Here's Kirsty, from China: She Bought a Villa in Tremezzina Without Seeing It In Person
Love at first sight exists, especially in Lake Como; especially when it comes to properties!
This is pretty much what happened to Kirsty, our client from China: during the pandemic she identified online one of our luxury villas for sale in the upscale Tremezzo hamlet (Tremezzina); she couldn’t fly to Italy, obviously due to Covid-19 safety restrictions; and that’s how she ended up making a video call with us from the villa, to see it thoroughly, and then buying it without seeing it in person.
This is her story!
Kirsten and her husband
Why did you decide to buy a property in Italy / Lake Como and why during the pandemic?
We chose Lake Como because it’s a very beautiful area, it’s centrally located in Europe with several international airports nearby. It’s also an area with a diverse community of both locals and foreign residents, so should be relatively easy for us to fit in. My husband’s family are in southern Germany so not too far away. I have been looking at property in the area for several years and never quite found the right thing. While the house will be used as a holiday home for the next few years, our hope is that we will relocate there when we leave China so I needed a house we could live in full time that would suit the style of the furniture etc we have collected on our travels as well as my personal style. It also needs to have room for the children and their future families to visit and to be warm enough in winter etc. We built our own house here in China so that was an option but part of me wants to go back to Europe now and live in an old house with character.
When this house came up online I felt an instant affinity with it that I hadn’t felt with anything I had seen before. The timing was simply due to the seller putting the house on the market and us seeing it. Sometimes you can’t control the outside circumstances like the pandemic but when you see a historic house that is right for you it is necessary to go for it as these things are one of a kind and you never know when the right property will come up again.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I was born in Scotland and went to Hong Kong in my late teens. I decided to study Chinese after my first degree and went to Nanjing where I met my husband. He was born in southern Germany and was also studying Chinese.
Later we moved to Taiwan and then back to Hong Kong and then into China. We lived in Guangzhou and Beijing and have now been in Shanghai for 18 years. We have 3 children and 3 dogs. Our eldest is training to be an opera singer in UK and the other two are studying in an international school here in Shanghai.
Why did you choose Tremezzo?
On our previous visits to Lake Como I found Tremezzo very beautiful. We liked the whole Tremezzina area from Argegno to Menaggio and were open to buy wherever we found the right house. It just happened that the house we chose was in Tremezzo.
How have you felt during the process of buying without having actually seen the property? Were you scared or excited?
Not scared at all. Definitely excited. It’s very uplifting to have something to look forward to amid all of the doom and gloom of the pandemic. There were times when it was frustrating such as trying to figure out how to do the power of attorney and get it apostilled when the Italian Embassy here said they couldn’t do it for foreigners. However once an Italian lawyer friend of a friend explained how it works here we were able to move forward. These things are a bit cumbersome but where there is a will there is a way. Although the pandemic has made purchasing many things without actually seeing them a reality for more individuals, some people have always bought investment property off plan or unseen from all over the world.
What can you tell us about your experience and your feelings during the buying process?
Our experience was really positive apart from the above mentioned POA issue. Sara and her team have been fantastic throughout, patiently answering all of our questions, finding solutions to everything that came up and generally going above and beyond our expectations. We were very fortunate to have such a professional, knowledgeable and flexible team to work with.
How do you feel now that you own a property in Italy but you have not physically seen it yet?
Naturally we wish we could come and visit the house just as we wish we could visit our parents and siblings who we have not seen for almost 2 years now. We are really desperate to see our daughter who went to university last September and has not been able to come home since. I can’t pretend I am looking forward to a second summer stuck here. The pandemic travel restrictions are very hard for international families. However we are grateful that we are safe in China as Covid is very well controlled here and the travel restrictions are the main reason the government here is able to keep everyone safe. We are now resigned to waiting it out. The house will be perfect for a family reunion when the time comes. In the meantime we are lucky that some close family friends who used to live here in Shanghai relocated back to Switzerland last summer. They have been to the house several times now and with WeChat it’s easy to video call and we feel as though we have been there through them. I am hoping our daughter and maybe other family will be able to visit in summer but that will depend how the travel situation within Europe plays out over the summer.
Do you have any advice for other foreign clients who are thinking of buying a property at Lake Como from abroad?
I think the most important thing is to have a real estate agent you can trust who really knows the area and the processes involved. In that regard we were very fortunate to find Sara and her team from Lakeside. They have all gone above and beyond our expectations to make this process smooth and help us to understand everything that needs to happen. Sara has literally held our hand throughout and continues to support us today with getting utilities, bank accounts, etc set up. We have bought property in both Hong Kong and UK before where I was only able to visit for a quick look during a short visit and then complete everything else remotely. In those cases we were able to work with HSBC who we have banked with internationally for over 30 years and local lawyers recommended by family and friends. It was easier in a way as the legal system was similar in both places and the language was English. However we also have experience buying property in China and here the system is different and obviously all in Chinese. I think once you have someone assisting you who knows what you need to do and you are confident in their abilities it works fine. Moving to a new country with a different language and legal system is always a challenge but we have chosen to spend our lives in countries other than our birth countries as overall we enjoy that challenge. To a certain extent as a mixed nationality couple it is often easier to build a life in a third country than live in one or others home place.
My advice to others is that you need to be open to learn, to adapt and to embrace the challenges. You also need to have a trusted and knowledgeable agent to guide you and to listen to their advice.
Has Kirsty’s story inspired you? Are you thinking about investing in a property in Lake Como?