Hello! Just joined the forum. We are in Italy scouting and possibly house hunting with the hope of joining the big expat community soon

I am originally Italian (florence born), but have lived so long in London I feel more British!

We have narrowed down to the Pescia / Pistoia areas for their vicinity to Florence where my relatives are, although will be viewing in Garfagnana and Lucchese this Fri.

Would really love some input on the area and although I appreciate advertising is probably not allowed would be grateful if anybody (via pm), was aware of properties for sale at around or below the €200.000 with a bit of land for growing in the Pistoiese since we are here already till Sunday and would able to get there fairly quick (we have our car).
thank you for any comment

Hi dondodi and welcome to the Italy forum! Any questions about the forum just shout for me or Lorna and Mitzyboy our lovely mods!!

Can't help with the house hunt other than to say if the weather stays like this any property you see will be at it's worst so if you still like it, go for it!! Grab copies of Panorama and the other free property listings papers. You will find them outside the Estate agents, banks, bars and sometimes bus stops. Also get the local free papers or local editions of La Nazione etc as they sometimes have properties in too. Hopefully your Italian is still pretty good and that will help with negotiations for sure! I would also suggest looking around Lastra, it's a lovely area and very close to Flo on the train and I think the prices might be a bit lower. Also bear in mind that around Pistoia and it's hills it gets really cold in winter!! Lots of snow last year! So think of the ginormous heating bills for anything up there.... (Easily €4k in winter for gas on a 3 bed with a couple of big sitting rooms..)

Thank you TestaRossa (love the user name!). We are scouting all the papers, my mum helps too. We have specifically come in October to have a realist view rather then being blinded by the sun... OH already said on one of the last few rainy days, looks like London. Well, not quite to me. I am very aware of the cold winters, Florence is horrendous and, in my opinion, colder then London any day!

We are looking for wood burning stoves for heating as anything else alone would be too high in cost once above a few hundreds meters from sea level. I am very aware Italy cost of living is higher then the UK (from food to bills), but this is a long time coming decision and although scary one that had to be taken now when I can still get some equity on my London flat.

I agree with the colder than London bit! It's the humidity I believe! Yes you will get a realistic view alright!!

If you are going to rely on wood fired heating or pellets can I also suggest you think about something like a Rayburn or Aga?? I know the cost is horrendous initially but I think the heat generated long term would be worth it. I freeze in my 3 bed down in the centre even with the gas on and the fire going, I really cannot begin to think what winter without good heating would be like! I have a friend who heats their place in San Casciano with wood stoves and a big fire place - this was in May!!! She says in winter they are not enough. This place is 5 beds, 2 sitting rooms and a big hall and a kitchen, maybe bigger than you are looking at but they have 3 stufa's and a fireplace plus the kitchen...I would even consider renting for a couple of months to see what you think - the reality is always different to what you think! It would also make finding your home a more relaxed venture! It took us 3 months to find the place we are in now - renting - but we did nothing except settle in the first month here, then 2 months of consistent house viewings, going back etc. We took a really small place in the centre of Florence that we knew a) we wouldn't want to stay in and b) wouldn't break the bank but c) had a 3 month lease so we had to find something!!!

What are Rayburn and Aga please? And how expensive is expensive?

They are the old fashioned range type cookers beloved of the middle classes of England that want a "country" kitchen. look here There are other brands available from places like Germany I believe. You can also buy them second hand and reconditioned and they will be reliable as they are built like steam trains! The one good thing about them is that they can be operated on many different types of fuel. Most people get a conventional cooker too as they are quite difficult to gauge but I've heard they are great for bread!! I can confirm they are really, really warm though...

The logistics of it all will not be easy as I intend to pay off the potential house with the sale of my London flat and having to rent first was a possibility, will look into the short term market as I wasn't sure it was possible here without breaking the bank. Perhaps the many weekly holiday lets might do a special price if you inted to stay a couple of months.

I was thinking rayburn or aga already. if only for the amazing cooking one can achieve with them. Some friends in San Godenzo have installed a wood burner as before with the central heating they had ridiculous bills and the temperature inside never rose above 14°

We find the hardest bit is to get the estate agents to call you back or get you to see somewhere. We have driven miles to go see them after having sort of explained what we are looking for via telephone or e-mail only to get there for a chat or nothing really suitable presented to us on paper. I initially thought the house market was stale here, but have now come to realize that things do shift and one would have to move quick once found something. Some of the prices also are very unresonable and often people are not really intersted in selling and rather keep the places empty and collapsing for many years.

Just wanted to say that another choice for heating is a termocamino. Have a look at
http://www.vulcanocaldaie.it/index.php?pag=rivestimento

We have the biggest Vulcano that heats up to 300m2, although we do not heat the bottom floor, thus in effect heat only 200m2.It uses wood, can be connected with any existent gas boiler and gives you hot water as well.
We hooked it up with the old radiators 'in gisa'-I really do not know the terms in English and have never looked back.
Our gas bills were horrendous and the house was only warm for a couple of hours in the morning and 3 hours in the ev.

Thank you very much for the info, termocamino was another thing I had in mind.
We have seen a potential winner today depending on the asking price. They have a wood burner already, but no radiators whatsoever so I am going to ask for the rough cost invoved for a whole new system with either a termo camino (as two camini are on site, one of each regularly used) or an aga stove... Finger crossed!

don