Selling a home in South Tyrol

1. Establish the value of the property

The value comes from completed sales in the area — not from a percentage of the purchase price and not from the price asked for a nearby property, which is a price sought and not a price paid — and is adjusted for aspect, floor, condition, energy rating and appurtenances. We give you the figure and the reasoning behind it.
2. Put the documents in order

This step is rarely tackled first and bears heavily on the outcome. Sales that stall often stall not on price but on a floor plan that does not match, a mortgage never removed from the land register, or a building irregularity the buyer's bank picks up shortly before the deed.
3. Check the restrictions

In South Tyrol the question of who may buy a property has a legal answer. A dwelling with the residents' restriction may only be occupied by someone meeting the requirements of provincial law: the audience, the price and the way it is presented all change. The restriction is entered in the land register and appears on the extract.
4. Prepare the property and the photographs

Refurbishment is not needed: what is needed is that the property reads clearly — light, order, no furniture hiding a window, photographs taken in daylight. It is one of the least costly items in the whole operation and it bears on the number of viewings, because the first viewing happens on a screen.
5. Publish and select

Publication is followed by the selection of enquiries. Anyone asking to view is qualified first: funds available, a loan already assessed, the requirements for the restriction where there is one. Selection reduces the number of viewings and the demands on anyone still living in the property.
6. Negotiate the offer

An offer is judged on several elements: the amount, the date of the deed, the method of payment and, where there is one, the condition tied to the mortgage. They are negotiated together, because a higher amount with an uncertain condition carries more risk than a lower one already financed.
7. The preliminary contract

This is the contract that fixes the commitments: price, deadlines, deposit, how costs are shared and what follows if either party withdraws. It is worth drafting carefully, because what is not in the preliminary contract cannot be recovered at the deed.
8. The deed and registration

This is where South Tyrolean law differs. Once the deed is signed before the notary, ownership passes when the sale is registered in the land register: the entry is constitutive and not mere publicity. Until then the seller remains the registered owner, and the land registry's timescales are part of the sale's calendar.