Why Our Apartment Is For Sale

Several people have asked why we are selling our apartment.

The easy answer is the economy has not been good to us although it hit us later rather than sooner. The apartment has cost more to own than our little place in Partigliano in terms of utilities and condominium fees. There are things we really like about it (drive right to the door, elevator, no garden/land to care for, proximity to services/restaurants/the autostrada, and it is bright and spacious) but there are also things we do not like (noise, disconnect from the people, and it has required more maintenance/repairs than we anticipated). We also really miss some things about Partigliano (the people, taking care of the garden/land, and the quiet).

At one time our situation was such that we could afford to spend four months here in Italy AND also go to Spring Training in Arizona, a major automobile race once a year, and take side trips within Europe. That has been more difficult to do the last couple of years. So, we decided we needed to "downsize" our economic footprint. The logical thing to do is to sell the apartment in Italy.

Owning a second home in a foreign country is always going to cost more than just visiting as a tourist. We could actually spend as much time here as we do now in a rental property and the annual out of pocket cost would be less. However, it is really nice to have a place where you can leave clothes, have the furnishings and kitchen set up the way you like, and where you have neighbors who know the place is yours. Our initial goal was to "get beyond just being tourists." In that regard, having a place here has been immensely successful.

We plan to continue to visit Italy every year but probably not twice a year and probably not for as long each trip. However, we also want to spend time in different cities in Europe and maybe even in the U.S.

Depending on how things work out and when the apartment actually sells, we might (big might!) buy another place in this area. It would have to be the perfect spot and I would want it to be back in Partigliano again. Doing the San Marco procession on April 25th really brought home to us how much we had become part of the community there and vice versa.

Only time will tell how this all shakes out.