Planning a Field Trip

Ever the voice of reason, my wife Alice pointed out the other day: We’ll have to visit before we can even think about buying.

While not as easy as it would’ve been just a few months ago, I was up for planning just that. Especially as I’d already made some notes.
Of course.

Not this type of field trip.

And I was entirely buoyed by the fact that, while still not anything like enthusiastic, she’d again not dissed the idea out of hand!
Now, if it’s ‘agreed’ it’s Ragusa and/or its surroundings, then the next consideration would be to list the essentials of any possible property. Arguably, next to budget, the most important concern of all?
Our ‘forever home’ needs are fairly straightforward: It should be single level; around 80 square metres (plus); and have at least two bedrooms.
While the ideal, and somewhat flexible, what isn’t is reasonable access to good public transport, shopping, and a local hospital. Oh, and a real summer! But that’s a given, yeah?
Next up, would this be an ‘exploratory’ visit or do we intend to buy?
A tough call right now. Under ‘normal’ circumstances, we’d likely already be there, undertaking this very exercise. But these aren’t that.
And time is against us. It’s a race between when the UK and Italy open their borders again ... and that Brexit deadline. The latter only seven short months away.
If these were those normal times, I’d say exploratory.
But it couldn’t be that now, could it?

Seeking in the Sun

Anyway, I’d already done some research on agenzie immobiliari (real estate agencies) that specialise in Ragusa and its surroundings.
It’s worth mentioning here that I’d restricted my search to those cities and towns with above 20,000 inhabitants.
Ragusa having around 74,000, through Vittoria, Modica, Comiso, and finally Scicli, with its 27,000. The other centres being dismissed as more ‘large villages’ than small towns.
My research led me to the names of a couple of agencies who fit the bill: The aptly named ‘The Dolce Vita’, actually based here in the UK; and the more local ‘Pisana Immobiliare’.

Both of whom had a number of properties that appeared to meet our requirements.
But not all of them. A given, of course!

Unfortunately ... not an option!

For example, while all of those I looked at met most of our requirements, more especially those firm ones, all were of two or more levels. But then, that’s pretty much the norm in most Italian urban centres, unless you’re buying an apartment rather than a house, yeah?
And that’s something Alice was uber-firm about: No apartments!
Fair enough, too. We’d both had bad experiences with those in the past, and wouldn’t want one as a ‘forever home’ into the future.
Next off, of course, I should be contacting the agencies concerned. However, given the current situation, this point becomes somewhat moot.
As it’s very hard to plan a trip, exploratory or otherwise, when you can’t input any dates into your travel website of choice!
And: Damn!

The Sun Still Shines

Every cloud has a silver lining though.

And we received our first piece of good news last week: We’ve got our codici fiscali (tax codes)!

So very true...

The first baby step towards our (possible) new future. This code is mandatory for all sorts of things: Opening a bank account, getting a residence certificate and identity card, and registering with the Italian equivalent of the NHS.
While not so much ‘good’, at least for local vendors, another piece of recent news is it’s forecast house prices are likely to drop this year.
No surprise there, of course, as that’s likely to be the case here in the UK, too.
And then, of course, from Monday the 4th of May, Italy entered Phase 2 of its lockdown. Which included the reopening of parks, restaurants for takeaway meals, and some shops, as well as museums and cultural venues from mid-May.
What’s this mean for us?
While not something we’d usually celebrate, it does mean real estate agencies are open for business again!
To top this off, Italy’s Culture and Tourism Minister stated he’d: “Never talked, or ever thought, of closing Italian borders to tourists for 2020.”
With this in mind, another piece of good news is that the Sicilian authorities, attempting to lure tourists back, may subsidise holidays! Such plans include reduced rate accommodation (e.g. one night of a three-night trip free, two nights of a six-day trip, etc.).
Let’s not get too carried away though!
It’s still a ‘waiting game’.