7 essential items to look for if you are to find your dream property on Lake Como
1. All day sunshine
An essential consideration both for your own enjoyment and for the future re-sale value of your property. The Lake has very steep mountains on both sides of each leg, which naturally affect the time of day that the sun will rise and set over your property. The sun is much lower in the winter months, so make sure you consider this if you intend to use your property in winter. It may be in full sun all day in the height of summer, but that can change dramatically in the winter. Some villages do not see any sun from November to February!
2. Privacy/View
Whether you are looking at buying an apartment or a villa, your privacy will be important to you. Consider whether new developments will be built nearby that could affect you. You may have an uninterrupted view of the lake now, but can anybody build in front of you? Is the land in front of you build-able or is it agricultural? Your lawyer will be able to do a 'search' in the local commune for you to check this out.
3.Quiet
An apartment within a complex is often an ideal solution for a first time second-home buyer. You may view an ideal property during low season, which becomes a nightmare in high season when all the other properties in the complex are occupied by gregarious Italian families. Check out your neighbours and establish whether the other apartments are occupied full time or only in the summer. by potentially noisy holiday-makers. Consider whether being close to the pool is really ideal. It could be unbearable noisy in August.
A lakeside villa could appear idyllic when you view out of season, but remember that in high season and at weekends, the lakeside roads can become very busy with cars and motorbikes. Make sure that you establish just how busy the road is going to get.
4. Parking and outside space
Most people would consider parking space to be essential. Garages sell at a premium on Lake Como. You can pay up to €50,000 for a one-car garage. So check the property details carefully to make sure that if it mentions a garage or parking space, that this is included in the price. Lake Como is made up of many small lakeside villages and mountain hamlets. Narrow roads are common-place, and public car parks are few, as space is limited.
Some form of outside space is an important element in the choice of property. There is nothing worse than being stuck inside on a sunny day, with nowhere to sit out. Think carefully about your requirements for both sun and shade. The heat can be very intense in July and August and although you may want to eat outside, it would be unbearable without some form of shade e.g. an awning or a shady tree. Ensure that the outside space is actaully listed on the deeds and it not actually some form of communal space that you have to share with your neighbours, Check that the boundaries that have been enclosed are the legal boundaries of the property and not just an area that the current owner has decided to lay claim to.
5. Pool (or space for one)
An outside pool greatly increases both the value and the enjoyment of a holiday home. If the property does not already have a pool, check that it would be possible to add one on. A decent sized pool can be added on for around €30,000. If you intend to rent your property out, having a pool can double the rental income that you would receive e.g. a 2 bedroom apartment in a complex without a pool would rent for around €800 per week in high season. If it had a pool, you could get up to €1700 euro per week. It may seem unbelievable, but if you consider that there are many, many apartments for rent on Lake Como, but there are very few with swimming pool. The same applies to villas. Rental income is again far higher if you have a property with a swimming pool. There are still very few villas with pools on Lake Como, so they rent at a premium.
6. Proceedable
Once you have found your dream property, it is important to establish immediately that there are no potential hindrances to the sale. Many properties in Italy have been passed down through the generations, and often therefore end up being owned/shared by multiple owners. So it is important to make sure that all the parties are willing to go ahead with the sale. This is where it is essential that you use the services of a professional Property Finder or a reputable agent who speaks your language. In such cases this obstacle would have been examined prior to the property being put on the market.
7. Accessibility
There are two sides to the left 'leg' of Lake Como – the road from Como to Bellagio and the road from Como to Menaggio (and beyond). In terms of accessibility the Bellagio road is narrow and very slow. If you get stick behind a slow-moving vehicle, there are hardly any safe spaces to overtake. This is why the western shore is far more appealing. There are two roads to choose from – a lower lakeside road, which takes you all the way from Cernobbio to Laglio and a faster, top road, with tunnels by-passing some of the smaller villages. This makes certain parts of the western shore much more accessible and practical all year round. In reality anything after Colonno can get snagged up with long traffic delays in summer when coaches get stuck on the narrow corners. Consider carefully how long you are willing to travel from the airport and at what time of day you will be traveling. If you always arrive on the late flight into Malpensa for example, you could get as far as Argegno in only 40 minutes.
Photograph courtesy of http://www.dr-jonathan.com/
Property Villa Flario available through http://www.ultissimo.com/
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