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Foreign Renovations
Elizabeth Helman Minchilli
01/01/2004
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Frances Mayes was certainly not the first to succumb to the lure of buying and restoring a home amidst the olive groves and vineyards of Europe. Yet the extraordinary popularity of her book, Under the Tuscan Sun (and now the movie, furniture collection and endless other tie-ins) proves the strength
of American fascination with home ownership abroad. This allure has, in turn, given rise to a new class of professional facilitator to shepherd such projects. Aston Pearl, a consulting agency based in New York City, resides at the upper end of the spectrum of the foreign home-ownership market.
 "We help our clients explore all the possibilities for establishing a home in a foreign country," explains company founder, Natasha Pearl. When a client approaches her about a property acquisition, Pearl first explores all of the nonfinancial aspects of such a project with the client. "Just because a client had a wonderful two-week vacation in Chianti or the Loire doesn’t necessarily mean that home owning is the best choice." (Click image to enlarge)
The first advantage of consulting an agency such as Aston Pearl is getting an absolutely unbiased opinion—a necessary antidote to the first-blush love affair with a foreign clime. "We take a look at the entire situation realistically, presenting other options that the client—or their friends—may not have considered," explains Pearl. When looking at property locally—be it in the hills of Umbria, the Côte d’Azur or Tahiti—one is bound to run up against people with personal agendas and strong opinions. "Even your best friends, who want you desperately as their new neighbor, may not be giving you the full story," she adds.
Because Aston Pearl’s fee is not based on commission, its ultimate recommendation may in fact be for the client to rent rather than invest in a property. "Yet once we have established that, in fact, owning a home is the right choice," says Pearl, "we then help our client get in touch with the right professionals to make the dream a reality."
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