Michelle Moser from California
Purchased her property in 2009 completed the renovation in 2010. Owning property in Italy has been a dream of mine for many years. I wanted to fi
Stefan & Alicia Mann from Sussex
Stefan & Alicia Mann – Scalea, Centro Storico We had travelled to different parts of Italy frequently through our lives before we were mar
Doug and Di Jones from Oregon
Diana and I decided early on that we wanted to buy an historic property in Calabria. Because it would be our full-time home, we wanted to bec
Richard & Helen Crossman from Dorset
Richard and Helen Crossman Scalea, Centro Storico After a free for all flight into Naples we are picked up by the itinerant Luigi, slightly reticent
Dave Turner
It wasn’t a home in the beginning but it is now. We had decided to look at Calabria in April 2008 and with the aid of Google and not much else, we

Michelle Moser from California

Purchased her property in 2009 completed the renovation in 2010. Owning property in Italy has been a dream of mine for many years. I wanted to find a property that was authentically Italian and, at the same time, large enough to house my family when they come to visit. When Tony showed me a 1 See more details

Stefan & Alicia Mann from Sussex

Stefan & Alicia Mann – Scalea, Centro Storico We had travelled to different parts of Italy frequently through our lives before we were married. We discovered Sicily and toyed after many visits of purchasing a holiday home close to Taoromina in a Historic centre. After much debate we de See more details

Doug and Di Jones from Oregon

Diana and I decided early on that we wanted to buy an historic property in Calabria. Because it would be our full-time home, we wanted to become immersed in real Italian life and we appreciate just being around buildings that are older than in the US, where we are from. We completely re See more details

Richard & Helen Crossman from Dorset

Richard and Helen Crossman Scalea, Centro Storico After a free for all flight into Naples we are picked up by the itinerant Luigi, slightly reticent about getting into a car with few original features we set off South into the unknown. Luigi activates the air conditioning, the breeze from the on See more details

Dave Turner

It wasn’t a home in the beginning but it is now. We had decided to look at Calabria in April 2008 and with the aid of Google and not much else, we went on an inspection trip with Tony, didn’t go anywhere else, and found the house we wanted in Santa Domenica Talao two months later on our next t See more details

Stefan & Alicia Mann from Sussex

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Stefan & Alicia Mann – Scalea, Centro Storico

We had travelled to different parts of

Italy

frequently through our lives before we were married. We discovered Sicily and toyed after many visits of purchasing a holiday home close to Taoromina in a Historic centre. After much debate we decided that we would put this on hold and purchased a rather run down Victorian Police station in

England

which after a year we had fully renovated. During this period we married and Alicia fell pregnant with our son Oscar.

Holiday and travels went on hold for a while until my mother and her husband bought a holiday home in Scalea and invited us to come on holiday with them in September 2006. We instantly fell in love with Scalea, the people, the food and the wine and the fact, culturally it reminded us so much of Sicily but easier to get to with regular flights from Stansted airport.

We enjoyed our stay so much we contacted Tony Hackett at Scalea Property Services to ask if he could show us some properties in Scalea’s Centro Storico. Accommodating as always Tony showed us many properties and patiently spent the day showing us total renovation projects and some part renovation projects. We talked and decided on a property in Centro Storico.

Upon arriving in England the tumultuous buying journey began. We offered on the first property and had our offer accepted. The proof of ownership as sometimes happens with old properties could not be resolved although Tony made huge efforts to resolve this. We then found a second property which was fully renovated and our offer was accepted. However, this was not meant to be, the vendor decided he wanted to sell two apartments together. We considered this proposal but after a lot of thought we decided to look again.

Due to the disappointments we had suffered, Tony arranged for us to come to Scalea in June 2007 for two weeks and provided us with

accommodation with the intention of finding us our dream home in Scalea’s Centro Storico. Within two days Tony had shown us eight different properties and we found the perfect property on the second day and it was under budget!.

The property needed some renovation work such as decorating and fitting a new kitchen and furnishing the property and bringing the electrics and plumbing to a satisfactory standard. Tony arranged this with a local builder and the guys at Sarubbi did a fabulous job supplying the Kitchen and furniture and planned and fitted it perfectly. We arrived in October 2007 and the work was completed and the purchase finalised. At last our long journey was at an end.

We purchased our property for 77,000 euros and the refurbishment work and totally furnishing it to a high standard cost approx 9,000 euros. Our purchase story is probably unusual, as Tony said we were probably the most unlucky people he had ever met.

However, the thing to remember is that knowledge, skill and expertise are not required when the process is simple it is required when it is complicated as it can be with historic properties. Tony at Scalea Property Services guided us through the problems and delivered us the perfect historic building in a perfect location. I think this proves Tony is a true professional.

It is now 2010 and we have frequently visited Scalea and had a new addition to the family, our daughter Xenia - Rose who also enjoys the wonderful food, community spirit and family culture that Scalea provides.

Thanks again Tony. Alicia, Stefan, Oscar & Xenia - Rose