House hunting: Italian Style

Now that we have a phone, we can start calling realtors!  After the cell phone debacle, I was not optimistic that finding our non-temporary home would be a quick and easy process.  I mean in the time it took us to find a cell phone, other couples had found their apartments already!  Add all the Navy run around and the Italian factor to our thoroughness, I anticipate us being in the Navy Lodge until March!  Hopefully this is a very wrong estimate.

Our first trip into the Napoli housing world was a tag-along trip.  Kim Possible had her appointment with Milena and Ernesto and said we could come.  House hunting with training wheels!  We got to see some places and figure out how the realtors worked but with no pressure since the places were for Kim.  Milena and Ernesto are a married couple with two daughters.  He speaks only Italian and she speaks both.  They have five cell phones between the two of them!

During this outing, we went to two different places, one in downtown Napoli and one in Santa Maria.  Driving through downtown was an adventure all on its own!  We drive down an alley and stop in front of a warehouse type door (which is actually a garage door) and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Finally the landlord arrives and takes us up to the apartment.  Ernesto stays with the car to prevent anything happening to the car!  Once we get up the four floors in the world’s tiniest elevator, the landlady can’t figure out which apartment is the one she is showing us!  Seriously?!?  It turns out that the apartment is her nieces and she is just helping.  This will happen a lot.  The entire family is part of the rental property! The apartment is very interesting.  It was pretty big (apparently two apartments combined into one) but had a tiny kitchen.  And lots of furniture which they would not remove.   Kim decided that she didn’t like this place and couldn’t fit her stuff with all of their stuff too!  And we are not living downtown because we have a big truck, lots of stuff, a dog, and a baby!

 The second place we go to is awesome!  It has become dark and none of the houses have lights since they are vacant.  We are looking at this house with flashlights and phones. It has a little old Italian lady leaning out of the window yelling at us on both sides.  Old fashioned Italian security! It has beautiful marble throughout the house.  It has three bedrooms in the main house and two room mother-in-law suite which is off the balcony but not part of the main house.  It has cool stairs and chandeliers.  There is a garage door and space for parking but no grass for the dog.  There is no real view. And Santa Maria is not the area where either Kim or Matt and I want to be.  Strike 1 and 2.

We set up an appointment with Milena and Ernesto for us.  Matt tells them we want at least three bedrooms, a great view, a balcony, a fireplace, and a yard for the dog.  In an area we like.  Under 2000 Euros. And we would really like storage space and a fireplace.  Nothing much really?

The next time we go out with Milena and Ernesto they take us to at least five places.  The first place is not our home. It is not very nice and I actually can’t remember any of the details!  The second place has a great view but you have to lean to the left out of the window to see it.  The third place has no view and is on a kiwi farm. Another place has a cool road up to the house, an amazing view but is so small we would have to sell almost all of our belongings.  The fifth place is pretty good.  It has a big kitchen, three bedrooms, and awesome yard for the dog and patio for outdoor parties.  There is no fireplace but they will put one in for us.  There is an Italian family next door that babysits.  But there is no view.    Strike 3,4,5,6, and 7.

We ask when we can go out again and Milena and Ernesto tell us they have no other houses.  Time to find our next realtor. 

The next realtor is named Tony.  He is a character.  That is pretty much all you can say about him.  He chain smokes, but luckily not in the car.  He talks a mile a minute and says things like “you no believe me.  I have four NCIS guys who will tell you.”  He has a million different sets of keys and he stores them in a bucket, on his dash, and in a random basket.  And he is insistent that he will find our home.  “I tell people to go out with all the other realtors and then come to me because I find your home.  I find it. “   But he will only find our home if we want to live in Lago Patria.  And you must sign a waiver to live there because the Navy has deemed Lago Patria unsafe.  New mom in a foreign country living in a place where you must sign a waiver…I don’t think so.

We look at one house in the area we want to live to start.  It’s a three bedroom place with an okay view and a good yard.  There is no fireplace or garage or dishwasher.  The overall vibe is “ehh.” It is nice and has beautiful marble but nothing speaks to us.  He then takes us to Lago Patria and shows us a beautiful house with lots of space and a small area for the dog. The view is not good.  Then he shows us another place with beautiful marble and a nice kitchen but no grass.  And the third place has an outdoor mother-in-law suite but small bedrooms.  The fourth place is average and not memorable.  The fifth place was okay.  It has a nice view, three floors, big rooms, a fireplace, a garage, and small yard for the dog.  But it is in Lago Patria.  He makes us to go a random house, ring the buzzer, and ask the person what they think about living in Lago Patria.  Told you he was a pushy character.  He tells us about one other house that is in his neighborhood and perfect but won’t show it to us unless we come out with him another time.  Strikes 7-11 (I think).

The next day, we have an appointment with the official housing people.  Our guy is named Roberto and he takes us to about five different places.  Some of the houses were places we picked out of the database (the database had one random picture for each house and a few details...not much to go on).  The first place had a nice big yard, big porches, a huge kitchen, beautiful marble everywhere but was near a train track and only had a view of the mountains…not a bad view but not the best.  Then we went to a house but it was one we had already seen.  This made me worry that we were running out of options!  He took us to another house that is a blur and then wanted to show us a house out in Monte di Procida.  It was a cool brand new apartment but was only two bedrooms and didn’t allow dogs.  The realtor from that place (Angela and Enzo) took us to another place that the drive was the narrowest two lane road (literally the car was inches away from the wall on both sides).  This place was on a farm and very nice but it was probably 45 minutes to work for Matt and 70 minutes to support site for me (Little America). Strikes 12-15 (does the one house count as two strikes?)

Most people we knew from the area orientation have found their dream home...at least for the next three years.  Kim is still searching as well and keeps her eyes out for places we would love.  She calls Matt and tells him about the “most gorgeous view I have ever seen.”  This house has a pool, a yard for the dog, a big patio, a view of the Lago D’Averno and the ocean, three bedrooms and an office.  So we call our fourth realtor, Suzie.  She is another chain smoker with big hair, long fingernails, and a tiny Fiat.  (theme of Italy-everything is small!)  She of course has to take us to another place before showing us the one we want to see.  And it’s another repeat!  So she takes us to the house that I think secretly we both think will be the one.  Matt seems to like it but wants to love it because of the view.  I like it.  We spend more time looking and sort of talking ourselves into the place.  Suzie tells us we must tell the landlord today because this house will go quickly.  The house is out of our budget by 100 euro so we make an offer of 2000 euro but we want a dishwasher.  The landlord will think about it and tell us.  Suzie says, she will take us to one more place and then we will decide.  The last place she takes us is a townhouse.  The house two doors down has a “beware of guard beagle” sign.  This is a good omen for me. Going into this house, I am thinking that the last house will be the one we get even though it was really windy on the porch and the bedrooms were kind of small.  We walk in and of course the house is beautiful.  I think the floors are hardwood and not marble.  The kitchen is large and has a dishwasher.  There is space for our table and maybe an island and a hutch.  Italian kitchens are very different.  There is not a tremendous amount of cabinet space and it is usually a one piece set on one wall. 

There are three bedrooms, one that is smaller and perfect baby room size.  The other two rooms are large with a balcony and ocean view.  There is one bathroom upstairs that all three bedrooms would share.

Downstairs is another bathroom and a living room area.  In the living room, there is a big fireplace with a brick pizza oven.  Imagine the pizza parties we will have! 

There is a small backyard with a view. The yard is not large but Lucy is not large either!

There is a view of the ocean and the Isle of Capri.  The view is wonderful from downstairs and upstairs.

There is a cute little front porch and a garage that could hold one car and lots of storage.  It is not the nicest of the places we looked at but it has everything we asked for: a view, three bedrooms, a dishwasher, a yard for the dog, storage for our stuff and a homey feel all in our budget. 

Matt went on Monday to put a hold on the place and now we start the month long process of pre-contracts, inspections, contracts, and move-in dates.  This process is supposed to be long, draw out, and painful.  I will not feel like we have the place until we have something written and all the negotiations started. 

Matt went back to the housing office on Thursday to set up an appointment for a pre-contract but we couldn't do it because the landlord didn't bring one set of paper!