02 Nov Arrange your Italian mortgage before you fly!
Are you dreaming of buying a property in Italy ? If you need an Italian mortgage, it’s much wiser to arrange finance before you change your residency to Italy.
Perhaps you’ve even found an Italian property you’d love to buy.
Mortgages for Italy are alot easier to plan and organise before you move to Italy, or start looking at property.
The exception is where you don’t plan to apply for a mortgage or you don’t need a mortgage for some time after you arrive in Italy (at the minimum 6 months, and to be sure, after a couple of years).
There’s a myth going around that suggests you should come to Italy first, and the bank will be happy to deal with you because you’re Italian resident.
This kind of thinking ignores the fact that banks everywhere value and want to see ongoing and reliable employment income (with years of experience preferably), when applying for a mortgage.
You will need to show current stable working income that can continue without interruption. Most banks consider that changing your country of residence is an interruption. See the issue?
They honestly won’t value your brand new residency in Italy, or elsewhere, including working in a new job, or working remotely from Italy.
This is how credit assessment works generally. New-found job and new residency in Italy does not equal new mortgage in Italy.
WHERE DO I START?
We can work together right from the start to determine if you are going to be eligible for a mortgage. Once you know you are eligible you can negotiate with greater confidence. We wrote previously about how banks approach mortgages for non-Italian residents within the finance pages of this site.
When your full loan application is lodged, together with the property documentation, the bank will be able to complete it’s due diligence processes, and assuming all is in order the bank will then provide you with a Loan Offer.
The timing of the bank’s offer can be close to the required settlement day, or closing, so you will need to carefully manage the time period from the start of property negotiations up until loan approval – protecting yourself with well-written contracts, and good support from a mortgage advisor who is in constant contact with the banks.
We don’t recommend signing a purchase contract, and then going to look for a mortgage! You may well be disappointed, and left without finance for your purchase. This can lead to at least losing your deposit.
This process needs to be managed by someone in Italy with experience, to avoid delays, misunderstandings by the sellers, and minimise the risk of a decline of your application.
Contact us for more info if you’re in this situation.