Quote:
Originally Posted by john70t
Re rehabbing. There's probably not a Home Depot down the road in Tuscany. They may import everything or get everything through Aldo. Aldo is very fickle and won't deal with you unless he knows you. And there will be surprises. There's a reason it's being sold on the international market and wasn't scooped up already. It will probably require local talent for the big fixes unless you've got a strong young back. They will work at Italian pace. The locals will look at you as fresh meat. It's won't be hands-off. It may require months of talking and ordering free meals for new friends in local restaurants and convincing them all you mean well. That might make the project affordable. It's their small world and everyone will want a piece of you for their own purposes. Do ya speak Italian? Have we talked permits and taxes yet?
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This is probably accurate. A local partner would help and I wouldn't trust them, just try and get some use out of him. Treat him well, though.
Anyone who is willing to get dirty will command some respect. And respecting the local culture is a must. Speaking some Italian would be beneficial, IMHO, but I wouldn't pretend to be any good at it. Being humble is always the best tactic.
This project is something I wish I could do. There is a YT channel named Carl Rogers where a father and son from the UK bought a French farmhouse and did some fantastic and very involved work. He got side tracked building a replica of a old farm wagon so I stopped watching. But if you start off at the beginning, it's very inspiring.
Everything they did was heavy duty stuff. No boards there, only timbers.