The end of civilization as we know it has been predicted, but it is very unlikely to happen. Too many rich and powerful people would be affected, therefore ways and means will be found to resolve the problem.

There was another crisis about 22 years ago, which you may well remember. We were buying, restoring and selling properties at that time in the Upper Tiber Valley and living in San Pietro a Monte, and, 14 years before that another one, when we were living in London and restoring our own freehold property in the City of London. Yes, mortals owning a freehold interest in the City of London. On both occasions after about eighteen months the situation resolved and we all carried on. This crisis will also pass.

The US and British homebuilding industries offer near-perfect examples of the repeditive financial cycle that the world is, again, currently experiencing. After the Silicone Valley tech-bubble burst, the economy became a low-interest rate environment, making access to capital very easy and cheap. US sub-prime mortgages were offered to anyone who could stand up long enough to sign the forms, and in the UK 110% and 120% mortgages became the norm. With all this easy money, demand for housing grew rapidly. First-time home buyers found it more manageable to assume loans, and real estate speculators used the flow of cheap money to "flip" homes at a profit. Selling them on at a profit before actually having completed the original purchase.

Homebuilders responded by turning out more homes and acquiring land plots at a blistering pace. For years, all was well. But now, the party's over.

The fall in the real value of these homes in the US and UK is unfortunate and dramatic, there are just too many houses available and very few buyers, but at least in the UK the numbers of mortgages being granted increases every month. And here in Italy the banks are prepared to offer 40-50% mortgages, on even ruined properties, with a further sum of money available for reconstruction, on an ongoing basis.

On the European continent prices of houses owned by nationals haven't fallen because most people rent their homes, and those that have bought, have done so with much tighter controls on their mortgages, and often, substantial funding from parents. A mortgage of up to 60% of the value of the property is the norm.

The ex-pats and non-residents who have bought abroad, especially in Spain, are facing serious declines in the real values of their properties because of the flood of new buildings which came onto the market during the last few years, and now remain unsold, and let's not even start to talk about Dubai.

Most of the huge bank collapses, and bail-outs, have occurred in the USA and UK, with relatively few in Germany, Iceland, Belgium and France, and none, as far as I'm aware, in Italy.

Italian properties, owned by nationals, are stable, property owned by ex-pats, and fully paid up, is secure. Only those properties where an owner needs to raise funds are being discounted, and this represents a tiny portion of the market.

Properties in the Umbrian countryside are firm, as demand still far exceeds supply, and most are owned by local farmers, and, as they have waited 40 years to sell, another two or three years will make no difference, and they are not reducing their prices. Country properties have to be remade from existing and strictly controlled existing building stocks, their numbers are limited and finite and therefore although there are no customers, because the foreigners have no money, the values are not falling.

A country house in Umbria must be as close as one can get to the ideal, my properties have always been the most desirable in the market and, for the last 25 years have led the way in promoting foreign sales in the area of the Upper Tiber Valley.

I am now looking to retire and can therefore sell off my properties at a discount, or find a buyer for all the properties I own, or have a financial interest in, in Umbria, and as they are concentrated into a small area of some 20km by 20km they provide a convenient investment opportunity, all being based between Citta' di Castello, Umbertide, Cortona and Lake Trasimeno.

The wedding, and rental business of La Preghiera; which is about to be accepted on the exclusive register of desirable country houses, as a residenza d'epoca; can also be sold as going concerns.

If you are really serious about buying a property in this part of Italy, now is the time to talk.

All the available information is on the site, internal photos of the ruins are not available but can be supplied, GPS co-ordinates are not available and access is by gravel country roads which are not named; a very approximate idea of where the property is situated is given on the description, by its location related to the geographical distance from the nearest towns or villages.
Restoration costs are, approximately € 800 per square meter, and this will bring the structure up to northern European standards.
When the restoration is commisioned, an 18 page Estimate and Specification for the works is available to the purchasers, and this can be tailored to individual requirements.