Quick Update

After seeing 3 more houses with different real estate agents yesterday, we decided most definitely that we still LOVE the house we saw on Saturday (and the one that Ted and the girls had seen a week ago without the rest of us).  We received word that the landlord is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to pass the housing inspection so that we can be clear to rent it.  This is greatly to his benefit, as he can earn nearly 4 times as much by renting to us as Americans than he would renting to an Italian family!

So, this morning Ted cancelled our hold request on the other house and put in a pre-contract hold for this house.  With all the paperwork, etc., it will probably be at least a month before we can move in, but the exciting thing is we have a house!  And we only looked at 14 properties total--not bad!

The three we saw yesterday were all as different as could be from one another.  The first one was actually the one Ted had seen first with Luisa and then taken to a second time with the housing office agent.  The second was out in the country--very beautiful environment.  The house was gorgeous, too; brand new, in fact.  But for as much space as it had, the floor plan really did not allow for good use of the space.  It simply was not the house for us.  The third house is a city dwelling, as in a downtown area--definitely NOT.  It was a very cool house, though--positively ginormous, with odd angles and such a crazy floor plan!  Very unique, to say the least!  The kids loved it because it was like exploring...you never knew what you'd find around the next corner or through the door down the hallway!

And our outing yesterday gave Ted his first REAL experience with driving Italian style, LOL!  As he told me, "Well, at least I now know that my little car will go over 100 miles per hour!"

Cute Kenna quote from the adventure...she was listening to the couple chat in the car.  The husband is Italian and the wife is British but moved here when she was 21.  Ernesto doesn't speak any English, so of course they were conversing between themselves in Italian.  Kenna wondered, "Mommy, have they already learned Italian?"  She also wondered why they didn't buckle up.  (I wondered the same thing after seeing the way Ernesto drives, LOL.)

So now the waiting game begins!