CNN Travel<\/a> in a recent interview. They chose the quiet city of Biella, nestled at the foothills of the stunning Alps, as the destination for their vacation getaway. <\/p>\nThe pair were drawn to the historic 1930s abode due to a number of attractive qualities, including its previous ownership by an Italian aristocratic family, its Liberty-style architecture, and of course, its direct view of the sprawling European mountain range. Along with its arched windows, it also had 14-foot ceilings, sturdy wooden doors and a cellar perfect for storing wine.<\/p>\n
While Vicky had visited the region before and made a local friend in Biella, John had never been to the quaint location. However, he was quickly won over by his wife\u2019s description of the beautiful place.<\/p>\n
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Town in Northern Piedmont<\/p>\n
After stumbling upon the 3,000-square-foot fixer upper online, the couple took a leap of faith and purchased the property without seeing it in person first.<\/p>\n
While they knew the space wasn\u2019t in pristine condition by any means, when they first arrived at their new home, they discovered a number of flaws \u2014 from shattered wall tiles scattered across the hallways to an old gas-powered water heater hanging from one of the walls in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
They also encountered issues with local contractors during renovations.<\/p>\n
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Residential buildings in Biella, Italy<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst the language barrier, then the quotes that shifted like seasons, contractors that vanished and appointments blurred into indefinite timelines,\u201d Vicky told the outlet.<\/p>\n
The difficulty with some vendors and tradespeople proved to be a major complication during the process. While they were able to find a \u201cvery reliable\u201d plumber, Vicky said others \u201cheld our money for nearly a year with multiple excuses and delays. I had to make multiple trips a year to supervise or push for progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cThere was a large cultural divide, as a project that would have taken at most six to eight months in the U.S., dragged on for almost three years.\u201d<\/p>\n
John noted that some contractors seemingly tried to take advantage of them knowing that they were foreigners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also actively owned real estate and properties so have a general knowledge of what things should cost as labor rates in the U.S. should be higher than Italy, but many suppliers in Biella wanted to overcharge for their services.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Northern Italy in winter<\/p>\n
Additionally, the couple came across another challenge with the local municipality when they tried to update the windows in their new home, as the building has old roots in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs these were exterior windows and we are in the historic center, we had to demonstrate that they would not adversely affect the architectural fa\u00e7ade of the building, while also receiving the blessings of the condo association,\u201d John told CNN.<\/p>\n
Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\u00a0<\/p>\nWhile the couple had to work through each challenge, and even take on a few DIY projects that required constant trips to the Italian city, they finally finished their dream home nearly three years later.<\/p>\n
In the end, they spent an additional $174,000 in renovations to turn the fixer upper into the four-bedroom, two-bathroom boutique luxury residence it is today.<\/p>\n
Despite going into the purchase almost blind, the couple now have a functional getaway property that they use for longer ski trips and as a place to stop on the way to other European destinations.<\/p>\n
Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Houston residents John Alan Ambrose and wife Vicky Ambrose bought an old Italian mansion for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[36820,36822,56,58,57,36819,36821,12210,36823,36818],"class_list":["post-74167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-biella","tag-cnn-travel","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-john-alan-ambrose","tag-northern-italy","tag-texas-couple","tag-unexpected-challenges","tag-vicky-ambrose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}