Moving to Ofena

[Mapleleaf]

Originally Posted by Barry

I can't see why an english setup wouldn't work in Italy especially if the bill went to your english address. What we've seen of Italian TV is pretty awful. Mostly soap operas and game shows! I suppose you are like my daughter and need Coronation Street at least once a week? TV's and DVD players have become quite reasonable in Italy now but the price of the movies is still pretty high. They don't have the bargain bins like we do where you can pickup an older movie for 2 euro. I've been thinking I should send a bunch of movies to ourselves in Italy but don't know if they would charge us duty on them.

Barry

Hi, Barry:

I know this is an old message, however, I'd like to offer my 2 cents worth. We purchased a DVD player in the Chiati/Pescara area and have found that movies purchased in Canada will not play on the DVD player purchased in Italy and vice versa.

I'd also like to have satellite service as I feel very out of touch with world events when I'm there and we could also use some light entertainment.

Cheers,
Ferne

[Barry]

We also bought a DVD player in Pescara as well as a few DVD's and it worked fine, so last fall I made copies of a bunch of our DVDs, burned them to disk and took them to Italy and they worked fine. I think in the process of copying them it removed the region restrictions so they worked on a european player. If you want to use region restricted DVDs you can buy the players here. We bought one at a local chinese electronic store that was dual voltage and worked with both Pal and NTSC TV's. It was $40 and I carried it in my carry on bag. We ended up giving it to one of the locals as the one we had bought in Italy worked for our use.
You speak Italian don't you? So Italian TV would be fine for you. I think there may be restrictions on putting up new satellite dishes. I know we've been told we can't do anything to the outside of our house that is not in character with the original construction. Rose said they have cable service in Ofena however which might be another option.

Originally Posted by Mapleleaf

Hi, Barry:

I know this is an old message, however, I'd like to offer my 2 cents worth. We purchased a DVD player in the Chiati/Pescara area and have found that movies purchased in Canada will not play on the DVD player purchased in Italy and vice versa.

I'd also like to have satellite service as I feel very out of touch with world events when I'm there and we could also use some light entertainment.

Cheers,
Ferne

[flawed]

Originally Posted by maisie21

Hi Graham
I am sorry that we won't get chance to meet during your next trip to Ofena, perhaps we will be able to arrange it for next year.
Luckily we have had all of our plans drawn up and our bathroom and one bedroom are now finished. We have given our builders the sack as the work they did was sub standard, my husband is now going to do any work needed as he is very good at DIY.
We have very basic living conditions downstairs but we manage.
Judy

We are heading back over for another look at the house in Ofena. We will be in Italy on the 28th Sept to 4th Oct. We are bringing our daughters Appley 23 and Elle 19 to have a look this time too.

The news is good, the seller acepted our offer. Now we just have to scrape the money together. Looks like we will have to do a combination mortgage and personal loan.

That's not such good news but the market is what it is. The bank valued one of our properties at 30,000 AUD less than we paid for it 8 years ago, so that says something about the current market.

I would love to meet some of the expat members if anyone happens to be in residence. I will be thinking about you all as we prowl the streets for a really good look at the town and all it has to offer.

We will check out the bar for sure ! and of course Giacintas lovely shop.

I'll have to let Gianni know we just sucked it up and paid heaps for our tickets....oh well I just have to be cheap on everything else!

Hooray Italy, what's the weather like in ofena now ?

We are all really excited about coming , as always wish it was for longer. I never what to go home.

we're going to Ofena, we're going to Ofena
I'm doing the happy dance ......

[maryann]

Lucky, lucky; I wish you a great time. We will return in July to go to Calabria and look for a home. How are you shipping? Are you going to leave a lot of furniture behind? I live in the US.
One other question: We are trying to find bank that is in the States, NY state and also Italy.
Have you found any?
MaryAnn

[Barry]

Originally Posted by flawed

We are heading back over for another look at the house in Ofena. We will be in Italy on the 28th Sept to 4th Oct. We are bringing our daughters Appley 23 and Elle 19 to have a look this time too.

The news is good, the seller acepted our offer. Now we just have to scrape the money together. Looks like we will have to do a combination mortgage and personal loan.

That's not such good news but the market is what it is. The bank valued one of our properties at 30,000 AUD less than we paid for it 8 years ago, so that says something about the current market.

I would love to meet some of the expat members if anyone happens to be in residence. I will be thinking about you all as we prowl the streets for a really good look at the town and all it has to offer.

We will check out the bar for sure ! and of course Giacintas lovely shop.

I'll have to let Gianni know we just sucked it up and paid heaps for our tickets....oh well I just have to be cheap on everything else!

Hooray Italy, what's the weather like in ofena now ?

We are all really excited about coming , as always wish it was for longer. I never what to go home.

we're going to Ofena, we're going to Ofena
I'm doing the happy dance ......

Lynda,

You are a bit scary! It sounds like you are really going to extend yourself buying this property. Don't forget there are other fees besides the house price. HAI, notary, geometre and tax. We ended up paying about 25% more on these fees although because we got such a good deal we were paying the minimum rather than a percentage so our % cost were higher than on a more expensive property.

[maryann]

Originally Posted by Barry

Lynda,

You are a bit scary! It sounds like you are really going to extend yourself buying this property. Don't forget there are other fees besides the house price. HAI, notary, geometre and tax. We ended up paying about 25% more on these fees although because we got such a good deal we were paying the minimum rather than a percentage so our % cost were higher than on a more expensive property.

Barry, what is HAI? Do you always pay a geometre?
MaryAnn

[Barry]

Originally Posted by maryann

Barry, what is HAI? Do you always pay a geometre?
MaryAnn

House Around Italy. I assumed you were buying through them? You need a Geometre if you want the house surveyed before purchasing. If your not worried about a survey you can forget him until renovation time. If I recall the tax was 10% on the purchase price and the notary will look after paying it to the proper authority.
I can't remember what the notary charges. I will have to look at all my reciepts tonight. Judy might remember.

[maryann]

Originally Posted by Barry

House Around Italy. I assumed you were buying through them? You need a Geometre if you want the house surveyed before purchasing. If your not worried about a survey you can forget him until renovation time. If I recall the tax was 10% on the purchase price and the notary will look after paying it to the proper authority.
I can't remember what the notary charges. I will have to look at all my reciepts tonight. Judy might remember.

Hi, Barry, we are returning to Calabria in July to look and to buy a home. I would like to find a bank in Calabria and the same bank in America. Do you know anything about that, Barry?

Actually, we wanted go put euros in an account here in America and we thought having the same bank would make transactions easier.I have not yet located one. Citibank here and there are not related at all, just part of one corporation, Citigroup. Would you know anyone that could help me?

Thank you.
MaryAnn from NYS

[Barry]

Originally Posted by maryann

Hi, Barry, we are returning to Calabria in July to look and to buy a home. I would like to find a bank in Calabria and the same bank in America. Do you know anything about that, Barry?

Actually, we wanted go put euros in an account here in America and we thought having the same bank would make transactions easier.I have not yet located one. Citibank here and there are not related at all, just part of one corporation, Citigroup. Would you know anyone that could help me?

Thank you.
MaryAnn from NYS

For all intents and purposes there are no foreign banks in Italy. There are a few in Rome and Milan but for living in Italy you will probably have to deal with an Italian Bank. We have our account with UniCredit Banca which I see is now the second largest bank in Italy. Opening an account is very simple. We have arranged for our utility bill to be sent to them and they look after paying it from our account. We have internet access to the account as well. If you want to earn a decent return on your money however it would be better going somewhere that pays better interest although you still need an Italian account to deal with the local bills etc.
Actually interact machines are everywhere so you can access your american account up to the dailey withdrawl limit (300 euro I think) with no problem although there is a charge for this. 300 euro is over $500 so if you can live on less than that each day it would work fine.

[flawed]

Originally Posted by Barry

Lynda,

You are a bit scary! It sounds like you are really going to extend yourself buying this property. Don't forget there are other fees besides the house price. HAI, notary, geometre and tax. We ended up paying about 25% more on these fees although because we got such a good deal we were paying the minimum rather than a percentage so our % cost were higher than on a more expensive property.

Thanks Barry !

the majority would be mortgage finance, basically only the purchase costs are on P/L

I seriously don't believe that our properties are not worth more, but in any case we can afford to ride out this downturn. The recent move in Dubai, to a cheaper place plus salary increase will more than cover the loan repayments so no drama there.