Last car sold! Tomorrow we leave…

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It is hard to believe after all we’ve done and been through to accomplish this move it is finally here. I am finally allowing myself to feel a little excited.

We left my sisters house on Sunday June 22 and arrived a few miles from Dulles Airport at a pet friendly hotel. We are staying two nights here.

The reason for this is that we needed to sell our last car which we did today. We are now officially carless and homeless, at least in the USA. We decided to use CarMax because they were simpler. Interestingly they offered us a LOT more than we expected. We had expected trade in value and they gave us even more that we had been asking on Craigs list to sell it ourselves. I do recommend them.

Our flight out is tomorrow evening. We are carrying the cats aboard the plane in the cabin. We will see if this was a good idea or not after we get there :-{ I am nervous about TSA and getting the cats through Security. I have no idea how this is done. I am sure we will have to take them out of the carriers. I have little harnesses for them. I hope they don’t want us to take them off. I am terrified they will get free in the terminal. I know how hard it is to hang on to a frightened cat with claws when he wants to get down. I do have some medicine which is supposed to help but my test run on that didn’t make me feel really confident.

So more tomorrow…

Taking Animals to Italy

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It was not a good story. It did not have to be that way though. So because of that I will write of our difficulties in getting our cat paperwork completed.

We read many posts. We checked the Embassy site. We thought we had done it all right. About a month before our move date we took the cats to our vet to have them micro-chipped. The next hoop was to take the forms that we had downloaded from the Italian Embassy site to our vet. This could be done no more than 10 days before our flight out. They filled them all out. We next had to either FedEx these forms to the USDA in Richmond VA to have them certified and stamped and overnighted back to us. Problem was we were moving targets with no address and to assure we could get them done we decided to drive to Richmond with them.

It helped some that we were staying with my sister at that time in Wintergreen Virigina which is 2 hours from Richmond on a very dull but traffic-free interstate.

We presented our forms to the person at the counter. Suddenly I heard. “there is a problem”. Well it turns out that the rule is that the cats have to have rabies shots AFTER they are microchipped. Our vet did not tell us this although she does these forms a lot. The lady must have seen me turn white as a ghost. She says “OK, OK we can fix this”. All we had to do was get the cats rabies shots again and come BACK to Richmond.

Being in an unfamiliar place with only a day and a half to get this done and back to Richmond this was not an easy task. I enlisted my sister who is always good in a crisis. She searched out vets in this very rural part of Virginia. We managed to get a 4PM appointment that day and got the shots. The vet was nearly an hour from my sisters house so we had been in the car for over 6 hours this day and had the prospect of driving back to Richmond the next day. Oh joy!

So we did drive back. We did get all the stamps etc. We are not actually, technically, perfect though. The rule is the shots had to be more than 21 days before we leave and they are more like 5 days. The lady told us we may get our hand slapped that we could quarantine them in our apartment since we were living there and it should be OK. Well, that doesn’t make me feel totally secure but there you have it.

So to anyone out there who is bringing their pet to Italy, here is the proper order. First get your pet microchipped at least 1 month prior to your trip. Personally with hindsight, I think you should just go ahead and do it the moment you know you are going as it is never too early. After that (and at least 30 days before you leave) get a new rabies shot even if they already had one. 10 days or less before your flight download the official dual language forms to bring a pet into Italy from the Italian Embassy website. Take that form no more than 10 days before you go and have your USDA certified vet fill it out. Make sure you have your rabies certificate from the shot about a month ago. Then go find the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services in your state. Either FedEx all your forms (Italian form and Rabies certiicate) to them or take them to them for certification. Then you should be good to go.

Here are the links to sites with forms or information that is useful.
This is the Italy embassy information about bringing pets
http://italy.usembassy.gov/pet.html

This is the form that your vet must fill out – and the vet must be USDA certified.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/vs/iregs/animals/downloads/it_no_com_pe.pdf

This is the USDA site
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/vs/iregs/animals/animal_italy.shtml

download

I have read in nearly every blog that the authorities in Italy never look at these papers but it would just be my luck that that would be the day they did and I didn’t have everything I needed!

Shipment is gone!

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We finally finished packing our UPak cubes and following all the instructions got them wrapped, strapped, stickered and ready to go!

Friday the UPak people picked them up at our house and they are on their way. In 4 to 6 weeks they should arrive.
UPak_truck
I have arranged to have them unpacked remotely from our apartment and loaded into a van and then the team of movers will take them to our apartment.

SO final steps. Our nephew Dave and his girlfriend Shira came by yesterday and packed up what they want to take. Their moving truck comes Monday afternoon. Then the house will be empty except for a couple of boxes and some carpet that goes to the storage unit.

We have an appointment Monday afternoon at our Vet to get the cats checked over and the Italian forms filled out. This must be done no more than 10 days before departure.

We go to Settlement on the house on Tuesday morning. Then we have to pack up our enormous suitcases along with the cats and head to my sister’s house at the Wintergreen resort until Sunday.

Finally we sell our car Monday and and fly out Tuesday.

Next thing for me to worry about is getting us and our cats through TSA. I will report back once it’s done. We have purchased little harnesses and leashes so they can’t get away in the terminal.

Progress

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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.
photo
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.

Elective Visa

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So, today is a banner day. We visited the Italian Embassy today at our assigned appointment time with all of our documents including proof of purchase of property.

There was a line but it moved pretty quickly. The nicely dressed agent examined all of our documents. The Embassy listed what we needed. BUT he asked for an additional form to prove health insurance. I had copied our information and had brought the book with all of our documents and copies with me so lucky for us we had that information too.

TA DA! we have been approved for our 1 year Elective Visa. We go to pick it up next week. I am pretty psyched!

Here is the receipt for my visa!

visa receipt

Virginia house sold! Only 30 days to leave!!!

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The good news is the house sold. The bad news is that there is less than 30 days to closing! OH NO!! So much to do, so little time. I hit the ground running this morning and rented a storage unit for the things we are keeping here and arranged for the shipping containers to be delivered to the house for packing and sending over. UPakWeShip is the name of the company. I got them from a blogger who is based in Venice. They are very responsive so far. They do door to door shipping. It is just 100 square feet so not all that much can go. I am gathering it up and trying to prioritize what is most important.

I also made plane reservations to depart from here June 24 for us and the two cats. That is a few days after closing on June 18. That will allow us to do some banking things and final issues. Next I have to do the buy back Renault car deal for a 3 month rental. It is the most economical way to go until we have our residency and can buy a car.

Tomorrow we go to the Italian Embassy with our papers. Cross your fingers for us. We DO need that Visa!

Umbertide Sale is FINAL!

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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.

The funds are there!

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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!

Good news!

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Today we got an email from our real estate agent in Umbertide. It seems he had an idea that could work for us to get the registered sale papers earlier. He checked with the notary and he agreed it could be done.

We can do the final contract any time we like now and the property title will be transferred to our names. All that is needed is for a clause to be inserted stating that “possession” of the property will pass to us on May 31 by which time Elisabetta will have vacated the property. Evidently Elizabetta is agreeable to this. This will allow us to get the “registered” sale papers and complete our visa process at least a month earlier! This will make a tremendous difference for our logistics.

So today I spent time cashing out stocks and gathering enough money to finish buying the house. Just as soon as I can get it into our bank I will arrange to have it wired to our Italian bank. Then the sale can close.