Chapter Seven: Moneybags
Any concerns we had about UK bank lending conservatism were relatively short-lived. We found the money. That’s right, you can stop biting those nails and rocking in your chairs. We’re good to go.
I’ve realised over the course of the last few week’s that these blog posts haven’t actually provided any tips, or anything helpful if you’re considering a move. Well don’t worry. This week the cup doth overflow. Yep, two pro-tips for you. It’s a buy-one-get-one-free on knowledge, my friends.
At least we were hoping it would be. Truth is, there isn’t a nice neat actionable takeaway for anyone considering a move to Italy but concerned about how to finance it. The bizarre, somewhat contradictory conclusion here is that Italian banks, known for their post-financial crisis conservatism, wanted us to stretch ourselves further and borrow more money, to make it worth their while. On the other hand, U.K. banks, known amongst other things, for their love of the 80s and questionable ethics were more than happy for us to not stretch ourselves. Go figure.
Ignoring the fact I’m having to rescind the BOGOF on knowledge, selfishly, one of the added benefits of being able to proceed with a U.K. bank is that things will hopefully move a little quicker. Granted that’s based on zero experience but when we initially told the estate agent that we would require an Italian mortgage you could hear her eyes roll down the phone. Any hopes of a quick buck were parked. But now, thanks to the generosity of our high street lender, those hopes can be… un-parked? De-parked? Anti-parked? Help.
If all goes to plan, touchwood with crossed legs, we will be able to complete the purchase in just 20 days. Yep, 20 days. It’s still sinking in but in 20 human days we hope to be signing on the dotted line and being the proud owners of a house that will require an amount of work and money so terrifyingly large that instead of bashing out a to-do list or a budget or something helpful, we found ourselves physically and mentally incapable of doing anything other than to um and ah over paint colours. I guess to be fair we did also started to pack. That’s to say: we collected some moving boxes from strangers on the internet and turned our inherited step-ladder to plastic kindling.
That leads me to the sole pro-tip of this lengthy lead burial: if it says ‘click to lock’, don’t be a hero. Click it to lock it.
Xoxo