During the four years of contemplation the led to our Italian property purchase, I have rigorously planned and re-planned, modelled and re-modelled the financial consequences of the transaction. This involved creating financial scenarios that included different houses in different locations, wildly fluctuating budgets, and sometimes staggering amounts of debt combined with highly suspect projections of capital gains, interest rate moves and foreign exchange fluctuations.
As a result, I am making this purchase with with my eyes wide open. I completely understand and have come to terms with the financial impact (and the uncertainties involved) from a personal cash flow and balance sheet perspective. The picture is not entirely pretty, but certainly within my tolerance for superfluous spending and assuming unnecessary debt.Yesterday, however, cold reality hit as I started writing cheques. Well, I did not really write any cheques. I actually transferred the funds using my bank's web site, but "writing cheques" provides a stronger visual image, so go with me on this.
Despite the detailed planning and preparation, despite knowing that the transaction will not bankrupt us, despite the fact that we are fulfilling a long-held ambition of owning a house in Italy, writing the cheques still hurts.
During the past two days, I have paid the deposit on the property (big hurt), the contract registration tax (little hurt), a valuation fee (almost painless), and the agent's brokerage (medium hurt, but worth it). Still to come will be the surveyor's fee, a notary fee (more than you would think), numerous and sometimes large taxes and registration fees (yes, Italian bureaucracy is still going strong), and of course officially taking on the huge mortgage obligation at completion.
Of course, the real fun begins once we actually own the house. Kitchen, bathrooms, re-plastering, re-wiring, furniture. . .
I will keep you posted, but now I'm going to take some ibuprofen.
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