Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Bergamo Street Sign Language Lesson XLIV - Real Estate Prospecting Letter


A real estate prospecting letter in Italian
A real estate prospecting letter in Italian.

We used to get these letters a lot in Seattle. Now, they are showing up in our mailbox in Bergamo. We feel so at home now! Instead of tossing the letter out without looking at it, we thought ah ha, an opportunity for a language lesson and while not a street sign, it came from the street so that qualifies.

Here's the letter with underlined words and phrases, which are discussed after.


Gentilissima famiglia,

Mi permetto di contattarvi, perché in questi giorni sono passato per il nostro consueto monitoraggio immobiliare di zona.

La nostra agenzia ha ricevuto mandato di ricerca, da parte di diversi clienti, su immobili di varie metrature e tipologie ubicati nel Vostro quartiere, sia in vendita che in locazione.

Di seguito riporto i miei numeri di tel. XXX.XXXXXX.XX cell. XXX.XX.XX.XXX, qualora aveste l’intenzione di mettere in vendita o in locazione un immobile di vostra proprietà, sarei ben lieto di soddisfarvi con una valutazione gratuita.

Auspico un vostro contatto per potervi conoscere e parlare del vostro immobile.

Nell’attesa di potervi incontrare personalmente, porgo i miei più cordiali saluti.

Geom. XXX
cell.XXXXXXXXXX


Some interesting language bits for this formal correspondence are:

  • Mi permetto di (v) – first person singular of the verb permettersi di. It means “let me” or “allow me” to do something. In this case, contact you, the house owner. The first sentence is something like this: “I take the liberty of contacting you (plural)”.

  • consueto (agg) – “usual or normal”. In less formal communication, you can also use solito or normale. Di consueto means “usually”.

  • mandato di ricerca – “BOLO (be on the look out for)”. Mandato derives from the verb mandare - “to send” and means “mandate or warrant or request”. Ricerca is “research”. So, the real estate agent has been asked to be on the look out by some clients – or so they say.

  • ubicati (agg) - “located (plural)” from the verb ubicare - “to place or locate”.

  • locazione (nf) - “lease or rent”. You can also use affitto to mean the same thing. Locazione is definitely a candidate for the list we gave in the post Italian Words Ending With -azione and Easier Alternatives for Speaking and Writing.

  • sarei ben lieto di - “I would be happy to”. Sarei is the first person conditional of essere. Note that the ending letter E of bene is dropped to make the phrase flow better. A less formal way to say the same thing would be sarebbe un piacere per me or mi farebbe molto piacere.

  • auspico (v) - “I hope” from auspicare.

  • porgo i miei più cordali saluti - “I offer my cordial greetings”, or just “goodbye”, “best wishes”. The verb porgere means to “extend or pass or offer” something.

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