I asked him to send me the contract so my lawyer could look it over with me, he never replied.

Ultimately, nothing beats having a great real estate lawyer and getting advice from them on what your trying to accomplish. 

it definitely is they have hotline you can call in for personal stuff and all their forms they give you would cost about $250 each if you got the forms from a lawyer 

So make sure you understand the entire buy and sell cycle including costs and taxes throughout the transaction.That being said, a lot of foreigners own property in Italy you just need to be extra careful and find a good competent lawyer that hopefully is trustworthy.

Is it like a craigslist negotiation, do you sit down with a lawyer and the seller about bringing down the price, or do you bring comps and data to support your request?

Spend a few hundred bucks to consult a lawyer if you need to... this is a potential legal landmine.There may be a process where you turn abandoned property over to the state.

I would think that paying an experienced lawyer $1k or so to have a conversation about how other people are structuring the transfer. http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Pennsylvani...Check out section 19-1405 to see if the LLC transfer would fall under any of the excluded transactions.

I could just see all the problems with them not wanting to pay for the damages, having lawyers involved, etc.On the other hand, my dad is very big in construction.

If it is a law office that will be handling the assignment do I need to be aware of any sales techniques they  will try on me when I bring them the paper work (I imagine the  lawyer puffing a cigar sitting back in his chair staring at me with a bright white suite on looking like colonel sanders and  saying with a serious look on his face "son , I do believe you need to get x and x insurance because there are lot's of scams out there, protect yourself and don't be another  statistic, while you're at it you need to buy Advance Contract Performance Processing so your paper work does not get lost or something, it really is the smart thing to do in my professional opinion.

But most specifically the insurance will get you the lawyer so the insurance company can keep their money.