midlandpete

Am hoping to visit Abruzzo in the summer as it is a part of italy that I have not been to before

Understand that the house prices in Abruzzo are some of the cheapest in Italy? Long term we are looking at buying a house but as the exchange rate with the UK pound stands at the moment that is put on hold for a year or so

We therefore need a cheap house to rent for a month or two - can anyone help with this?

Where is the best place to base ourselves to get the best picture of the area?

If it is in the country we will need to hire a car - last year when we were in the south of Italy this was expensive - is there any cheap way to do it?

If we visit regularly each year was looking at the possibility of buying a cheap car and garaging it for our next visit - but understand you cant buy a car unless we are residents?


Can anyone give me any advice or help?

Was hoping to meet someone during the visit to discuss peoples experiences and possibly geet some ideas on the Italian way of life


Any Help appreciated

Pete

Lorna at Vicenza

True - you cannot buy a car without residency.

On page 2 of this forum there is a thread called
Cheap, Summer car hire

That might give you some ideas of which are the better companies to get quotes from.

Sorry I can't be of any more help. I don't know Abruzzo.

sheilamarsco

hi there nice to hear you're thinking about abruzzo as it's not the most known area. it's an absolute treasure, wonderful scenery so really it doesn't matter what part you go to you'll be impressed. i guess you just have to decide whether you want mountains or to be at the coast or you could choose somewhere in the middle then you'd be about 40mins from either. it's a big area and i'm sure there are those who prefer the south to the north i live near the north so i'm biassed by the spectacular views of the gran sasso, but the majella in the south is also stunning. as far as a cheap house in summer is concerned it depends what you call summer and what you call cheap!! if it's in august then i doubt you'll find anything cheap. what size of house are you looking for. if you could give me some ideas perhaps i could make some enquiries for you. re the price of houses in abruzzo yes i think you're right to imagine that they are relatively cheaper here but the opperative word is relatively. like everywhere else you get what you pay for and properties that are advertised as very cheap have some problem or other that will ultimately make them expensive.

midlandpete

Thanks for your help - will try this

pete

midlandpete

Thanks for the reply Sheila - Yes picked Abruzzo as its within striking distance of Rome airport and the weather and terrain looks good

We are hoping to come over in June staying July and august and going back in September - there are just the 2 of us so was thinking either of a house within striking distance of the coast or finding a chalet on a camp site if that would be cheaper ( bearing in mind the rubbish exchange rate we are getting at the moment) was thinking somewhere around Pescara or that area anyway

Then if we eventually bought a house we could fly into Rome and be at the house within a couple of hours on the Autostrada

Last year we spent the same amount of time touring the South (Puglia) which we were not very impressed with (except for the weather) we came back up north in the end and Ended up In Foggia and found the countryside around there more interesting - went along the coast to Peschici where we did hire a camping chalet and explored the area

Abruzzo looks similar to that area - is it?

Came back from last year and immediatly signed up on an Italian course to learn a bit of the language as we found few people down south that spoke english (anyway its better to have a stab at getting along in the language of the country) assume this is the same in Abruzzo?

The people were very helpful and the trains were good - but when you arrived at the station you had the problem of getting a hotel (which cost a fortune) - without a car I spent hours walking around to find accomodation - some times it was a near thing and we nearly slept on the street!

So this time we need to reduce the cost, hire a car and find somewhere to use as a base to explore the area.

Thanks again for your reply, and offer of help - this is the best board I have been on!

Pete

sheilamarsco

hi there, i think your idea of learning the language well in advance of moving is really good. it makes such a difference if you can communicate the basics and the people are very helpful if they hear that at least you're trying to learn the language. i don't know anything about the areas you visited as to tell the truth i've been so busy with getting my house sorted out in the past two years i haven't had a chance to do any exploring. i'm sure there will be other people reading this who live or at least have been to the areas you mentioned and will be able to tell you whether they resemble abruzzo. i wondered why you were flying to rome, although it only takes just over two hours on the autostrada to get to abruzzo it would be even quicker if you flew directly into pescara airport. there are four or five car hire firms in the airport and from what i've heard they seem reasonable although i can't confirm that personally as i've only used them once and was more concerned about getting mobility than the price so can't remember what i paid. i'll ask around this weekend re accomodation (self catering) but can't promise as these are high season months and most people here, if they have any free accomodation, rent it out starting around 250 euros a week so they wouldn't be considering anything less than that. anyway i'll get back to you if i can track down somewhere although it would be in the north part of abruzzo around the area i live in so would be about 45mins from pescara airport. i wonder if you could pm me i'm new to this website so i'm not sure how to do this myself but it must be possible that way i can give you more details. best wishes

Lorna at Vicenza

To PM somebody or email them through this forum just click on their username on the left hand side of the page. (PMs work after posting 3 times.)

You will get a small drop down menu that includes these options.

asik

Hi midlanpete, Abruzzo is an excellent choice! Make sure you start your visit with a quick browse in a tourist office. You'll find plenty of information in English that is not available online.

Property is cheap here but it is better to go through an Italian agency rather than an English speaking one, that way you'll get better prices (30% lower). Just hire an interpreter yourself. Another great way of finding a house is talking to bar owners in the area that you really like. In my village the bar owners know all houses that are for sale in the area.

I have a house for rent in the La Majella National Park, which is 15 minutes from the autostrada, 35 mins from the sea. PM me if you are interested.

sheilamarsco

thanks for the info lorna i sort of blunder around until i find things but takes some time now i wonder can you tell me what a twitter is???

Lorna at Vicenza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

sheilamarsco

wow i've just read all about twitters thanks but no thanks i have enough to do without getting lost in internetjungles!!!!!!

midlandpete

thanks for that - interesting about the Italian agency - did not know that

will be in touch

pete

37100

But don't use the in house notaio. I'll never give up saying that Good advice. Most apartments in our zone are sold by word of mouth though I recently saw a couple with agencies, bet they're over priced.

Lorna at Vicenza

I've noticed that a couple of agencies where I live have recently started to stick "vendo" signs up on houses or buildings. Mostly Retecasa and Tecnocasa but they never used to do that.

You never knew which house was up for sale just by driving by.

sheilamarsco

certainly they have a very strange system of selling houses and very bad estate agents what i mean is the estate agents aren't very professional and they seem to make up their minds about prices as they go along i've found that they put at least 20k more onto the actual asking price and don't have a clue about taking presentable photos for marketing the house often you see one photo of a bed another of a toilet nothing of the outside of the house so that you can evaluate whether the surrounds are interesting or next to an industrial estate. they seem to work on the basis that the buyer is clueless and the less information you provide the better. i think what i'm trying to say in a round a bout way is do have a look at the estate agents websites on the internet deduct at least 20k from the asking price and don't be disappointed if when you go and view it's nothing like you imagined, oh yes, and if you do arrange viewings of properties don't ask to see more than four a day as they take you on the scenic route which takes for ever and a day to get to the property. all in all it sounds a bit bleak but i found my house the second day of viewing so chin up!!!