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| Best Practices: Property |
La Dolce Villa
Bryant Urstadt
12/01/2004
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Those who cannot devote this amount of time can work with an agent who
specializes in restorations, such as Greg Evans of Tuscan Hills, a real estate
and furnishings company based in Princeton, N.J. Although Evans also handles
properties in mint condition, he primarily offers help restoring the Mayes-type
ruin in Tuscany. In this region, a fixer-upper is often the best option,
according to Evans, as new construction in rural Tuscany is restricted, and many
of the most interesting properties remaining are in need of ground-up
renovation. Evans will do as much or as little of the work as his customer
desires, in concert with a sister office in San Gimigiano. “We have some clients
who are very hands-on, flying in constantly to visit the property,” Evans says,
“and some who are completely hands-off, doing everything by email.” Evans, who
restored a 200-year-old farmhouse for himself, suggests that it could take $1
million to $2 million to restore a five- or six-bedroom farmhouse to luxury
standards. Expect the process to take 12 to 14 months. Evans believes this is
money well spent. One of his clients recently purchased a Tuscan farmhouse for
$300,000, and invested $1.2 million in a restoration project. Evans believes it
would sell for between $2.5 million and $2.75 million now.
Zecca currently
keeps a full-time staff of four, and says Ugnana costs him a couple of hundred
thousand dollars a year to run. Although profit was never his primary motive, he
is able to defray his expenses by selling grapes from the registered vineyard
and leasing the villa to tenants. As an investment, he admits, the villa has
certainly increased in value. Moreover, Zecca, finding himself surrounded by 40
acres of ancient olive trees, found that he could not help but try making his
own olive oil. His hobby blossomed into international renown and a restaurant in
San Francisco. He still spends three or four months a year at Ugnano, but now
also runs Frantoio in San Francisco, the only restaurant in the country with an
in-house olive-oil-making operation. In Italy, business and pleasure often
commingle; this is certainly the case in real estate.
Regional Tastes
In Italy, where we buy is at least as important as what we buy; the
country’s geography offers everything from sun-drenched beaches to snowbound
passes. It is necessary to become thoroughly accustomed with Italy’s most
popular—and commonly overlooked—regions.
The lake district has long been a
center of wealth and glamour. At Lake Como, George Clooney, who bought his Villa
Oleandra there for $7 million last year, has practically redefined the region.
“It was just like when the Duchess of York went to Maremma, in Tuscany. Everyone
had to be in Maremma,” says Benedetta Vigano, an agent in Milan, and a member of
Sotheby’s international network of brokers. Vigano is currently representing the
Villa Fuoco, on the western shore of Como, about a mile from Clooney’s retreat.
Dancer Sofia Fuoco built the house in 1846. Unlike most properties in the area,
it rests directly on the lakefront. It has nine bedrooms, not including the
staff quarters, and includes a boathouse with a terrace affording panoramic
views of Como and the Alps. The asking price is about $5.5 million.
Sardinia
is still very much a hot spot, says Vigano and other brokers, although the crowd
is typically more continental European, with fewer English and Americans.
Russians, in particular, have favored the island recently.
Tuscany, of
course, is hardly undiscovered. In fact, the area has long been called
“Chiantishire,” poking fun at the overwhelming number of English who have been
settling there for decades. Nearby Umbria, constantly touted as the next
Tuscany, exhibits a similarly international cross-section; its resident star is
the musician Sting.
South of Rome, high-end options center on the island of
Capri and the cliff-hanging towns near Naples: places such as Positano, Sorrento
and Ravello. With the exception of pockets of Sicily, the rest of the south
seems to appeal mainly to those in search of value.
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