You want to buy a property to let, but you are not sure which one really pays off? We help you assess the options, including when you are buying from abroad, and on each one we put the numbers in writing: what makes sense to do and what returns you can expect, before you sign.
Two flats on the same street, bought for the same price, can return very different figures. What changes is the real demand in that area, the seasonality, the type of guest, the cost of bringing the place up to standard and the tax regime that applies.
Buyers who go by the price per square metre alone discover the real numbers after completion. Our job is to show them to you before.
We work out how much you want to invest, what kind of return you are after and how involved you want to be in the management.
We assess the properties you have found yourself or that the estate agencies we work with put forward (viewing them for you if you live abroad) and rule out the ones that look like bargains on paper and are not.
On every option worth pursuing we build a business plan with revenue, costs, tax and expected return. Where needed we bring in our surveyor, who specialises in hospitality use, and our property tax accountant, so the analysis covers the land registry side and the tax side too.
Negotiation and purchase are handled by the estate agencies we work with; we stay with you on the numbers, then look after the furnishing, the paperwork and the management up to the first check-in , with no need for you to be in Bologna.
The same document we hand to the owners who put their property in our hands, built here at the stage when you are still assessing the purchase.
A multi-year revenue forecast, with the expected occupancy and the real seasonality of the area, not generic market averages.
From the gross booking value to the platform charges, from our fee to the tax due: right down to the net figure that stays in your pocket.
Which regime suits your case and how a management mandate in our name lowers the taxable base under the cedolare secca (Italy's 21% flat tax on rental income).
Furnishing, compliance works, any land registry paperwork: what it really takes to get the property ready to earn.
Short let, medium-term let or a mix of the two: we show you what changes in the numbers, so you make the choice fully informed.
Who books on that street, in which months and at what price: the context that makes the difference between a good buy and a mediocre one.
You have the capital and the intention, but you want to avoid the expensive mistake on your first purchase.
You already own one or more units and you are looking for the next one, with selection criteria more solid than instinct alone.
You do not live here, and perhaps not in Italy at all: you need someone on the ground to view the property, assess it and then manage it for you.
A real document, anonymised: three letting scenarios compared on the same property, with the numbers carried down to the net figure left to the owner. It is exactly what you would receive, built on your own property.
Not everyone who writes to us wants to hand over a property. Some just want to understand: whether that area holds up all year or only during the trade fairs, whether that size of flat really lets, what is left after platform fees and tax, and what has to be in place before a listing can go live at all.
We have been doing this work for years, for private owners buying their first unit and for companies building a portfolio in Bologna. The advisory work stands on its own: it ends with numbers and a clear answer, including when the answer is that the property is not worth buying. If you then want us to manage it, so much the better, but it is not a condition.
A property you already own or one you are considering: realistic yield, building rules, the paperwork, and a comparison with a conventional long let on the same square metres.
Several units, a business plan that has to stand up in front of a partner or a bank, and the choice of tax regime to run them under. Numbers built on your own perimeter, not on a market average.
Projects still on paper or works already under way, where decisions about layout and finish set the return of the first two years. Better discussed early, while changing them is cheap.
Before you trust someone with an investment, it is reasonable to want to see how they think. On my Substack I publish the criteria I use to assess an investment property, the returns you actually see in Bologna and the cases where short letting is not the best choice.
“I saved a client three years of return on their investment with a single question”
“When does short letting not pay off?”
“My sector in Italy is taxed like a tax haven”
Either way, the first step is a conversation: we work out whether the deal makes sense before you put time and money into it.