Meet Dina: She Bought a Property in Menaggio With a Video Call From Florida
In early 2020 the property market has been pretty much on hold due to Covid-19, and physical house viewings have been suspended for a couple of months.
Now it’s April 2021 and we can say we haven’t been meeting our foreign clients - especially Americans - for 1 year. O-N-E Y-E-A-R. That’s so much time.
So our agency clearly adapted to the coronavirus restrictions by conducting virtual tours.
After the first months of the emergency, that have obviously been tough for everyone, from July 2020 the Lake Como property market has undergone a real boom: we had international clients – unable to fly to Italy but still willing to find a property in our region – buying properties from abroad with videos and live calls.
Like Dina, a lovely and inspiring realtor from Florida, who - during lockdown and travel ban, between 2020 and 2021 - decided to invest in an apartment in Menaggio without seeing it in person.
Here’s her story: beware, her enthusiasm is just contagious!
Why did you decide to buy a property at Lake Como during the pandemic?
My first visit to Italy was in 2009 with my mother. We traveled the main tourist areas of Rome, Florence and Venice. Of course falling in love like everyone does… I decided to make an annual visit to Europe and seeing more of a world I never saw growing up in the States. Having visited other countries like France, Ireland, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland, it was my last trip to Zurich and then Lugano and Como that made me decide I would love to own a property one day and retire half the year if possible.
When the pandemic hit, it was 6 months from my father’s passing and it made me realize, at my age, I needed to start doing things which I enjoyed before life runs out.
Owning two businesses during the pandemic was / is a very stressful experience and the only solitude I felt was dreaming of another life, a more relaxed and less stressful life.
So I started searching online for properties for sale in Italy, specifically Lake Como at the same time gathering documents on my Italian heritage. My grandfather born in Isernia Italy as well as my grandmother’s parents in Calabria and Sicily. I wanted to feel more connected to my Italian history.
It was a certain calm, a something about Como which felt like home. Despite my love of Paris and Florence, I just felt an ease and peace on the Lake.
I am in the process also for my Dual Citizenship and once I am recognized I plan to visit all of my family’s communes to connect to “la ma familia”. Researching will be easier when I’m able to stay for more than 90 days and to all of my Italian ancestry including those related in Lombardy.
Tell us more about your background.
My mother is American Italian and my father as he would say, “Hillbilly”. I was always interested in researching my ancestry but life got in the way. I grew up in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. My father loved the lake and boating, and it was a great memory for me. So it was that memory which I think called me to Como.
As a child our family would escape the winters to Florida, which is where eventually my father wanted to call home. I ended up following my parents to Florida 18 years ago. I immediately obtained my real estate license and hit the ground running. Fast forward, I own my own real estate brokerage, Deluxe Properties in Delray Beach Florida. The east coast between Miami and West Palm Beach. Wanting to have another branch office in our downtown area, I got creative to get approved for the retail zoning requirement.
I had just returned from another trip to Italy and fell in love with a small wine store / wine bar in Rome. So I thought, “when in Rome”… I proposed to put a small wine store in the front of my real estate kiosk. The concept is all in the name. “Wine House Social”: Wine, Real Estate and Social events. Fast forward one year, and the wine store took off and I ran out of space. I decided to expand and open a true wine bar across the street at the Hyatt Place Hotel. Well, that was 10 months “BC” (before Covid). Then I was shut down completely because I was zoned a “bar”.
Working day and night to pivot and find a way to keep the business open with take out and delivery, and an online store… I had no time for myself except late at night. During this time I was online searching real estate in Lake Como. Learning a bit about the different towns / communes and what they had to offer. It was my mental escape from everything happening with Covid.
Why did you choose Menaggio?
During my late night research, I found a place listed by Lakeside Real Estate. Their website was user friendly and certainly English speaking friendly. I found a few places of interest and did more online research about the different locations, and kept coming back to Menaggio. The desired west side of the lake, close to the Swiss border and the fairy lines to Bellagio and Varenna made it seem like the perfect location for me.
I would get on Google Maps and “ride” around the streets to see the area and the location of the properties for sale. I would zoom in on the property photos and look at ever corner of each room, the street, the view, the building, everything I was able to see. The proximity to the lake etc. The area hotels, the stores and beauty of the area.
Dina in Lake Como
How did you feel during the process of buying without having actually seen the property?
Because of my ability to visualize and being very detailed, I felt good about my research to move forward and actually make an offer. There were a few times when I did feel a bit nervous. Being in real estate myself, and knowing our American way of offers, and procedures and process make me comfortable but also unsure because of the differences in not only contracts, but ways of offers, and the time frame for which things moved. Here in the states were a bit more hurried. Lakeside was a HUGE resource for me, and Sara, the owner was an inspiration. She started her own business and has become such a success story, and I find it very impressive, in a “motherly” sort of way (ok, a much older sister)… Very proud of what she has accomplished so far.
What can you tell us about your experience and your feelings during the buying process?
To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure the dream of buying in Lake Como would actually come to fruition. I did not have 100% cash to purchase, and was not sure how the mortgage process would be if it would even be feasible. But I was completely and pleasantly surprised how easy it really was. I could not have done it with out the help of Sara and her team at Lakeside. The local bank and the people I met via email was such a pleasant experience. There was actually a moment when I thought, I can’t believe this is actually happening, and happening so smoothly. I probably drove the ladies at Lakeside nuts with my constant emails and questions about everything. But they professionally and patiently gave me security in the process!
How do you feel now that you own a property in Italy but you still haven’t physically seen it yet?
We had a few months extension because of Covid. The more the pandemic continued and there being no light at the end of the tunnel but it seems the green light would happen in February 2021. I have started my search on my birthday back in September 2020. I didn’t think it would come. I closed 10 days after my father’s would be birthday. Despite him not being the Italian, I know he would be proud of what I did. It’s a bit surreal. I haven’t even told my mother yet (… but that is a another blog story).
It was a bit scary to think, wow, I have this responsibility and I can’t even be there. Not so much to see it, or a remorse of not seeing it before it was officially mine. But because I still don’t know when I can see it, visit, make it mine with décor etc. but because I am a bit nervous about what could happen and I’m not able to be there. Lakeside has really made me feel comfortable and their office being so close to the property. They will accept my mail and set up the bank account and utilities for payment and visit every once in a while to check in.
Do you have any tip for other foreign clients who are thinking of buying a property at Lake Como from abroad?
Take the leap. Don’t listen to others who think it’s all a scam, and you will taken for a ride… I have heard a lot of horror stories, but I kept my ground, asked a ton of questions, requesting and researched as much as I could. When I get my mind set on something, very few things stop me. Again, being in real estate myself, I do think I had a bit of an upper hand, but then again, I probably drove the ladies at Lakeside a bit crazy. Life is short, and we get older every day. Turning 56 in a pandemic and losing my father made me take that leap, and do what I dreamt for my retirement. My brother bought a boat for the Lakes in the US, I bought a property to view the Lakes in Como.
Has Dina’s story inspired you? Are you thinking about investing in a property in Lake Como?