The Home Ownership Thread

[mhip]

Consider Spain over Italy. Italian property can be a bureaucratic nightmare.

I've considered Spain, but I've spent time in Italy and love Rome.
I plan on hiring someone to deal with most of it, and it's a few years away so I can take my time.

I've heard that as a condition of a residency visa for Spain, you have to agree to smoke a minimum of a pack a day.

 

[nootje]

I've considered Spain, but I've spent time in Italy and love Rome.
I plan on hiring someone to deal with most of it, and it's a few years away so I can take my time.

I've heard that as a condition of a residency visa for Spain, you have to agree to smoke a minimum of a pack a day.

My wife lived there for half a year for her PhD. She was adamant that we would never buy in Italy, just too much archaic bureaucracy and pitfalls.

Incidentally, the Italian immigrant here that owns an Italian wholesaler which I frequent regularly, also stated that I would be nuts to buy something there. His response: “just go there on vacation and leave living there to the Italians, it takes a special talent”

Yet like you, I still entertain the dream😅

As for the smoking in Spain. That was the case when Madrid banned smoking from bars and restaurants. Any edict from Madrid will be at best ignored, but usually the citizens in the will make a point to do the opposite. So when that ban in effect you actually saw more😂 people lighting up.

Fwiw, after Covid it has become a lot better.

 

[sugarbutch]

My wife lived there for half a year for her PhD. She was adamant that we would never buy in Italy, just too much archaic bureaucracy and pitfalls.

Incidentally, the Italian immigrant here that owns an Italian wholesaler which I frequent regularly, also stated that I would be nuts to buy something there. His response: “just go there on vacation and leave living there to the Italians, it takes a special talent”

Yet like you, I still entertain the dream😅

As for the smoking in Spain. That was the case when Madrid banned smoking from bars and restaurants. Any edict from Madrid will be at best ignored, but usually the citizens in the will make a point to do the opposite. So when that ban in effect you actually saw more😂 people lighting up.

Fwiw, after Covid it has become a lot better.

When we were in Madrid, we didn’t see much smoking in restaurants.

 

[venividivicibj]

I've considered Spain, but I've spent time in Italy and love Rome.
I plan on hiring someone to deal with most of it, and it's a few years away so I can take my time.

I've heard that as a condition of a residency visa for Spain, you have to agree to smoke a minimum of a pack a day.

Was not a fan of Rome, much preferred Florence.

 

[mhip]

Was not a fan of Rome, much preferred Florence.

I loved them both, but I didn't love Florence enough to consider paying the elevated price per square meter over Rome, because I'm a poor.

Helll, I'm still looking at places in Lecce and Syracuse as well.

7% flat tax rate for 9 years if you venture down South.

 

[UnFacconable]

Finally gave in and bought a robot vacuum and it’s one of the most infuriating products.

It did a great job mapping the house during the initial setup but when you actually use it to clean it seems to more or less ignore the very accurate map. So each cleaning before vacuuming it seems to bash it’s way into and along every single wall and piece of furniture. It’s got a spring loaded bumper on one side and after it finds a wall it backs up not quite enough, rotates and then scrapes along the wall or object, often catching the side of the bumper on the obstacle.

I knew this one didn’t have visual sensors and would bump into unknown obstacles like shoes or backpacks but assumed that it would respect the lidar map it created and not bash the walls.

i know there are different and better vacuums that don’t have this issue but they may have different ones.

tl;dr I’m done with (almost) self-vacuuming and will go back to exclusively letting a housecleaner bash my vacuum into walls and furniture.

oh also, presumably just to fork with me, during the initial mapping it somehow got completely stuck under our range and I almost had to leave it for dead. It has a pop up lidar turret that locked open somehow (maybe because I paused the damn thing when I saw what happened). My kid was supervising the mapping and after that incident I said - “you got to control this thing“ so my kid then started getting in between the robot and other obstacles saying “it’s either you or me!”

 

[brokencycle]

Finally gave in and bought a robot vacuum and it’s one of the most infuriating products.

It did a great job mapping the house during the initial setup but when you actually use it to clean it seems to more or less ignore the very accurate map. So each cleaning before vacuuming it seems to bash it’s way into and along every single wall and piece of furniture. It’s got a spring loaded bumper on one side and after it finds a wall it backs up not quite enough, rotates and then scrapes along the wall or object, often catching the side of the bumper on the obstacle.

I knew this one didn’t have visual sensors and would bump into unknown obstacles like shoes or backpacks but assumed that it would respect the lidar map it created and not bash the walls.

i know there are different and better vacuums that don’t have this issue but they may have different ones.

tl;dr I’m done with (almost) self-vacuuming and will go back to exclusively letting a housecleaner bash my vacuum into walls and furniture.

oh also, presumably just to fork with me, during the initial mapping it somehow got completely stuck under our range and I almost had to leave it for dead. It has a pop up lidar turret that locked open somehow (maybe because I paused the damn thing when I saw what happened). My kid was supervising the mapping and after that incident I said - “you got to control this thing“ so my kid then started getting in between the robot and other obstacles saying “it’s either you or me!”

We had a Neato that I was very happy with. Overall it did a good job, but then all the sudden it kept getting lost and confused. It would map successfully, but then it wouldn't accept the map, so the only way to vacuum was to have it map each time. On top of that, the battery was going bad, so we got rid of it.

 

[nootje]

My kid was supervising the mapping and after that incident I said - “you got to control this thing“ so my kid then started getting in between the robot and other obstacles saying “it’s either you or me!”

The solution to your problem has presented itself already. Have your kid do the vacuuming. He will probably bash the walls as well, and will not do a better job, but his software can be improved.

 

[otc]

Finally gave in and bought a robot vacuum and it’s one of the most infuriating products.

It did a great job mapping the house during the initial setup but when you actually use it to clean it seems to more or less ignore the very accurate map. So each cleaning before vacuuming it seems to bash it’s way into and along every single wall and piece of furniture. It’s got a spring loaded bumper on one side and after it finds a wall it backs up not quite enough, rotates and then scrapes along the wall or object, often catching the side of the bumper on the obstacle.

I knew this one didn’t have visual sensors and would bump into unknown obstacles like shoes or backpacks but assumed that it would respect the lidar map it created and not bash the walls.

i know there are different and better vacuums that don’t have this issue but they may have different ones.

tl;dr I’m done with (almost) self-vacuuming and will go back to exclusively letting a housecleaner bash my vacuum into walls and furniture.

oh also, presumably just to fork with me, during the initial mapping it somehow got completely stuck under our range and I almost had to leave it for dead. It has a pop up lidar turret that locked open somehow (maybe because I paused the damn thing when I saw what happened). My kid was supervising the mapping and after that incident I said - “you got to control this thing“ so my kid then started getting in between the robot and other obstacles saying “it’s either you or me!”

Fwiw, I’ve been really happy with my two Roborock units (one on each floor).

Especially the newer one. It does a pretty good job not getting stuck and the minimal tidying necessary to keep the floor clear for it is good for the overall look of the house. I have them scheduled to do different parts of the house at different times (when not in use) 3X a week. The upstairs one cleans at the end of my workday so I can save it if it gets stuck.

Both are self-emptying which is nice. The newer one has a brush design that is significantly better at not filling with hair and also has better obstacle avoidance.

3X a week has made a significant impact and I rarely feel the need to manually vacuum.

 

[UnFacconable]

Fwiw, I’ve been really happy with my two Roborock units (one on each floor).

Especially the newer one. It does a pretty good job not getting stuck and the minimal tidying necessary to keep the floor clear for it is good for the overall look of the house. I have them scheduled to do different parts of the house at different times (when not in use) 3X a week. The upstairs one cleans at the end of my workday so I can save it if it gets stuck.

Both are self-emptying which is nice. The newer one has a brush design that is significantly better at not filling with hair and also has better obstacle avoidance.

3X a week has made a significant impact and I rarely feel the need to manually vacuum.

Mine is a roborock! The lack of visual obstacle avoidance is probably my downfall. Wirecutter recommended it so I didn't spend any time looking into things. I do enjoy how plucky it is overcoming the transition from wood floor to rug but cant abide by the damn thing chipping doors and the like.

 

[otc]

Mine is a roborock! The lack of visual obstacle avoidance is probably my downfall. Wirecutter recommended it so I didn't spend any time looking into things. I do enjoy how plucky it is overcoming the transition from wood floor to rug but cant abide by the damn thing chipping doors and the like.

🤷 mine is a Q8 Max+ which is a midrange model that I don’t think has a camera. Only lidar and IR sensors (plus the bumper).

It still bumps into stuff but it seems to know how to follow the edges of walls without touching them and it doesn’t seem to damage stuff.

Worth it for me for the added cleanliness, especially with a pet in the house. Even if you have to help it out or do some babysitting, it still forces a vacuum…which is more often than I would do it on my own.

 

[double00]

smh

 

[HRoi]

Lol@ (sort of) self-vacuumers

 

[UnFacconable]

🤷 mine is a Q8 Max+ which is a midrange model that I don’t think has a camera. Only lidar and IR sensors (plus the bumper).

It still bumps into stuff but it seems to know how to follow the edges of walls without touching them and it doesn’t seem to damage stuff.

Worth it for me for the added cleanliness, especially with a pet in the house. Even if you have to help it out or do some babysitting, it still forces a vacuum…which is more often than I would do it on my own.

This is what mine does. Almost as if it’s taunting me to throw it like a frisbee. This is probably how skynet started.

 

[ValidusLA]

Been out of this chain for a while. Has SF devolved to a point where its just ****** robot vacuums versus "self-vacuumers"?

What happened to house cleaners?