So that's about it. Unless we're willing to shove ourselves into something much smaller (and we aren't!), these are our options. I think this is more for my benefit than yours...but here's where things stand currently:
House #1 It's huge. It'll also take forever to get into. And we found out today that it's WAY out of our price range...well over 2000 euro/month....probably because it's in one of the most expensive areas of Ferrara.
House #2 No one liked this one but the realtor.
House #3 We're all in love with this house, but it is about $500 over our housing allowance. Our pay dropped about $500 coming here because The Linguist won't get paid for Spanish anymore. So we're looking at squeezing $1000 from somewhere if we take this house. We'd also like to have money to travel and see things. And the utilities could potentially be horrendous. No AC...but it's older and has thick walls...The major pro is all of the space. We'd probably have to just shut rooms unless we had folks visiting to fill them up. I go back and forth between feeling that we should save our money so we can travel and feeling like our travel is going to be limited by the Linguist's vacation time and we should just go for quality of the life we live most of the time...which means living in a huge Italian mansion!
House #4 It's even more expensive than House #3 and we didn't love it. I'm learning that I want something old, not something newer.
House #5 Same as #4 and it's really small, to boot.
House #6 This is where the city vs. country debate comes in. It's got plenty of space and it's close to everything we'll need in the city...totally within walking distance...but as as result, it's city living...traffic, stores...not the cool stuff that's downtown, but the more ordinary I-live-between-lowe's-and-walmart kind. And the syringe. That totally makes me cringe. (sorry for the rhyming!) It was just recently vacated by the commander here, and I don't think they had any trouble, but will I feel comfortable letting the kids run around? Not likely. Although the kids have a much better chance of getting to participate in lots of activities with Italian kids here since we could just walk to the gym. Under budget...which means we can save a bit on utilities. And the little man next door (landlord, I think?) was very nice.
House #7...perfect except for the bedroom/bathroom/washer/dryer situation...but those are kind of major things. It's in our budget and they said they'll add AC for us for just a wee bit more. Not sure I'll be as willing to drive the kids to activities when they're 20 minutes away in lots of traffic...it felt a lot like House #3 but on a smaller scale. I think the 2 were built in similar time periods, maybe? Pianogurl says it reminds her a lot of our house in LA...that one was difficult due to lack of bedrooms...it had 3, too.
House #1 It's huge. It'll also take forever to get into. And we found out today that it's WAY out of our price range...well over 2000 euro/month....probably because it's in one of the most expensive areas of Ferrara.
House #2 No one liked this one but the realtor.
House #3 We're all in love with this house, but it is about $500 over our housing allowance. Our pay dropped about $500 coming here because The Linguist won't get paid for Spanish anymore. So we're looking at squeezing $1000 from somewhere if we take this house. We'd also like to have money to travel and see things. And the utilities could potentially be horrendous. No AC...but it's older and has thick walls...The major pro is all of the space. We'd probably have to just shut rooms unless we had folks visiting to fill them up. I go back and forth between feeling that we should save our money so we can travel and feeling like our travel is going to be limited by the Linguist's vacation time and we should just go for quality of the life we live most of the time...which means living in a huge Italian mansion!
House #5 Same as #4 and it's really small, to boot.
House #6 This is where the city vs. country debate comes in. It's got plenty of space and it's close to everything we'll need in the city...totally within walking distance...but as as result, it's city living...traffic, stores...not the cool stuff that's downtown, but the more ordinary I-live-between-lowe's-and-walmart kind. And the syringe. That totally makes me cringe. (sorry for the rhyming!) It was just recently vacated by the commander here, and I don't think they had any trouble, but will I feel comfortable letting the kids run around? Not likely. Although the kids have a much better chance of getting to participate in lots of activities with Italian kids here since we could just walk to the gym. Under budget...which means we can save a bit on utilities. And the little man next door (landlord, I think?) was very nice.
Wow! I am going to send you an email soon with thoughts ~ Hugs!
ReplyDeleteI say go with house #7. If someone comes to stay they might just enjoy a hotel. The grounds are beautiful. If the owners add sheetrock then you have more bedrooms right? If the bathrooms are large than you won't feel so crowded in them even though there are only two. And as for a 20 minute commute -- didn't you have a commute like that in San Antonio if you wanted to go anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your adventures! Thank you for sharing them. Tell Songbird hello for me!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to hear from you and glad you're reading about our adventures. Gelato tastes really good...you should try it if you have the chance! Love, Songbird
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