Since my last post we did indeed pickup our passports with Visas at the Italian embassy. Check.

We have had a home inspection and have fixed everything but one. We have had a ton of rain here and the item that need fixing is a landscape issue. All of those folks are booked up for a couple of months. SO we are working on leaving cash so the new owners can handle that issue. Crossing fingers.

We have had a moving company come and move all of the furniture we are keeping and moved it into storage. Check.

We have nearly finished packing the two huge UPakWeShip boxes. We have scheduled pickup for Friday, 3 days away. Here is what they look like.

So far the jury is out on the UPak people. I do like Pete who helped me at the beginning. Alicia hasn’t been very responsive but today was better. Today I also found out that door to door shipping is not exactly what I expected. Alicia told me they deliver the giant boxes to withing 25 feet of our door. Being as our apartment is on a pedestrian street by the main Piazza, and 3 floors up I could not deal with that. We are also 63 year olds and cannot carry all that stuff to the 3rd floor. I contacted Pete and he is is working on it for us. I am having to change the way our shipment will be delivered so that someone will actually unload the boxes and take them to our apartment. Crossing fingers.

A friend is supposed to come this week to pick up a few items. Still have not heard from her when.

Our nephew is coming to pack our dishes, pots, and pans on Saturday and the truck comes Monday for the furniture. This leaves us time to vacuum and clean up, throw away the last of the stuff.

It has been an ordeal. Our closing is two days after the truck comes. We will stay with my sister for the week between the sale and 2 days before our flight over. The last two nights are in a hotel near the airport. We still have a car to sell. We will take it to CarMax the day before we leave.

If all that works we should be in Italy soon. Whew! I will be glad when it is all over.

Hi everyone! Today I got a congratulatory email from our agent, Jim. He said we are now the owners of Via Grilli 5 in Umbertide Umbria, Italy! So excited. Right away I printed out the COMPRAVENDITA REPUBBLICA ITALIANA or the final sale agreement. I wish I could have attended the closing. I heard it is not to be missed. Lots of stamping, and reading out loud all the documents in both languages. Sounds very Italian to me!

We have an appointment at the Italian Embassy next week on Wednesday where we will again present our documents, this time with the proof we own a home in Italy.

After the sale we had our agent let the seller know we would buy 3 of her furniture items she offered for sale but at a much reduced price that she asked. We shall see if she accepts. If not we’ll just go to IKEA in Ancona. We would have to go there anyway to get many other items we will need.

We just heard from our agent. Closing is set for May 13th. They will then send the ownership papers to us and we will schedule an appointment at the Italian embassy for our Visa. Getting closer!

So, I just got online and checked our Italian bank and the funds have arrived safely. We transferred the purchase price plus the fees and then some extra euro for necessary upgrades, furniture, and some running money in Euro. Too bad the exchange rate is not in our favor at all!

I sent a note to our agent (who is in Croatia on holiday). He will return tomorrow and I hope, will set up a date to close very soon. We are not sure how we will receive the final registered ownership document. Once we have that we can make another appointment with the Embassy.

Other things we are doing

The owner of the apartment, Elizabetta, has sent a list of furniture that she has decided she wants to sell to us. Her prices are very high. We may counter with lower prices. It is to her advantage to make a deal so she will not have to move it out. But if she won’t lower her prices I have alternatives. I did some research on Italian sites, primarily IKEA. I can get furniture that I like well enough for reasonable prices so that will probably be the way we go. We will need a sofa, chairs for the dining table, a double bed set with wardrobe and dresser and another dresser at a minimum. Then a desk for the computer and probably a sofa bed to put into the 3rd bedroom/office for extra guests and seating.

We also listed our house for sale here in Virginia. I spent a lot of time getting rid of things from all the closets and it looks pretty good now. We had some painting done etc. I hate living in a “staged” house but it must be done! Cross your fingers that it will sell soon!

We had 3 cars at the beginning of this year. As of this week we will be down to one car.

I am waiting a little while more before renting our UPackWeShip containers. In these we will bring some household goods and clothes. It is only 100 square feet so we can’t bring anything very large.

I am also renting a mailbox from an online company. It is interesting, they receive your mail and then scan it. You access a dashboard where you can view your mail. Then you can flag anything for the trash and have them send whatever you need to have physically in Italy. I hope it works!

I have chosen a moving company to pack up and move several items that we do not want to give away or sell. We will have them put into to a storage unit. These are family antiques etc. Who knows how long they will stay in storage.

I still need to have our cats microchipped and have the forms filled out by our vet. Another whole adventure, moving 2 cats to Italy!

That’s a short recap. Back soon!

Funny thing we noticed about Italians. They won’t call an apartment an apartment. It is la casa. I am not sure why. I always thought that was house. I guess technically it is. It also means home. Maybe that is why.

Several people have asked for more pictures. I am posting some below. They just don’t really give the feel of the place. Mainly the big living area with soaring ceiling. I just couldn’t get that in a picture.

This is the room from which you enter the kitchen. I think it would make a splendid kitchen. I’d put the cabinets where the long metal cabinet is. I’d like the floor to be tiles. I’d keep the table in here.

See back on the right side? That is the arched entry through a 3 foot thick wall into the tiny kitchen. The entry to the terrace is next to it.

This is the kitchen.

This is the closed up fireplace in the same room. I think it could be prettied up and opened.

This is the big picture window in the dining end of the living room space.

This is the pellet stove in the living space.

Entry up stairs. Down at the bottom is the front door. Ownership starts there. Notice the closet to the left. Closets are very unusual in Italy.

Arched entry into living room space from entry hall.

Master bedroom

Living room. Sofa end opposite picture window dining area.