jadehorse1

Hi everyone, after much deliberation my husband and I have decided to move to Abruzzo to try and relieve ourselves of the stressful jobs we have in the UK.

The house that we would be purchasing is a run down farm house that needs everything doing, it would be great if we could hear from those people who have renovated property and how they have found the process.

I work in the property industry and my husband is a registered Gas Safe engineer and plumber.

are there any good English plumbers out there servicing the expat community ? (sounds completely wrong but im sure you get the gist)
We are aware that the regulations etc may well be different but thought maybe our skills would be transferable.

It would interesting to hear how other people have found the move over and setting up a new home in Abruzzo.

and would be great to know if it has changed peoples lives for the better ?

stefanaccio

I am an American, own a house in Teramo province and have a good number of British friends and acquaintances. Probability of enjoying your new life here in Italy, in my opinion, is very high. At the same time several of my British friends (actually worse for my Italian relatives) are having difficulties. These almost invariably relate to one of three difficulties: 1) they were under-capitalized upon arrival and did not have enough money to live here over the long run, 2) they thought they could beat the odds and earn money on the Italian economy (possible but improbable), and 3) they did not adequately attend to their exit plan (spouses/relatives/etc get sick, require care, become infirm etc etc. House prices have not exactly exploded here in the past 10-15 years and discovering your beloved homestead is difficult to sell at 1/3 less than you paid for it many years ago, can be a bit of a shock. But to return to your question, in the long run I most definitely believe it has changed most peoples' lives for the better.

Geordieborn

I could not put it better than stefanaccio! I've seen a post recently (don't think it was on here) where a guy is wanting to get his roof done cheaper than the €34,000 here has been quoted. A couple of posts lead me to believe that's the price for his 200sqm roof. Is it worth it, well we certainly think so, even if we had to go back tomorrow to the UK and could not sell here. Would I do it if I had to earn a living here, not quite so sure.

Pulaski

Compounding this problem may be the drying up of the numbers of British citizens seeking to relocate to Italy (or anywhere in Europe) over the next two years, and potentially starting imminently.

jadehorse1

Thank you for your open and very valid info,

We have thought about most of the points so its good to know that other people have the same issues.

With reference to the property market I cant imagine it being as buoyant as the UK so any funds we put into a property in Italy may well be in it for the long term so this isn't a decision we are making lightly.

Any experience and help is greatly received.

Our aim is to open a B&B eventually (which I imagine everyone wants to do) but we have to be realistic and decide if this is actually a viable option.

I look forward to hearing from you.

jadehorse1

How long have you lived in Abruzzo ?

Serrano

I agree wholeheartedly with stefanaccio - and as for restoring a ruin, please be aware that it is likely to be expensive and very frustrating and time-consuming. To put that into context, we haven't been through the restoration process (and have never regretted it, not even for a microsecond). We bought a house recently renovated by Italians for their own use, that then came on the market due to (legitimate) change of circumstances.

Regarding B&B - the name 'B&B' indicates a particular fiscal regime here, and the regulations, though few and straightforward, are very precise. For example in Abruzzo I believe you may let a maximum of 4 rooms / 10 bed places (most other Regions stipulate 3 / 6). Bearing in mind that the 'season' in many places is only 2 - 3 months of the year, you'd really struggle to live off the proceeds.

There are other formulae for having paying guests, but they are much more complex from a bureaucratic viewpoint.

Whatever, the best of luck with your plans. If you go into it with your eyes open, the right attitude and enough money you are very unlikely to regret it. We live in Le Marche (and run a B&B) and find life here infinitely better. But then, as I say we didn't do a restoration, we are retirement age and reasonably financially secure.

And finally, welcome to British Expats!

jadehorse1

Serrano, thank you very much for the info and your warm welcome.

Financially we have enough to buy something outright but the only problem is we have horses which will be coming with us, so the property we would be buying must have enough land which is pushing up the price of any property we buy so we have had to reconsider our options which is why we were looking at a property to renovate / restore.

we are in our mid 40's and so are still able (just) to be able to carry some of the work ourselves. I suppose really we didn't want to get to a point where we weren't physically unable, especially having horses to transport over.

How have you found the B&B business there ?

Pica

Hi jadehorse1. We've lived in Abruzzo for almost 6 and a half years. We're both retired. We bought a house that just needed some relatively minor tweaking. Like Serrano we haven't regretted moving here- at least not until the recent earthquakes and the dreadful winter weather we've just had. The weather took its toll on roads, farms, livestock, land and family homes. I assume that you're aware of all this? You haven't mentioned which area you're moving to-Teramo/Pescara/L'Aquila or Chieti so maybe your area received less damage? We live on the border of Teramo and Pescara. The infrastructure here is very fragile so be prepared. But, on the positive side the landscape is beautiful, the people kind and helpful. Local food is excellent, the wine is cheap compared to UK. The sun shines most of the year and we get tremendous thunderstorms in the summer. Our house was struck by lightning in 2015 and severely damaged the boiler, made toast out of the TV, DVD player & skybox which all had to be replaced. Internet connections can be difficult-again depends where you are.
However, we are happy here and I hope you will be also. Keep using BE it's incredibly useful and often good for a laugh. Welcome to Abruzzo.
Forgot to mention that there are loads and loads of B&B's and Agriturismo's, you'd need to provide something unique or dirt cheap to make much money.

Caprihana

We moved to Abruzzo 10 years ago, we're both in our 40's and have our own business here. All the advice you've received here is good, so I won't repeat it, but I can add if you are looking to make a living in Italy I would advise you to think very carefully.

As Pica says there are a lot of B&B's etc, the estate agents seem to use it as a selling point. Although tourists do visit the area their numbers aren't great so you really would have to have something pretty special to make a living out of it. If you're husband is a plumber perhaps he would consider re-registering here if his Italian is good enough? If he got all his qualifications he might do well, especially as its difficult to get a plumber anywhere in the world! There are also lots of 'odd jobbers' who work on the black market, but again, it's not much of a living and if you get caught.........who knows.

I don't want to put you off, it's a beautiful area, but the problem lies if you have to make a living.

Capo Boi

I think you have been given great advice above by all the contributors.

For my little interjection.....

If you look for example at Trip Advisor, the highest rated B&B in Abruzzo is €33 per room night. (Possibly because of the price but not drastically out of line with other B&B's). So 3 rooms, 65% occupancy for half the year gives a top line number of €11750 before costs. Deduct tax, food costs, cleaning etc your bottom line is going to come down to something like €7500 per year.

Now you can probably go up to €80 per room night for a really top experience but it's very unlikely that you are going to hit high occupancy rates. Say 40% for 3 months, your bottom line comes down to something like €13,000.

Good luck but really think hard and have a very good business plan.

Geordieborn

Great advice from Capo, looking at B&B's already there and their occupancy is a great way to find out what you can do. Put in your requirements (what you would have to offer) and see what's what!
I'm asuming with the horses you would need somewhere with a reasonable area of flatter land, that would limit your areas. We've seen a few horses here, but not too many - both our kids have been into horse riding for well over 20 years - hence we look...

I did mean to add that people we know had a B&B for quite some years. lovely place with nice pool, but it was a struggle.. They now rent the entire house in the high season and appear to be doing a lot better!

Capo Boi

As Geordieborn says:

'I did mean to add that people we know had a B&B for quite some years. lovely place with nice pool, but it was a struggle.. They now rent the entire house in the high season and appear to be doing a lot better!'

This is often the more viable option. Certainly if you are close to the coast.

Also on the horse front, (if that is what you are looking at), I'm sorry but it's very difficult to make it pay. For a two to three hour trek, you are maybe talking about €40 tops per person. Insurance and tax can easily bring your net down to €20 or below. Its very seasonal so a three to four month period is what you are realistically looking at. Feed and vets bills obviously run throughout the year. Genuinely wish you luck as I'm a horse lover (not ridden for some time though), but please go in with your eyes open.

jadehorse1

The area where we have found the house is in Palmoli, south of Chieti, I know alot of the earthquakes etc have been north of that but we are not familiar with the area so we plan to go out there the week after next.

There are not very many B&B's in that area so it suggests that there isn't a lot of tourism in that immediate area of Palmoli, we do have a rough plan to try and draw in tourists which is slightly different to what other people are offering but the feedback suggests that its going to be very tough trying to make a living from it.

So we may need to have a rethink !

Thank you so much Pica for your advice and info x

jadehorse1

Good morning Caprihana

your right that the agents when reading the right ups use "potential B&B" alot and do use this as a selling point.

My husband is a fully qualified and registered gas engineer and plumber, he has had his business for several years but its whether or not he would be able to qualify and register in Italy, something we need to look into !

The reason behind moving to Italy would be to have a better lifestyle and I know financially our income would be dramatically reduced but it was something we were prepared do.

After reading some of the feedback and info (which has been great by the way) its made me think again ! and any doubts that we had about making a living have been confirmed. in that its going to be bloody difficult !

If you dont mind me asking, you mentioned that you were in business, what is it that you do ?

Huge thanks