The Miracle of the Rose, or How To Succeed In Overseas Home Rental Without Really Trying

So I needed a home for this year's adventure. I looked at a bunch of Italian rental property websites, but the few I wrote to never wrote back (well, one did, but he wrote in English rather than Italian and it was so terrible that I'm still not entirely sure what he said). I was getting a tad desperate -- my visa application appointment was coming up, and I had to have a confirmed address in Italy to get the visas. So I spent a lot of evenings up way too late looking at anything that might work. And I came across a house for rent through a British holiday homes rental site. Gorgeous. Near Salsomaggiore Terme, a town I knew a tiny bit about because I have an acquaintance who lives there. Six bedrooms, 2500 sf, beautiful views. And apparently 900E a month. I wrote to him, explaining the Plan for the Great Adventure.

The email I got back was rather curt, and basically a "900 a month are you kidding. No." Well, I thought, 900 did sound awfully low for such a nice house. (Turns out it's really 900E/WEEK.)

The next morning, however, I had another email from him.

"Meg

In conclusion, I have to decline this particular opportunity with you.  (<--who STARTS a letter with that?)

However, my Brother has a property around 10km from mine which you may like to consider. They are willing, in principle, to consider a 12 month rental contract.

The following is the web link to their property:

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p91892

If you are interested, I suggest you contact my sister-in-law (Roisin), copied in on this email. I will leave the negotiations between the two of you, should you both wish to pursue."


I had a look at the new suggestion. Hmph. A tiny bit smaller, a couple miles further out. There's no way this is enough cheaper than the 2500E Mario is asking to make it affordable. But hey, I'm a polite person, I will write to Roisin ("rose" in Gaelic) and say thanks for letting me look at your pretty house, and move on. So I did that. And the next thing I know I have an email that says, "Can you please give me a number where I can contact you. We have skype or the landline."

So I skype her. And we talk for an hour and a half. And the upshot of it all is, she'll rent it to me for 1000E/mo -- well within my budget. And suddenly, from a shot in the dark late at night when I should have been asleep, I have an address, a rental contract, and a landlady who is so excited about our coming to Italy that she has already registered the kids for school, gotten me contacts for getting a car, arranged for us to have Parmegiano cooking lessons, and set me up on 4 dates. We talk about once a week on skype, always for at least an hour. Not just a landlady -- a new and already dear friend. How miraculous is that?