Mortgage

We've been gathering information and having brief meetings with bank representatives for a while now. Our new neighbor works at a bank giving mortgages, and of all the folks we've dealt with thus far, Richard feels most comfortable with him. Today we are gathering all of our documents to give to Fillipo, who says that the process will take about 10 days.

Over a coffee yesterday, he explained to Richard that we should also shop around and get estimates from several notaio's. (A notaio is like a notary, like a lawyer, like a tax assessor -- a position unique to Italy. It is perhaps one of the highest paid professions in Italy. The positions are limited in each city and are often passed on from one family member to the next.) The notaio overseas the sale of the property and the aquisition of the mortgage and collects the necessary taxes from the parties involved AND charges quite a fee for his services.