (he referred to it as "tuo" your land as though it were already mine), dogs (I explained that we have a labrador at home), neighbours ("gente brave" - good people) and just generally got to know each other. I had a really good feeling about him just as I had about the house. We had some questions about the outbuildings and whether they could be used so Delio just phoned up Lorenzo Anselmi, the local geometra and within 5 minutes he had turned up to give us his professional advice. He also looked at the hazelnut trees near the house and said we should have truffles there.

Apart from the price, the only problem was the road. Although only very lightly used (we hadn't yet seen a car pass by on either visit) it was a public road and not only did it run right by the front door, it also separated the house from its outbuildings. But maybe something could be done about it.

Chris and I went to the car for a chat and we wanted the house but we really didn't think we could go to the asking price. Before we could decide what to offer, the agent came up to the car and told us that Sr Mancini would accept a figure significantly below the asking price and would also arrange for the road to be diverted around the edge of our land at his expense. That was it, job done. We just nodded our heads and grinned and I stepped out of the car and shook hands with Delio (he's the one on the left by the way). We were going to be the owners of an Italian country house! Gulp!!!!

House Hunting - June 2007 (Day 2)

On Tuesday morning we set off for Monte San Martino but had a 20 minute delay while I parked up to take a call from company BB. I basically said that unless they told me what I was going to see, I would cancel the visit as I did not have time to waste going to places that did not meet our needs and they promised to ensure we were not disappointed and that their representative (who was now Gabriele instead of Pier) would call us to make the arrangements.

We met Lokation at the Monte San Martino turnoff on the Amandola to Fermo road and followed the car almost up into the town before going back down again before arriving at what you would think of as a typical Italian farmhouse: square, three storeys, mainly built of honey-coloured stone.

It was what is generally described as "habitable" which does not, as you might think, mean you can move right in. My interpretation is that it is basically structurally sound (and still has a roof on for example) but has little if any facilities. It did however have a colony of bats which rather freaked Chris out.

The house itself was lovely. At the time we noted: "lovely stone, bricks. honey coloured. v. attractive". Its location was unusual because the river Tenna ran (or, in June, trickled) just below it. Typically, houses are perched on a hillside but here we were set relatively low down but looking up to three hill towns and with glimpses of the Sibillini mountains in the distance. All around the house were nut and fruit trees and the land beyond was all planted with fruit trees - mainly cherries, I think. Although we really liked it, it was 50% bigger than we wanted and the price was well over the budget too. Nevertheless, we thought, if this is the first one, what are the rest going to be like? Having been worried that we wouldn't find anything, we were now really optimistic.

To be honest the rest of the morning was rather disappointing. There were some spectacular locations but there was always something not quite right: poor access, unattractive house or simply that they were ruins. We were definite now that ruins weren't for us.

And so on to company BB. It's one of the best known (or at least most advertised) in the region but what a waste of time! They had completely ignored what we said and because the guy knew the area around Montalto that was basically all they showed us. When we said that we'd told the office that we were more interested in something nearer the mountains he just shrugged and said it was too far to go and anyway he didn't deal with that area. He also had two colleagues with him taking photos of the properties and seemed more interested in this than in showing us the collection of ruins he had for us. He also peddled us various bits of misinformation about legal requirements. All in all a complete waste of time. I would definitely never deal with this lot again.

It was quite clear that the one we had both fallen for was the one in Monte San Martino. Trouble was that, like I said, it was both much bigger than we were looking for and well above our budget too.

House hunting - June 2007 (Day 1)

Having narrowed it down to 4 agencies, we would have half a day with each of them to look at 3 or 4 properties (depending how far apart they were). We made it clear to them all that our time was limited and identified which of the properties on their websites we wanted to look at (except for lokation.it who didn't have the properties on their website but exchanged details with us by email.

With A&G (a long established Italian firm based in Amandola) we agreed it would be best to sit down in their offices and go through their whole database to find suitable properties which we could then visit. The other two companies (I'll call them AA and BB) were rather harder to pin down.

Looking back now at our file from the time, I was surprised how organised we were. For each agency we had date, time meeting place and contact information. Then for each property we had a photo (if we had been able to find one) and description and a whole checklist of things to look at:

• Access
• Location - neighbours
• Plot / garden / suitability for pool
• Views
• Permissions & plans
• Utilities
• Condition and attractiveness - exterior
• Condition and attractiveness - interior
• Other comments

So, armed with maps, guidebooks and all our homework, we parked the kids with their grandparents and, at 4:00 on the morning of Monday 11 June we set off for Liverpool airport to catch the Ryanair flight to Rome Ciampino. Previously we had gone via Ancona (which is less then half the distance) but the Rome flights are daily and some (including Thursday) are in the evening which meant that we could get two full days and two half days in the region in a four day trip. As it turns out, it wasn't bad thing that we explored the Rome route because our friends at Ryanair have now pulled the Ancona flight altogether.

At the airport we picked up our hire car (one of those quirky little Lancia Ypsilons), switched on the sat nav (Via Michelin - good but a bit temperamental with utterly dreadful instruction) and followed its guidance onto the Autostrada north towards Umbria then cut across the Appenines to come into the Marche near Sarnano so that we could explore the area round there and Gualdo where there seemed to be quite a few houses available. Once you get off the Autostrada you are on a two lane, winding main road and inevitably get stuck behind slower traffic. We stopped of for lunch at a roadside restaurant and were horrified to discover a big dent in the back of the car. Why do I never check them out before signing the paper work? (Actually the answer is partly because you sign the paperwork in the airport before you ever see the thing. We have now solved the problem by buying an annual policy that covers all excesses on your hire insurance. At about £80 for two drivers for a year then for people like us who do lots of car hire it's absolutely a no-brainer for the peace of mind alone.)

We explored the beautiful countryside east of Sarnano with the help of the satnav although it did have a tendency to send you down precipitous white roads (unsurfaced lanes). At one point we passed a lane with a sign saying Liz and Barry which seemed rather incongruous in such a seemingly remote area. Later we would come to know them well.

After arriving at Casa Montalto, we set about finalising our plans for the next two days. On the Tuesday morning we were meeting Lokation at Monte San Martino, then company AA in the afternoon. On the Wednesday we would see A&G at their office in Amandola followed by company BB in the afternoon. The arrangement for AA and BB were still unclear and we had been trying to contact AA for several days. When we finally got hold of him, he had canceled our arrangement because he hadn't heard from us. Perhaps he should have answered his bloody phone! With company BB the problem was that the arrangements kept changing and they would not tell us anything about the properties we were going to see. It appeared that, although the company was UK owned, it relied on local subcontractors and they made their plans at the last moment. Also the guy who was going to show us the properties had changed again. We were not full of confidence about this company despite their high profile.

Early in the evening, Debbie from Casa Montalto took us to see a property that she knew about in Force. It was, she told us, a "ruin". and she wasn't joking as the picture shows. It was only when we actually saw one in the flesh that we fully understood what you are buying with a ruin. Essentially you get a pile of stones and, because there has been a house there, you will have the right to replace it with a house of the same size. Economically this can be attractive because it tends to be cheaper to, effectively, build from scratch but what you end up with is a new house.

Anyway, we went out for a very good meal at I Piceni at Ortezzano where we came to the conclusion that we probably didn't want a ruin. We wanted a real house with the history that entails. And so to be for a relatively early night (as you do when you've been up since just after three!)

First steps - May 2007

By the beginning of May we had definitely decided we wanted to find somewhere in the southern Marche. Chris is the researcher in the family (she's a university lecturer in Tourism and Leisure and is brilliant at finding stuff on the internet) so she set about looking through the websites of estate agents offering places to buy and restore.

There were certainly lots of sites and plenty of houses but the quality of information was very variable and was generally well below what you would get in the UK. Often just one poorly focussed photo and a few words. We filled in quite a few web enquiry forms and sent off numerous emails. the replies began coming in - mostly wanting more clarification of our requirements.

One reply came from a company called lokation.it. This was a bit of an outside bet as it wasn't even based in the Marche but their local representative came back to us promptly with a long list of questions (17 in all, including whether we thought the presence of wild animals nearby was a good or bad thing) to help pinpoint the right property. We used our replies to Lokation to build a brief that would give other agents a good idea of what we were looking for. Basically what we decided we wanted was a country house of about 200 sq m which could make a 3-4 bed house and we set a total budget for purchase and restoration of about €300k (which, at the time, was just over £200k).

However as time went on, it became more and more clear that, in many cases people either didn't bother about or didn't care what we said wanted; they felt they had a better idea of our requirements than we did. In the end, we narrowed it down to four agencies on the basis both that they had properties that appeared suitable (in terms of type, price and location) and appeared to be professional in their approach. Two were British / Irish owned, one German and one Italian.

By this time we had arranged for the children to stay with Chris's mum and dad and had booked flights to go on Monday 11 June, returning home on Thursday the 14th. We planned to go via Rome Ciampino; although this means a 3 to 4 hour journey compared to just and hour and a half from Ancona, there was an early flight on Monday and an evening flight on Thursday meaning we could look round the area on the Monday afternoon, do two full days of visits to properties on Tuesday and Wednesday and then, hopefully, revisit any property we liked on the Thursday morning before heading back to Ciampino in the afternoon. But we would have to plan it out with military precision which is not, as we might have guessed, a concept that works terribly well in Italy!

While Chris got on with finding properties and agents, I began learning Italian. I've been doing business in Spain for the last ten years and, even though it is in a holiday area where English is widely spoken and all our staff are fluent in English, I have still found it useful to be able to hold a conversation in Spanish and to read documents in the language too. In Italy, I felt it would be more than helpful because very few people (even in restaurants and other businesses catering for tourists) speak English. And it's not just a practical matter, as I was to find; just being able to have some form of conversation with people, however haltingly, helps build relationships and relationships are fundamental to doing business and making agreements. I enjoy learning new languages anyway and had already found that my Spanish was a good help with my first steps in Italian (although, as always, you have to beware the many false friends that lurk within related languages.)

With Spanish, I had gone for one to one private lessons and then used the Michel Thomas "Advanced Spanish" CDs to improve my capabilities. But now I did not have time to do once a week classes and the level of work needed would have meant spending a fortune on the lessons. So this time I decided to go electronic from the start. I bought the BBC Active Italian for beginners CD and book set but didn't really get on with it. Fortunately, I was able to pick up the Michel Thomas Italian Foundation Course (8 CDs plus revision) in Costco at well under half price. For many weeks I was almost never seen without my Ipod headphones and muttering Italian responses sotto voce. Thomas's method is, I have to say, a bit odd and you have to get past this funny rambling old man (he must have been in his eighties when he made the CDs and died recently at over 90). But, for me, they work really well and I have gone on to buy the Advanced, Language Builder and Vocabulary courses too. (If you're thinking about doing the same, be warned that the Vocab course was done after Thomas's death by an American woman who I personally find it almost impossible to listen to.) I also try to tune in my ear for the language by listening to RaiNews 24 over the web. Listening to news programmes is great because you often know or can guess what the subject is and also the pictures help a lot (just like young children use picture books when they are beginning to read).

Welcome

Hi

My wife, Chris, and I are in the process of buying and restoring a 19th century farmhouse at Monte San Martino on the edge of the Monti Sibillini National Park in Macerata province, Le Marche, Italy. See this article from the Independent's travel section for a good introduction to the Marche and Monte San Martino in particular.

There are, I am sure, many pitfalls and scary moments in any project like this - especially if you are over 1000km away from the action most of the time and I thought it would be interesting to record what happens and our feelings about it. Maybe if you are thinking of doing something similar there will be the odd thing that you will find useful but, to be honest, the main purpose is for me to enjoy writing and to have a record of what went on.

The beginning - Easter 2007
It all began with a family holiday in Italy at Easter last year. We had never visited the Marche region before but those nice people at Ryanair (about which / whom there may be more comments passim) were virtually giving away flights from Liverpool to Ancona. We found a lovely B&B, Casa Montalto, at Montalto delle Marche in the south of the region, run by an Anglo-German couple, Debbie and Thomas Manz and arrived on a sunny day with Dominic (who's now 9) and Kitty (7). We found ourselves absolutely charmed by the area and the people and, on returning home, began to think about buying a property ourselves.

We have often thought about getting into the buy to let market and have gone so far as looking at places to do up but somehow the idea of a terrace on Macclesfield or Stockport (our nearest towns in England) just never seemed that exciting. Nor had we ever really wanted to buy a holiday home. I have business in Spain and we can go there any time if we want a place of our own to stay but the idea of going back to the same place again and again wasn't really us. Nor could we afford to buy the sort of place we would like and the sort of place we perhaps could afford (a small holiday apartment in a resort) didn't especially appeal.

However, the more we thought about finding somewhere in the Marche, the more the pieces started to come together. The area is, to our eyes, as beautiful as its better known neighbour Umbria, with the added bonus of having a coastline as well as mountains. Prices of properties to do up are still low (compared to Tuscany and Umbria) and there is a ready supply of them. there is a growing profile for the area among visitors (especially from the UK) which means that good rental income should be available to cover the costs of financing our project and the value of the finished property should be more than the cost of buying and restoring it (as it should be to compensate for the work you put in and the risk you are inevitably taking.) So we could end up with somewhere that would give us a reasonable income and that would be available for us to use out of season (November to April). A decision that suited both the heart and the head.

I'll be posting the next part of the story shortly ....