Real Estate
Have you have fallen in love and now you want to buy a place of your own? Well you aren't alone! Here are some links to help:
Real estate agents:
- Calliano Case -our friends Jack and Anna work with this company.
- http://www.alexaimmobiliare.com/uk/case.html
- http://www.smithgcb.demon.co.uk/
- http://www.piedmontproperty.com/properties/asti/
- http://www.monferratoproperties.com/eng/chisiamo.asp
- http://www.internaumonferrato.com/en/catalog?set_language=en
- http://www.langherealestate.it/how_to.htm
- http://www.piemontecase.com/en/the-monferrato
Helpful web pages:
Costs and concerns:
The Phone: Our phone does go out in Zanco from time to time, although it seems to be a problem with the wiring for our house because the neighbor's lines rarely stop working. I have never had the mobile line fail and often times the ADSL line continues to work even if the phone is dead so I can continue using Skype. Telephone line costs €12/month. You can buy a cell phone for as little as €30 then buy time for the chip.
Getting money: ATMs are kind of funny. Since we got a Maestro card it is much more reliable. Around here even small towns have two or three ATM machines. We usually find that if one won't give us the money the other will.
Is my car safe parked outside? We have been parking our car outside in our village, without incident for the last four years.
Utilitity costs? (based on June 2008 prices)
- Electricity: Day rate about .18 euro cents per Kw/Hr. Night rate .10 euro cents per Kw/Hr.
- Natural gas: .86 euro cents per meter tax included.
- Water and sewer: €2.06 per cubic meter.
- Telephone: €12/ month for the hard line.
- ADSL: €20 / month
- Property tax on our house was 160.00 euros per year.
Food costs? notes: based on June 2008 prices 1 kilo is 2.2 pounds, these are not premium brands, just the normal stuff at a supermarket.
- Hamburger €4-6/kilo
- Pork roast €4-7 /kilo
- Chicken €2.50-3.50 kilo
- Rib eye/strip steaks €10-13 kilo
- Beef filet mignon €26 kilo
- Pork filet mignon €10-12 kilo
- Vegetables are almost all between €1 and €2 a kilo at the weekly markets, prices are higher at the grocery store.
- Everyday wine €1.50-2.50 a bottle.
- Better wines from a local wine maker €3-5 a bottle
- Grappa €7-10 a bottle
- Prosecco €2-3 a bottle
- Liter of milk €1
- Salami €8-15 kilo
- Parmesan €13/kilo
- Scotch, Gin etc. €6-10 per bottle
- A loaf of artisanal bread €1.80
Cost of Travel: Petrol is very expensive but Italian cars tend to be diesel and get very good mileage for example we rented a Fiat Panda diesel once and it got 65 MPG and it was a fairly large car.
- Diesel costs €1.05/liter
- Unleaded costs €1.15/liter
- Tolls one-way from Chiasso to Casale Monferrato South (128 kilometers) €9.10.