What? No one 'rent' in Italy?!

[livinginitaly]

Yippee! More business for us then... should our house here in UK ever sell that is

[Dave Kinder]

Well here's one more. Let's get the Italian strand moving - where are you renting, how's business, etc, etc.

We are up in Northern Tuscany, in the Garfagnana region in the village of Sommocolonia close to the town of Barga. This has been our first full season so we weren't too sure what to expect but we more than exceeded our expectations for bookings.

We have had pretty good feedback from guests with the odd gripe, totally unreasonable in our opinion of course, but all in all the experience has been well worth the effort.

Our main concern is being so far from the house when guests are in and being so dependant on local agents to manage the cleaning and house/guest care. However this is something we want to get more personally involved with for next season.

[livinginitaly]

Sadly, we're yet to enjoy the ups & downs of renting out property.

We're selling our house to relocate completely to Italy, somewhere around the Lake Trasimeno area (we think!).

I believe the "can't please all the people, all of the time..." principle comes into effect when renting property, what's heaven to one person can occasionally be 'unsuitable' for another and ne'er the two shall meet.

Besides, to some people complaining is all part of the holiday isn't it?

Anyway, we're looking forward to renting a property ourselves to use as a base from which to further explore a few regions before settling. I'm a web designer by trade and will hopefully be keeping enough of my UK clients to keep us in wine and pizza.

This forum has been very informative, it's great to hear what people want / expect from their property website and marketing. I'm hoping to develop this side of the business too.

[JIG]

We are in the process of buying a second home in Liguria,Italy,in the province of Imperia. It is a large 2 bed 2 bath villa with a very big garden (no pool as yet) We are hoping to rent it out for at least 10 weeks of the year to cover some of the mortage .We have used www.holiday-rentals.co.uk to book places before and this seems to be a good one .It costs around £155 pa for a basic ad. We would be pleased to recieve any info from anyone re;renting out in Italy.Thankfully we have some friends and contacts in this area of Italy.

Im suprised how few people renting in Italy are on this website ,guess thats a good thing !
Cheers,

Jane (jig)

[UmbriaGal]

I have a small house in Umbria, near Todi, which I recently renovated and just started renting this year. So far, I'm just advertising on my own website and on VRBO. I'm booked for 8 weeks next summer (so far) and my Italian property manager found a 2.5 month rental for me for Feb-Apr. However, I'm thinking of adding www.holiday-rentals.com, based on the good things forum members say about it.

I'm completely new to holiday home ownership and rental, but when a fantastic deal on a house in Italy appeared, I just had to jump at it. Eventually, I hope to retire to my house, but for now I'm lucky if I can get there twice a year, due to the terrible sinking US dollar. I'm lucky to have found a wonderful property manager in Todi, who is a bit expensive but worth every penny, as she speaks fluent English, has tons of contacts, and manages my mail and my bills in addition to my guests.

I just stumbled on this forum last week, and it's a fabulous resource!

Lyn

[paolo]

Welcome to the forum, Jane and Lyn!

If you have the stomach for it, I wrote up my method for finding the best rental listing sites yesterday - you can see it here:
viewtopic.php?t=257

I would recommend paying for at least 3-4 ads. But if you just go ahead and go with holiday-rentals, well you could do a lot worse...

[mindadowling]

Ciao Tutti,

My husband and I bought a beautiful 15th century stone cottage in Tuscany two years ago. We have recently decided to begin renting the house out, so this website and it's forums have become my bible. I have to say that I am a little apprehensive about renting out Sogna Piccolo but this site and all the wonderful information I have learned from reading the various forums have made me feel a little less worried (or am I being naive).

We just had our website completed. My husband and I were responsible for the content and photography and we hired a web designer to do the layout and technical stuff. When I get the courage I will ask the forum to review it.

I am surprised that so few members of this website rent homes in Italy! I thought there would be more of us!

a presto!

[livinginitaly]

Hi Minda,

You have a wonderful property there, right in the area that we're moving to next month

As far as renting goes, this forum has certainly convinced me that it's the way to go. I'm sure at first it must be hard to share your 'home' with others. But then again, it must be a fantastic feeling knowing that others are enjoying the place as much as you do.

[mindadowling]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the kind words! What area are you moving to next month? How exciting! Will this be a permanent move? Do you know Tuscany well?

I have been visiting Italy for the last twenty years and even spent some of my misguided youth at university in Rome and Florence so it was no big surprise that we bought a piece of the Tuscan dream.

We try to visit Sogna Piccolo at least once a month for long weekends and in the summer we like to spend at least three consecutive weeks there. With every visit it gets harder to leave Sogna.

Tony, I am so impressed by your knowledge about websites especially as I am a total techno dinosaur.

Tell me about your website Living in Italy? Is it a website to buy property in Italy?

Ciao

[livinginitaly]

Hi Minda,

Yes, permanent move for us. Been planning it for a long time now for around 18 months, we should complete on our sale here in UK late feb / early march. Then it's 'all go'!

We've arranged a long term rental in Citta de Castello, but are hoping we'll find our ideal property to buy, somewhere between Arezzo and Florence. We've seen plenty of property on many websites, but would prefer to 'experience' the area before selecting a house.

My partner is half Italian, and her daughter has recently finished University after studying French, Spanish and Italian. So it's only really me that will have to struggle with the language! Luckily though, as all my work is based around the Internet, I don't have the worries of having to find employment over there.

The Living in Italy site, just started from an idea on another forum and developed on from there really. It's only been going for around 6 months, so still very young. My partner and her daughter are planning on developing the property side once we complete the move. As it stands now, anyone can advertise their property for sale, for free. <sorry for the 'plug' Paolo>

I'd be glad to set up 'links' to your site, when your ready

[mindadowling]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the offer to link to your site!

Best of luck with the move! What a great adventure. I think you are smart looking for the right property while living in Italy. It's really important to get a "feeling" about a place and if you don't know an area very well it's best to explore all the options.

Ciao

[BrendanGFC]

The pro's and con's of pools have been covered in another thread in the main forum but I have a question for Minda:

How do you organise pool cleaning/maintenance when you are not there?

Brendan

[mindadowling]

Hi Brendan,

Our house is part of a condominium with eleven other homes so our pool, garden, olive trees etc all get taken care of by our handyman/gardener. A part of our yearly maintence fee goes towards this.

Friends of ours who have pools hire handymen/gardeners to look after their properties when they are not there. If you are prepared to pay someone in cash you will find numerous offers from helpful neighbours to look after your home. Start talking to your neighbours and very soon you will have some help in looking after your home.

[alleyn_d]

Hi there,

We have an apartment near Recco in the Liguria region and just this year have commissioned a website for it, we have also listed the property on other sites (only free sites at the moment). Not had much success yet though. A few enquiries but not many bookings. Are apartments harder to advertise than villas?

Can anyone give us any pointers, does our website give enough info? (see below) or am I just being impatient!

thanks in advance.

[A-two]

(only free sites at the moment). Not had much success yet though.

Welcome! The above quote is your clue....you are getting what you paid for in terms of SEO, hence I guess nobody can find you. Look at your stats, then compare to one of the big four listing sites, VRBO for example has page stats.

If you'd like a website review, there is a special section of this forum for that, which also requests you reciprocate. You will get a better response if you first try to bring your expertise to bear on a question that someone else has asked before you ask for help yourself. Also, there are lots of helpful articles and tips on Lay My Hat about all aspects of marketing. Do a word seach. Read Paolo's articles and stickies.

However, let me just offer this tip. You need to edit your links section drastically. You are advertising other people's accomodation, which is very good way to get rid of potential tenants who would otherwise book your place. If you would like to test it out, feel free to add a link to my website and I'll let you know how many people click thru from your site and convert to a booking.....

Hope you stick around and Good Luck!