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During all the time I have been updating everyone with more information on familysearch, I seem to have neglected another site with Italian records that everyone who is working with Italian records ought to know about. This site is an ancestry site for Italy, designed to allow us to search and browse Italian civil registration records. It’s not Ancestry.com, it’s an Italian site called Antenati. (Antenati: Gli Archivi per la Ricerca Anagrafica, http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/?lang=en) You can leave the language for the website in Italian if you wish! Antenati contains the same records typically available on familysearch, and on microfilm in the …

You have been saving for years and now it’s time for you to purchase your first home, but where do you begin? The process can be drawn out and at times excruciating but with the right team in place, it can be smooth sailing. The first step, unless you’re paying in cash, is too find out exactly what a mortgage company or bank will approve you for. This is crucial since there are many different factors in determining if you’re approved and how much you’re approved for. Even an 800 credit score, doesn’t give you an automatic approval like many …

  When someone takes out a regular (forward) mortgage, the borrower makes monthly payments to pay the mortgage down. With a Reverse Mortgage, if you are approved there are no monthly payments and the mortgage balance instead goes up. Why would anyone what to get a reverse mortgage? First of all, not everybody can. It’s only available to borrowers who are 62 years of age or older. How much equity you can access is based on your age and how much your home is worth. It is very popular for seniors who have limited income and have very small mortgages …

  A Roseland Christmas was always aimed at the kids — and still is everywhere. I recall some of the gifts I received, but honestly, I remember getting my dad a carton of cigarettes more. I remember it being an annual dilemma: What do I get mom and dad. With a family consisting of eight kids, there was no question of whether to give our siblings gifts. That wasn’t about to happen. Our parents, that was another story entirely. I don’t remember at what age I started thinking in terms of better presents for my parents, but I know it …

“Parla italiano?” I get that question every now and then from readers calling to change an address or pay via credit card. For the longest time, I dreaded it. “No, I’m sorry,” I’d sheepishly reply. The caller would politely switch to English and on we’d go. Some of them have given me a gentle ribbing. How can the editor of an Italian-American magazine properly do his job with only English in his linguistic toolbox? I get by, but not as well as I might. In my defense, I came by my handicap honestly enough. My father — who was born …

One of my favorite Christmas memories is the year a white Christmas turned black. It all started out on Christmas Eve day in Riis Park, a square-block-sized patch of recreational outlets plunked in the middle of our Chicago neighborhood. I tagged along with my two older brothers to go ice-skating in the portion of the park that was flooded each year to create a sort of ice rink. While my brothers played hockey, I was left to work out the rudiments of ice skating on my own. Being only 5 or so years old, that wasn’t easy. What made it …

I have relatives all over the world. Literally. Obviously most of my close relatives are live in the Chicago area, but many other close and distant relatives stayed for decades in Chicago’s wonderful climate and then decided that once they retired, they would move to California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada etc. (I noticed nobody moved to the Yukon!) I have many relatives in Italy, naturally, but I also have some in France, a handful in Brazil and Argentina, and an entire group in Australia. Thanks to social media, I am able to keep track with some of these international cousins and …

  I believe that commonly used phrases are the key for how we can all build fluency in any language in a short time. If we learn how to incorporate commonly used phrases when we speak Italian, we will be able to express important feelings — like our hopes — just as we do in our native language! This will help us with our “email Italian” as well. Read below and you will see what I mean. This post is the 15th in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If …

So you find your dream home and the seller accepts your offer. Congratulations! After that, you have a short period of time to get your property inspected. There are many different types of inspectors such as a general home inspector, a radon inspector, and a lead based paint inspector to name a few. Each inspector has specialized training in their area of expertise. The best approach is to start with a general home inspector. He can then make recommendations for additional inspectors based on his findings. From there you can sit down with your attorney and real estate agent to …

With mortgage rate hitting their highest level in seven years, some lenders are coming out with products that are helping to keep rate increases at bay while the borrower is shopping. This feature is called “Lock and Shop,” and it’s as simple as its name. Usually a borrower cannot lock into a rate until they have selected a property and come to an agreement on a price. The Lock and Shop feature allows you to lock into an interest rate for 60-90 days while you are shopping for a home. Once you have found a home and your offer is …