02.22.06

Am I buying this apartment or renting?

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:10 am

Big news! Last Saturday we had an appointment with our realtor and our new landlord (who is actually a landlady) to sign the paperwork for the apartment in Ancona. I was very excited, and a little nervous, as we went in.

A bit of background … renting an apartment seems much more formal here in the States. People often get a realtor, and sometimes the terms of the contract are negotiable. So there are offers and counter-offers. The whole shebang.

I sat down next to the landlady, and across from us sat the representative from the realtor’s office. And then they just started shoving papers at me. I did my best to read them, but it was completely different from the Italian I have learned. Think about it - the first time you bought a house, how many new words did you learn? Well I was in that same situation, but faced with a language and culture barriers.

The realtor, perhaps sensing my growing apprehension about signing my life away, stopped and assured me that this was all standard paperwork. She smiled warmly and said as long as I pay the rent, everyone’s happy. This would have been very reassuring if, as she said this, she didn’t hand me another stack of papers to sign that I don’t understand.

All in all, we got the job done. But I was literally dizzy when we walked out of there … keys in hand!

One more thing … the grand total to just get into the apartment:

€700 ($840) for earnest money (refundable at the contract signing)
€1,400 ($1,680) for a security deposit (2 months rent)
€840 ($1,008) for the realtor’s commission (10% of the yearly rent)
€168 ($201.60) for IVA tax on the commission
€186.48 ($223.78) to register the housing contract

€3,294.48 ($3,953.38) Total

All just a part of living and ministering in Italy.

Permalink