DETROIT — A popular pastime has developed in Birmingham, Mich.: asking when the Italians are coming.

Three months after Italy's Fiat took a controlling stake in Auburn Hills, Mich.,-based Chrysler, new Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne has a condo in Birmingham and more Italian executives are moving into the area.

"Everyone is genuinely excited that the Italians are coming," said Ed Nakfoor, a Birmingham-based retail consultant. "Everyone thinks they are these chic people."

Dr. Douglas H. Hardy, chairman of SKBK Sotheby's International Realty in Birmingham, whose firm is handling Fiat's relocations, said Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township have been popular locations. Potential buyers are looking at homes starting at $200,000.

"We are working with two to three a month," Hardy said. "They are sending their top people so far. They are establishing a camp first."

Still, most Fiat executives moving here are leasing, despite low home prices. That's in contrast to the 1998 union of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler. German employees settled here in greater numbers and tended to purchase homes.

Few things wowed Italian Fiat executives moving to Michigan more than the very things Americans take for granted: big-box stores and kitchen appliances.

Three months after Fiat took a controlling stake in Chrysler, the Italian carmaker's CEO has a condo in Birmingham, and three other top executives are leasing or buying property in the area, said Gualberto Ranieri, senior vice president of communications for Chrysler Group LLC.

Some are sending for their families, but it is still just a handful of the top executives who have arrived so far.

Other Italian automotive workers, primarily Fiat engineers and salaried workers from Italian parts suppliers, have also been in town on joint projects that might keep them here more permanently in the future, too.

Hardy is helping the executives find homes and showing them around town. They've enjoyed swimming parties, lunching at a country club and trips to the Detroit Zoo and area lakes this summer.

"Our trips to Kroger and Target blew their minds. Then there's the kitchen thing ... the size of the refrigerator blew their minds," he said. "Overall, they really seemed pleasantly surprised at how wonderful Michigan is."

One house a group of executives saw recently in Bloomfield Township was a six-bedroom, 6.5-bath home with 7,339 square feet and listed at $1.9 million. While that was well above their price range, Hardy included it to show the range of housing available.

The kitchen was loaded with upscale appliances including a cappuccino machine. The sheer size and variety of our appliances impressed the executives, Hardy said.

Ranieri said that it is a custom in Italy and most of Europe to buy a home without the kitchen fitted out with cabinets and appliances.

"One of the peculiarities here is all the houses you lease or you buy come with the kitchen already installed," he said. "This is very convenient."

Hardy said the executives looking to buy are looking mostly in the over-$200,000 price range and favor the Birmingham and Bloomfield areas.