House Hunting

Deme’s mom has a giant apartment on the top floor with an ample terrace, near a very large park and somewhat close to the center of Rome. After the birth of the baby, we also hope to move to Rome to be closer to Deme’s family but mainly to play a more active part in the lives of our niece and nephew, Ginevra (8) and Giordano (13). (BTW, Giordano is here in Torino with us for a month for intensive English lessons and to focus on better study habits.) When an apartment in the same building as Deme’s mom came up for sale, we decided to have a look at it. Being on the ground floor is no ones first choice for an apartment because of the noise, the likelihood of break-ins and the loss of privacy. Still we had a look at the place; the couple that’s living there has occupied the apartment for over 20 years. Needless to say it needed a lot of work. For 125 square meters, or 1291 square feet they were asking for 900,000 Euros! That’s about a million dollars! “Absurd” I thought. We then picked up a real estate magazine and began looking around for other apartments.

Then it struck me, Rome must be one of the most expensive places to live in the world. I just could not see living in an overpriced apartment. The cost of a little villa is much lower but also out of the city a bit and to get into town one has to contend with traffic. Like all real estate agents say, “Location, location, location” make all the difference in the world.

Then I found this article for the most overpriced cities in the U.S. Seattle is expensive and I am surprised it did not make the list.

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