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Andrew (my hubby) and I bought our home in Italy after we had lived in this wonderful country for over five year.

To resist that long took a lot, I can't tell you how many times I was tempted to buy a property.

We would drive around the Italian countryside, seeing all these marvelous country houses, and be tempted to buy on the spot.

Looking back I would have burnt my fingers rather badly on many occasions and I am glad I resisted. You don't need to wait five years but make sure you are well prepared and have done as much research as possible beforehand.

The Italian property buying process and indeed home ownership is relatively simple but you need to understand it as well as you possibly can.

I have put together a brief guide on buying a property in Italy and on things like insuring your home after purchasing which may prove useful, you can read the home insurance guide here .

If you do want to buy, I am more than happy to help you as much as I can. I am not an estate agent but through my experiences I can normally recommend reliable people and agents with whom you can deal. Just fill in the form further down the pages and I'll get right back to you.

Of great importance is to have a clear idea of what you are looking for before buying. I can't stress enough how vital it is to spend time in all the regions which meet your requirements. There is no single answer to the question I am often asked, which is this: "where is the nicest place to live in Italy."

My way of deciding where to buy was to make a list of ten points that were important to me, these can relate to:

• the weather in the area, 
• whether you want to be on or near the coast, 
• the proximity of mountains or lakes, 
• quality of healthcare...

 ...and a whole bunch of other factors that I judged to be vital.

Earthquake risk is another factor that should never be neglected - I have friends who lost everything in the Le Marche earthquakes and, because of that, I put together this article about earthquake risk in Italy which I recommend you read.

If you are investing in Italian real estate purely from an investment point of view then decide where the rental returns would be good, normally a city is best; however, if you want to make a return with short term rentals through Airbnb then buying in a touristy city is essential. Italy doesn't have capital gains tax which is another advantage to buying property in Italy.

No doubt some points on my list may not be important to everyone, for example I wanted to buy a home within walking distance of a weekly outdoor market, on the bus route and near a good school. Still it worked out well for me and the family. We are very happy with our Italian home!