Thank you Leesa for sharing! I've been working in Amsterdam for 4 years and just start to seriously consider buying a home here. Your candid reflections are super helpful!
Many thanks for posting this. It was very honest and really well articulated, you dealt with the emotions involved objectively and it will help us make a better informed decision.
Very interesting videos you have made on this topic. And you're right. You have to do what you think is right. If you want to stay in Amsterdam you know you have to make some sacrifices. But just enjoy the place where you live. My daughter, almost 26 years old, has bought a very nice apartment in Haarlem. She is still single, but luckily she was able to buy it (she always saved well). And she lives on the 12th floor and has a view of Amsterdam, Schiphol, Haarlem and the dunes. Two nice terraces so she can sit outside. She really enjoys it there. Haarlem is a very nice city by the way.
I agree the costs are a lot upfront and due to contracts, it’s not always feasible to buy earlier if you don’t have a permanent contract or enough years as a zzper. I was super happy with my mortgage broker and Makelaar, but I also picked a makelaar who specialized more in my location. I chose to pick an apartment that was fine without a renovation although definitely not high end. The kitchen had some issues and I would love to renovate in the future, but not a priority. A friend lived through a long renovation and convinced me to do this. 😂 On the note on the vve meeting, it is really important to be active. Obviously not being fluent in Dutch is a hurdle, but I’m very glad to be active as these regulations still impact you whether or not you are going.
Yes renovation requires a lot of sacrifice and it’s not an easy thing to live through! Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective as a homeowner :)
Financially, it is extremely good to buy a place. In the case you are selling the place, it is usually the buying price or higher. All the loan payment are similar to a rent but when selling the place, you get back most of the money. It’s like free rent for multiple years. In the case you paid the entire load, the rent/loan repayment become zero. At the exception of people changing places often, I don’t see a bad situation financially by buying. After 3 years in a place, I resold it with a small profit and 3 years of “free rent” which did help to buy the next place haha
Yes in many cases, this is true! In an ideal situation, the value of the property will increase and you can sell at no loss/even a profit. The only thing that has held me back in the past is knowing that I can’t afford to buy a place that’s as nice as what I can afford to rent. Also dealing with difficult neighbours seems more painful as an owner than as a tenant. But in most cases, I agree that buying is the favourable option if you can afford the upfront costs!
Ah, you avoided the minefield of "how long should I have a mortgage set at the same interest rate...". I think renovation versus renovated is an issue for everybody who wants to buy a house, Dutch or non-Dutch and a very personal decision (cheaper to do it yourself, better customized to your needs, but expensive in time, money and energy). I always thought that buying should mean you know you can live there for at least 5, preferably 8 years.
Yes ideally the longer you can stay in the home, the better the investment! I think a lot about the renovation question: I would actually argue that the renovation was much harder on us because we had no family or friends we could stay with. It was also hard to not immediately know where to go to buy certain things, or to know whether we were going with a trustworthy contractor or not. It would have been a totally different story if we did the same in Australia - e.g. I see how much less stressful it is for my Dutch colleagues who have gone through the same process. They all just stay with their parents rent free during the renovation, and have so much pre-existing knowledge of where to go/who to contract that we simply did not. So I think with that in mind, as an expat, I would have paid more upfront to avoid the stress!
@@LeesaYu Your colleagues are lucky. I'm Dutch, born and raised in Amsterdam and have been living in Haarlem these last 30 years (biking distance). The people I know all rent a (holiday)house when their house gets renovated, they don't stay with friends or family. When my kids leave the house the spouse and I might well go for a smaller house, so they couldn't stay with us either for such a long period. And the trustworthy contractor is always an issue if you are not really good at judging it yourself. You ask around for advice and just hope that the person advising are good judges :) . So I, as an integrated local, would also be inclined to buy already renovated (though you than still have to hope that it was done by a good craftsperson).
Thank you for sharing your experience in this 3 part series, I really find your very insightful. But I am still confused on one point, you mentioned hiring makelaar and mortgage adviser, Do we have to find them separately? I thought Hypotheek helps with both
Yes, for most people, you hire a mortgage broker and if you wish, you hire a makelaar separately. They fulfil different functions. Your mortgage broker takes care of finding a mortgage lender, the makelaar helps facilitate communication with the selling agent and notary office :)
I know people who only hired a hypotheker, but in a competitive market (the Randstad), a Makelaar gives you an edge with viewings and helps you determine if it is over priced. I could have easily overbid a lot if it wasn’t for my makelaar informing me that more than a certain amount might also be problematic for getting a mortgage as the bank can also refuse to cover more than the assessed value. They often know what is a fair value for a home. I was very happy with mine and did only three viewings before finding my home.
