House hunting on internet

Looking for a property in Italy may seem easy, but in practice it quickly turns out to be quite a challenge. Anyone who has ever done this undoubtedly knows all about it. On this page you will find some useful tips for your house hunting in Italy.

Real Estate Listing portals

When searching for a property in Italy we all rely on websites such as idealista.it, immobiliare.it, casa.it. Many other portals are just copies of immobiliare.it in particular, which copy all advertisements free of charge through an immobiliare.it management system. When a real estate agency's contract with immobiliare.it ends, the listings often remain forever published on these second-tier portals. Furthermore, at the end of 2020, casa.it became the property of the same owner as idealista.it. So basically there are only two major players left on the Italian market.

Of course, these portal sites also offer automatic translations of the listings. These automatic translations sometimes lead to strange and incorrect translations. One of the reasons may be that some brokers have already entered an English (computer) translation (with possible language errors) into their management system. This translation is in turn translated by a computer into, for example, Dutch, German or French. As a result, we have already seen listings where the sentences in the description of the property in the final translation are just the opposite of those in the original Italian text. All this does not make it easier for you to find a suitable property in Italy.

Sales mandates

In Italy it is legally possible for a seller to offer your house for sale at various real estate agencies. As a result, real estate agents usually do not have an exclusive contract for the sale of a house. This means they are likely competing with each other for the sale of the same house. This can, among other things, lead to different information and even prices in the advertisements. The specified surface area in particular is often different. Some indicate the cadastral (or gross) area, others the walkable area, and still others the commercial area. Moreover, in that case, real estate agents are also obliged to hide the location of the house, to prevent buyers or other real estate agencies from contacting the owner. They do this by indicating the house in a different position on the map, sometimes under the guise of protecting the privacy of the owner. And often there are no photos of the exterior of the house or of the view in the advertisement, elements that are essential to assess the proposed property. And then there are owners who place an advertisement on the internet themselves, often at a price that is a few percent lower than that of their broker(s). If the seller manages to sell his house himself, without the intervention of a real estate agency, he will save another 3-5% commission. Some real estate agencies often pass on the houses/listings themselves to each other. This means even more copies of the advertisements on the portals, often from real estate agencies that do not even have direct contact with the owner. The result is that the same property is for sale on all portals in multiple advertisements, sometimes at different prices.

Real Estate Agencies

And then there are the real estate agencies. In Italy, both the seller and the buyer pay commission. Article 1755 of the Civil Code: "The broker is entitled to commission from each party if the sale is effected as a result of his intervention. The amount of the commission and the proportion in which it applies to each of the parties must weigh, in the absence of an agreement, to be determined by the judge in fairness according to custom." In Italy, these customs in most provinces are 3% of the sales price (+VAT) for the seller and 3% (+VAT) for the buyer.

In principle, IHH collaborates with all real estate agencies throughout Italy, to find homes for its clients in Italy. This means that, after more than 10 years, we have plenty of experience in working with many real estate agents in Italy. In most cases, this cooperation goes well, and most brokers are very professional. But unfortunately, there are also real estate agencies that are anything but professional.

Very irritating are the advertisements on the internet of houses that have already been sold. The blame for this does not always lie with the RE office, because it is often the seller who does not inform all RE agents when his house has been sold. Other real estate agents, who are only too happy to take over and copy advertisements from fellow real estate agents, often do not know that a house has been sold. But much more frequent are the cases of real estate agencies that deliberately leave advertisements of sold houses on the internet to attract customers, both buyers and sellers. Because a well-filled portfolio attracts sellers. And a buyer who makes contact for a house that has already been sold is a contact anyway. And in this case, the real estate agent is only too happy to offer alternatives to the buyer.

This recent case is extremely egregious, a personal experience, but absolutely no exception. Through our mediation, we concluded a preliminary sales contract for this villa in Roccastrada in April 2024. The contract was signed at the notary on July 3, 2024. Today (January 13, 2025), more than six months after the sale, we still see five advertisements for the same house on the main Italian real estate portals, at very different prices, from 850,000 euros to 1,200,000 euros!

And finally, there are the real estate agencies that do not wish to collaborate with others. The fact that they do not want to collaborate with others in principle is sufficient reason to approach these offices with suspicion. They may not want interference from a professional real estate agent because they would rather be able to manipulate the buyer themselves. Others speculate that they will find a buyer themselves for a house that they may have for exclusive sale, and thus hope to receive double commission, that is, from both seller and buyer. The Civil Code in Italy provides (art. 1758): “If the sale is effected through the intervention of more than one intermediary, each of them is entitled to a share of the commission.” Most real estate agencies work together, and usually the total of the buyer's and seller's commission is split. In practice, this usually means that one broker is paid by the owner/seller, and the other broker is paid by the buyer.

In addition to the recognized Italian real estate agencies, which can identify themselves with an REA number that you can check at the provincial Chamber of Commerce, there are also offices that work from abroad, usually as consultants instead of mediators, or local mediators who work without official recognition. The latter usually publish advertisements as a private seller, and often without a telephone number. Any excessive or unjustified claims for costs or commissions from such parties can easily be dismissed by a court in Italy. A licensed real estate agent will rarely charge fees or wages for pre-sale services, other than expenses.

As you can see, your property search can be complicated by several elements. These are our tips:

1. Read the listings in the original (Italian) language. You want to find a property in Italy, so sooner or later you will have to acquire basic knowledge of the Italian language.

2. If the advertisements are offered by different real estate agencies, contact a local real estate agent and avoid contacts with apparently large offices located somewhere outside the region in a large city.

3. Let Italy House Hunting assist you with your house hunting in Italy. Our team views hundreds of listings every week, and together with our clients we visit an average of 500 houses per year. Some houses have been on the market for years. For some reason, these are absolutely uninteresting or sometimes even unsellable. On the other hand, we have experience with hundreds of real estate agencies in Italy. So with us, you can often save time and energy, and therefore money, by ignoring certain advertisements or real estate agents. Italy House Hunting offers you over ten years of experience as a property finder in Italy.