OK - before we either pay a fortune for a professional company to ship our goods out to Tavernelle in Umbria or a slightly smaller fortune to hire a van to do it ourself is anyone using a 7.5 tonne van to move back to the UK from Italy mid-end Jul
Hi there The year is finally here after 5 years in the planning and we are moving to our lovely house in Umbria as soon as our house here sells - likely to be July/August.
Thanks everso for this Elvis. I have looked them up on the internet and sent them a form for a quote. Sounds like you may live near us if you are in Tavernelle? We are in Pratalenza up in the hills on the Piegaro road - perhaps we might meet for a drink/pizza in Tavernelle sometime............ Did you use Andrea, the local guy who is an accountant & legal advocate along with being a part time estate agent assistant, Italian teacher and filler in/applier for all manner of forms?
Hi Blue Lavender How excited must you be feeling!! We had a similar project 5 years ago and are about to move out there this year - whoopee!! We checked out heating our huge house and our builder advised that he had recently completed a job whereby he'd installed gas heating for a British couple (against his advice) but they were then getting gas bills of 1,000 euros a month for the gas. As we couldn't afford to pay that (only during the winter I know but still lots of dosh) we researched methods for our house which is massive with 2ft thick stone walls and concrete/cotto floors and decided upon a humungous wood burning stove built into the inglenook fireplace which heats the house, runs the water and heats the room which it is in purely by the heat of the wood (good for toasting bread and chestnuts too!!). It was not cheap - the stove alone cost 4,500 euros (not fitted) and we knew we would have to put some effort into "feeding" it, cleaning it out, restiocking it and keeping it going but now hubby has the hang of it and quite enjoys this aspect. Although we've only been visiting the house for several weeks at a time until now our gas/electric bills have been minimal even during winter. Apologies as I'm now going to "hijack" your post a bit - Amaretto mentions freighting stuff out to Italy - I posted on here yesterday as trying to sort moving our household out in July/August for good (yippee!!) but it seems to be horrendously expensive. Could Amaretto give me a contact for the freight company and an indication of whether it is cheaper that way - I'm beginning to pull my hair out a bit.... All the best Blue Lavender, it will be so worth it when it is ready (or ready enough to live in, I think ours will be a lifelong project) - we are in Umbria so not so far from you and I agree with Amaretto that the views to the shops want to make you scream out loud...... Cedric xx
Hi We bought our house in Umbria (just up the hill from Tavernelle) 4 years ago now. I spent 6 months trawling the internet looking for suitable properties to look at so narrowed down our choices to 10 for viewing (we had 3 weeks out there). Some bore absolutely no resemblance to their descriptions and for some the photos were taken many years before judging from the comparison between beautiful tiered garden to bombsite we saw at one memorable place. We had one (well known) agent (British) who proceeded to tell us we couldn't afford anything they had after we viewed and turned down two properties on his books (he had no idea of our financial circumstances) but the Italian agents we saw were very helpful and friendly. We found Andrea who acted as an agent for several owners/estate agents who showed us the ones we had asked for then a couple more he thought mught suit. Luckily for us he is a trained "avvocato" (?) that strange crossbreed of occupations the Italians seem to love - 1/2 legally trained and 1/2 accountant, he made the offers for us, sorted out the compremezzo, acted as translator and then temporary Power Of Attorney at the notarys insistence (as the notary would not let us sign anything we did not understand) and now pays our bills/taxes etc until we move there fully next year and can stand in line at the Post Office along with everyone else - never known such a cash friendly country!! Research will save you a lot of wasted time especially if you are only going across for 2/3 days at a time to look/view. Another tip - try not to go a-viewing in August as lots of people were on their big holidays and refused to let us view during that time. We lost the chance to view and buy a watermill which was our favourite at the time but the owner lost the sale for the want of 1 or 2 viewings. All the very best with your search and let us know how you get on Cedric
Hiya Any sign of this yet - speaking as a hopeful who is finding it hard to get decent large furniture in the Umbria (Piegaro) region which is not some sort of vile shiny curved 60's throwback which the Italians seem to favour - don't get me wrong - I love kitsch and am also passionate about Georgian furniture but some of the stuff I have seen is scary.........
Hi Cheeky question along with an answer for you. We've often made the drive from Cambridgeshire to Umbria via the tunnel and sometimes via South of France, sometimes via Switzerland (God Bless the carnet!!) and have always used the Accor group of hotels either Ibis or sometimes Etap (I think they're cat-friendly). Next year in August we will be making the final big push journey from Cambs to our Home in Umbria (for ever and ever) and wonder if you are sedating your Mog and what you needed to do prior to taking him/her? My poor Florence gets freaked out just going 10 miles down the road, we did consider airfreighting her as I thought it would be quicker and less "painful" for her but my lovely cattery owner says that it is quite frightening for cats and they get very cold. She will have a lovely life in Italy (she will be 5 then) and I would hate to leave her behind. How are you (or anyone else) going to manage with your Mog? Very best of luck with your move - hope it goes really well x
Hi everyoneNew to this site but my hubby and I bought our lovely house near Tavernelle in Umbria over 3 years ago and are moving permanently in less than 2 - can't wait. Like many we did loads of research on areas and properties (mostly through me trawling through the internet every night for months before our buying trip and my husbands knowledge of the area through many previous rental periods in Umbria) and "narrowed" it down to 12 properties in a 3 week trip. We sorted our finance before we went (bought outright) and stuck to a limit (actually bought 3 houses in one and two pieces of land for 2/3 of our budget but we were so so lucky!!). Our best acquisition was our agent. He worked for the estate agent for two of the properties we looked at (and showed us a couple more) but he is also qualified as one of those 1/2 accountant 1/2 solicitor people they seem to have out here (where two careers are merged into one - our electrician is also our plumber!!) and not only enabled the sale to go through very smoothly but also came with us to the final signing over with the family and acted as our translator and temporary Power of Attorney, helped us to open a bank account, enabled us to get our residency (2nd attempt but we have to laugh now at the thought we would get it first time - that's another story) then swapped our bank account for a residents one with better rates, sorted out our electricity supply to be increased to stop it blowing the fusebox every time I turned on my english kettle or iron, pays our bills while we are away, does our tax forms etc every year and basically trouble shoots if there is anything we need to ask or need doing. I know we pay him (and probably at accountant/avocato rate for more minor things but it was the best contact we had
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Thanks everso for this Elvis. I have looked them up on the internet and sent them a form for a quote. Sounds like you may live near us if you are in Tavernelle? We are in Pratalenza up in the hills on the Piegaro road - perhaps we might meet for a drink/pizza in Tavernelle sometime............ Did you use Andrea, the local guy who is an accountant & legal advocate along with being a part time estate agent assistant, Italian teacher and filler in/applier for all manner of forms?
Hi Blue Lavender How excited must you be feeling!! We had a similar project 5 years ago and are about to move out there this year - whoopee!! We checked out heating our huge house and our builder advised that he had recently completed a job whereby he'd installed gas heating for a British couple (against his advice) but they were then getting gas bills of 1,000 euros a month for the gas. As we couldn't afford to pay that (only during the winter I know but still lots of dosh) we researched methods for our house which is massive with 2ft thick stone walls and concrete/cotto floors and decided upon a humungous wood burning stove built into the inglenook fireplace which heats the house, runs the water and heats the room which it is in purely by the heat of the wood (good for toasting bread and chestnuts too!!). It was not cheap - the stove alone cost 4,500 euros (not fitted) and we knew we would have to put some effort into "feeding" it, cleaning it out, restiocking it and keeping it going but now hubby has the hang of it and quite enjoys this aspect. Although we've only been visiting the house for several weeks at a time until now our gas/electric bills have been minimal even during winter. Apologies as I'm now going to "hijack" your post a bit - Amaretto mentions freighting stuff out to Italy - I posted on here yesterday as trying to sort moving our household out in July/August for good (yippee!!) but it seems to be horrendously expensive. Could Amaretto give me a contact for the freight company and an indication of whether it is cheaper that way - I'm beginning to pull my hair out a bit.... All the best Blue Lavender, it will be so worth it when it is ready (or ready enough to live in, I think ours will be a lifelong project) - we are in Umbria so not so far from you and I agree with Amaretto that the views to the shops want to make you scream out loud...... Cedric xx
Hi We bought our house in Umbria (just up the hill from Tavernelle) 4 years ago now. I spent 6 months trawling the internet looking for suitable properties to look at so narrowed down our choices to 10 for viewing (we had 3 weeks out there). Some bore absolutely no resemblance to their descriptions and for some the photos were taken many years before judging from the comparison between beautiful tiered garden to bombsite we saw at one memorable place. We had one (well known) agent (British) who proceeded to tell us we couldn't afford anything they had after we viewed and turned down two properties on his books (he had no idea of our financial circumstances) but the Italian agents we saw were very helpful and friendly. We found Andrea who acted as an agent for several owners/estate agents who showed us the ones we had asked for then a couple more he thought mught suit. Luckily for us he is a trained "avvocato" (?) that strange crossbreed of occupations the Italians seem to love - 1/2 legally trained and 1/2 accountant, he made the offers for us, sorted out the compremezzo, acted as translator and then temporary Power Of Attorney at the notarys insistence (as the notary would not let us sign anything we did not understand) and now pays our bills/taxes etc until we move there fully next year and can stand in line at the Post Office along with everyone else - never known such a cash friendly country!! Research will save you a lot of wasted time especially if you are only going across for 2/3 days at a time to look/view. Another tip - try not to go a-viewing in August as lots of people were on their big holidays and refused to let us view during that time. We lost the chance to view and buy a watermill which was our favourite at the time but the owner lost the sale for the want of 1 or 2 viewings. All the very best with your search and let us know how you get on Cedric
Hiya Any sign of this yet - speaking as a hopeful who is finding it hard to get decent large furniture in the Umbria (Piegaro) region which is not some sort of vile shiny curved 60's throwback which the Italians seem to favour - don't get me wrong - I love kitsch and am also passionate about Georgian furniture but some of the stuff I have seen is scary.........
Hi Cheeky question along with an answer for you. We've often made the drive from Cambridgeshire to Umbria via the tunnel and sometimes via South of France, sometimes via Switzerland (God Bless the carnet!!) and have always used the Accor group of hotels either Ibis or sometimes Etap (I think they're cat-friendly). Next year in August we will be making the final big push journey from Cambs to our Home in Umbria (for ever and ever) and wonder if you are sedating your Mog and what you needed to do prior to taking him/her? My poor Florence gets freaked out just going 10 miles down the road, we did consider airfreighting her as I thought it would be quicker and less "painful" for her but my lovely cattery owner says that it is quite frightening for cats and they get very cold. She will have a lovely life in Italy (she will be 5 then) and I would hate to leave her behind. How are you (or anyone else) going to manage with your Mog? Very best of luck with your move - hope it goes really well x
Hi everyoneNew to this site but my hubby and I bought our lovely house near Tavernelle in Umbria over 3 years ago and are moving permanently in less than 2 - can't wait. Like many we did loads of research on areas and properties (mostly through me trawling through the internet every night for months before our buying trip and my husbands knowledge of the area through many previous rental periods in Umbria) and "narrowed" it down to 12 properties in a 3 week trip. We sorted our finance before we went (bought outright) and stuck to a limit (actually bought 3 houses in one and two pieces of land for 2/3 of our budget but we were so so lucky!!). Our best acquisition was our agent. He worked for the estate agent for two of the properties we looked at (and showed us a couple more) but he is also qualified as one of those 1/2 accountant 1/2 solicitor people they seem to have out here (where two careers are merged into one - our electrician is also our plumber!!) and not only enabled the sale to go through very smoothly but also came with us to the final signing over with the family and acted as our translator and temporary Power of Attorney, helped us to open a bank account, enabled us to get our residency (2nd attempt but we have to laugh now at the thought we would get it first time - that's another story) then swapped our bank account for a residents one with better rates, sorted out our electricity supply to be increased to stop it blowing the fusebox every time I turned on my english kettle or iron, pays our bills while we are away, does our tax forms etc every year and basically trouble shoots if there is anything we need to ask or need doing. I know we pay him (and probably at accountant/avocato rate for more minor things but it was the best contact we had