Great reaction. Housing is a real problem. I know lots of people aged around 30 that still live with their parents. And it's also a problem if you are divorced and have to find another house. If you have enough money, and a steady job, your best bet is to buy a house. It's cheaper overall. (For example, I have had a temporary rental due to divorce and my mortgage is 60% of the rent, which is insane). If you are moving outside of the randstad (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht), houses are cheaper. The Netherlands is a small Country and we are more or less running out of space to build houses. We already sacrificed green spots for housing but we can do that forever. On the part of friendship, you can make friends by joining a community. We moved to another city within the Netherlands and we had not much luck finding new friends. But we joined a community and that certainly helps (in my case a first aid community). But there are more (for example sports). And yes we pay a lot of taxes. But the government does (most of the times) good stuff with the money. We have an expensive infrastructure (not just roads, but a lot of buildings that protect us against the water, both sea and rivers).
The majority of the points he raised are valid, I think he titled the video “the dark side..” just to draw more traffic to the video😶! Nice reaction video
Thank you for your comment. I had the same impression too. At the end of the video I think he then stated that the video was not to critique the Netherlands.
@@josphineogugua It has become a trend that Americans go around the world travelling by Google and go criticize other cultures on RU-vid and completely ignoring their own sad state of affairs. You see that on CNN, FOX, CNBC and many others all the time. They have a consistent and fundamental problem and then try to point out a small issue or incident in another country or cultures as if theirs is not so bad. It is just moral justification.
hahaha.....speak to the manager...lol. If you asked to speak to the manager, you have learned nothing about the Netherlands. The manager is the person that handles the department budgets, does business development, making strategic calls on investments.... They do NOT provide customer service...especially to entitled customers (Karens). In general wages are very, very high compared to other counties. To keep costs of their products within affordable/competitive ranges, companies cannot afford customers calling them for every question they may have and hang on the phone for hours. Customer service departments are way smaller and customers are always expected to try the self-help options first, before calling customer service. ' Living in Amsterdam? Why would you want to do that? It's a tourist trap, not a place to live! But also outside Amsterdam housing shortage is huge. I must agree on that. I completely agree with you about why it is difficult to enter someones friend-zone as an adult and the fact that we would never call casual acquaintances friends. I must also agree with the video that Dutch people are less accessible because of the 'indoor-culture' in the winter. You will not spend half an hour talking to a neighbor in the street when it's raining, so you will have less access to people to "move up" from acquaintance to friend.
The narrator of the video "The Dark side of living in The Neterlands" makes a number of mistakes. Such as "a meating is a meating" is a mistranslation of "afspraak is afspraak." A better translation is "an agreement is an agreement" or "a deal is a deal." There has been a housing shortage in the Netherlands since 1945. But the housing shortage has worsened in the past 12 years. Tenants in The Netherlands are very particularly extremely well protected by Dutch law. There are Web sites that list your tenants rights. Dutchies in Noord Brabant and Limburg province are not agenda dirving like Dutchies above the rivers. If you want to visit them, those Brabanders and Limburgers, call them a few hours in advance to see if they are at home. So they can quickly get fresh pastries and cakes from the bakery or grocery. So you don't travel to them for nothing and arrive at a closed front and back door and quite house.
I am also from Brabant and 100% agree with this. People are busy and don't like it when their house is not tidy and they have no coffee and cookies to welcome others. It makes them feel uneasy basically. It is also very common with family and very close friends, that you can show up at any time but, still, they like to receive a call upfront.
I can agree that life outside the Randstad appear a bit different but topics like tax, making friends, learning to speak Dutch are experienced everywhere.
@@josphineoguguaIt is totally different Josphine. Even the difference between a small(er) village in the Randstad compared to a village in the South, East or North is huge. It is simply a completely different mindset, same as we have so many dialect for such a small country. In the South, where I am from, it is known for southern hospitality and a much more relaxed view on live and enjoyment of the same.
Good review from someone with the real experience. Looking at the video I think not one single clip is actually shot in the Netherlands. Looks to me like some body made it himself easy by stuffing a video with a google search result ( or AI? ). Some comments are spot on, many come from ignorance.
I thought the original video was kind of BS. The housing crisis is real, but is also not recent. I was born in 1962. My parents got married and had to move in a room in a house owned (rented?) by other people to start their married live. I was on the "searching for accommodation" list for 5 years before my fist offer of an apartment in a bad neighbourhood, when average waiting times were 9 years. The waiting lists are longer now, but there are also more people trying out for living on their own. In my town, near Amsterdam, the waiting list for affordable housing is 13 years. So my kids have to find a well paying job soon, or live in bad circumstances. But it has been that way all my live, because we are a tiny country with a lot of people living in it. The problem is real, but not current. Our taxes are high, but yeah, value for money. Learning the language I agree with you, it is an issue, but not an unexpected one when you move countries.
I feel like this is every list I read about moving to the Netherlands. And then every good thing list is like “sprinkles on toast!” And other superficial things.
Wow, you set that straight Josphine! Highly appreciated. I will address my opinion to the original video, not you, and try to type as I listen. The income tax rates are mostly not correctly displayed. There are a lot of "belastingschijven" and "boxes" where you are taxed according to your taxable income, not gross income. They tend to talk about the gross rates and not the taxable amounts, ignoring the salary deductibles and the rates for healthcare, pension and social security. I think The Netherlands has the highest numbers of possible deductibles as well and there are a lot of subsidies and child support, among many others. The Netherlands has chosen to follow the socialist model (no, Americans, that is not far left or even communism). It is where society looks after all, specially the less fortunate and provides social services for everybody, even foreigners. We maintain a model where the taxes flow back to the people, not the 1% and then pretend they will trickle down. The government takes things in their own hands (like public services, hospitals, drugs), paid for by taxes to all. But at the same time, The Netherlands is one of the most free and liberal countries in existence, often introducing liberal thoughts first like euthanasia, registered prostitutes, same sex marriages, use of soft drugs and so on. Not even to mention The Netherlands provided the first company, shares, stock market and 99% of your constitution which you now all call your own. You are living according to our model but, quite frankly, have messed it up altogether. The 247-year old experiment as you want to call it, has pretty much failed. And then there are the privacy laws here that are basically non existent in the US. You just live in a totally different manner, with different values and morals which are, mostly all, inferior to ours. Customer service goes by the idea that people have their own responsibility and fortitude. Not like the US where the tendency is that people need to be handheld and taught (hence the burning coffee, chicken nuggets and dog in a microwave story). Dutch people are not submissive people because we believe everyone is equal. So don't expect to be treated as such in general and with Customer Service in particular. I honestly don't know where the statement comes from that "The Netherlands is known to...". It sounds like a wild guess or clickbait or American tunnelvision that everything should be sculpted after their example. The customer is King, but only if they act Royal, is the Dutch credo! They are there to help you, not to be perceived like a servant. The housing crisis is caused by too many people living (and want to live) in The Netherlands, combined with the effects of the Corona crisis where new development was put on hold. Not even want to mention the banking crisis 15 years ago the US faced us with by providing too much credit their own economy could no longer afford or the international politics they push down our throats that make prices rise and cause inflation allover the place till date. They have caused so many shortages in supply that prices must rise. And in The Netherlands we have to import a lot of things and we rely on international market prices. We just don't have a lot of local raw materials and depend on other countries, markets and American policies and politics. We live with almost 18 million people in a country that is half the size of West-Virginia and still want to maintain parks, nature and other facilities. The main problem is that foreigners/expats all want to live in the same area, usually highly concentrated (and hugely overrated) areas like Utrecht, Amsterdam and Rotterdam and then complain about the houses that are (not) available. And they are far, far better than your New York or Chicago still. The Netherlands is not an open-air amusement park as portrait in your movies where one should have lived at least ones and all come to live on top of each other. Mainly, US expats/immigrants want to live on those anthills, pushing prices up tremendously. Claiming that the prices are unreasonable is caused by the people that actual mention it, don't blame us. Housing is expensive here to begin with. We had no Native Indians to steal the land from. Moreover, a lot of available housing is used for AirBnB's, hostels and hotels, making housing less available that is a burden to us but an inconvenience to you. Dutch people consider a rental house as their own and maintain it as such. Therefore, there is this rule that a house needs to be handed over they way it was accepted. That usually means without carpet etc. because that might not be your choice or liking and you should not be left with a bad choice or have to dispose of it. You have to remove the things before the next one moves in. Don't forget that The Netherlands is created for Dutch tax payers, not for Americans that think that the rest of the world is at their service or it is our job to accommodate you. We set the standard. Having a car is not an investment. I don't understand the limited, unrealistic perception of the vlogger. It is a liability, not an asset. And yes, it is expensive but we have a lot of roads and bicycle lanes to maintain that are kept in a excellent state (unlike the US and many other countries). Where do your taxes go by the way? Quality needs to be paid for. It is not at all a discouragement of the government by upholding costs (where did you get that from) but the people that work on your car have to earn a decent salary as well and not done by Mexican immigrants or underpaid people that need to run 2 or 3 jobs, sorry. That is just a wild guess and a wrong assumption. You can buy a car in another country but you have to pay certain taxes over it because the car will be used on the Dutch roads. It is not forbidden at all. There is free exchange of goods and labor within the Schengen countries. And you want to bring your American gas-guzzler over here, you pay for it. There is also an excellent public transport system that is heavily subsidized by the government. So there goes a big part of the car taxes as well as an alternative, not a discouragement. We Dutch are straight forward and that doesn't go well with a lot of other cultures. Specially the American arrogant attitude that they are God's gift to the rest of the world, doesn't sit very well here. We founded you, not the other way around. Don't come and judge us according to your low(er) standards. Asking "how are you" and then don't listen for the answer for example, is insulting and disrespectful to Dutch people. You have to learn the language basically to participate and be genuine, not just oust words that have no meaning to you, or our answer for that matter. That it is hard to make friends might be true, but Dutch see friends as someone that you can call in the middle of the night when there is a problem, someone you can trust to water your plants when you are on a holiday, not an acquaintance (een kennis) or call everyone a friend just because you bumped into each other or have the same love for sneakers. Generalizing, people in The Netherlands are busy, have a lot of hobbies, do not have maids or laundry services and cook at home mostly and plan things ahead because they have to out of time restrains. We also value time a lot more than money. So don't come and claim our money (being time). And we just don't like it when you just show up at their doorstep, blocking us from the things we want or need to do. Making friends in the summer is just ridiculous. Be reminded please that in The Netherlands, you have to make friends according to our definition and not expect to be accommodated according to your shallow perception of what a friend actually is. If you are not able to make friends in The Netherlands, it is your shortcoming of not being able to adjust to other values and cultures basically. Every country has weather. Here is it's hot, cold and a lot of rain in between or even during. The weather is not erratic because their is no plan behind it, it's nature! In your perception, erratic should be the floods, forest fires, earthquakes, hurricanes and tornado's. Rain is just water like your shower in the morning. For sure one is not sweet enough to melt, so bare with it or don't come or stay here if you are afraid to disintegrate upon arrival. Dutch do not always follow the regulations when it concerns your personal circumstances. It is a "national sport" to deduct from the tax system and bypass existing rules. When it comes to a professional environment, be on time, keep your word and be good for it, otherwise you waste other peoples time and trust. We follow the rules when others are involved because they also rely on it. It is all about respect. Honesty seems to be a problem with the vlogger. He rather beat around the bush and be superficial apparently and expect others to do the same, even in a foreign environment/culture. And as you stated Josphine, most is not a negative but a positive really. We are proud of who we are and have no intention to be American whatsoever or adopt their questionable values. There is no dark side, maybe for the American "visitor" that expect to continue there own life style abroad and expect to other to adopt to them or are simply in search of clickbait. Adjust, accept and respect; you are not at home and you don't pay for what we provide you as a guest. Our infrastructure and provisions are there for you to use and you mostly don't pay for them. Be respectful and stop complaining and, for sure, don't call it a dark side. We are so much more enlightened than you folks. Let's be honest, the US is pretty shady and gloomy, isn't it?! This video is clearly created to subdue the perception of a country that is considered as an example by many in the US and around the world. You do not get bigger by making others look smaller. They still stand at the same height and so do you.
Clickbait title on the original video. Looks like they spend 5 minutes on a search engine and created this video. I think you've improved the video with your reaction.
@@josphineogugua Honestly, I do not see a lot of good points. They are all superficial opinions, based on hearsay and assumptions. I am pretty sure the original video, the vlogger never been to The Netherlands at all. All points are approached from an American point of view with no insight or knowledge at all.
Parcel services as an example of a dark side of the Netherlands? Well, if I believe anyone I am in contact with living in another country, parcel services suck everywhere. 😂 The housing shortage is a problem that isn't solved, and it isn't just about building more houses. After the banking/mortgage crisis the government told the banks to have a better reserve. For some reason the banks got scared (remember, they got scared for a problem they had created themselves). Therefor mortgages are much harder to get; harder than is necessary. It is also much lower than before, again, much lower than is necessary. At the same time, the houses that are build are for "higher income classes". When you're on your own and have an average income, there is no way you can buy. With some luck you find a house for €350K, while the mortgage you can get is only half that. Most new houses that I have seen being built are FROM €500K. The problem is that the shift is not from "cheap" to more expensive, but along the same income groups. So, if you already have a house of €500K, you go to another one in that price range. I haven't seen an upwards movement myself, so for new-comers it is horrible. And then I am not even talking about renting! I see rent prices rise, while quality of housing goes down. The whole market is locked, and it isn't solved by building new houses in the wrong price range. That is even ignoring the fact not enough housing is built. We have however way too many office buildings that aren't used that could be changed to housing.
Thanks for your opinion on this. Getting a family home less than 400K in the Randstad has become so difficult over the years. The prices seems to keep getting higher
@@josphineogugua It has always been like that. 35 years ago, when I wanted to get a "starter home" being single, it was merely impossible to do so or even get a mortgage. There has always been a housing shortage. Luckily I was able to buy the rental apartment I was living for quite a few years already from the "rental association" and was able to make a start like that and move on from there. If you look on Funda Josphine, you will find that houses ie. in Den Bosch are 25% cheaper and when you go to ie. Deventer it is around 40% less than in the Randstad. It is all offer and demand. More demand, less offer or a combination of both, makes prices go up. Thats an economic law everywhere in the capitalist system. And, for those who don't know what "De Randstad" is, it is the roughly crescent- or arc-shaped conurbation in the Netherlands, that houses almost half the country's population. With a central-western location, it connects and comprises the Netherlands' four biggest cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht), their suburbs, and many towns in between, that all grew and merged into each other, forming sort of a city of its own. Good point Tim. The banking crisis was caused by Clinton to allow the bank to set their own credit rules and determine their bank cash reserves. Bush then confirmed that as well. That was the whole cause of it and as a result economies allover the world suffered when the US system collapsed. As a precaution, banks in general now, set very tight rules and requirements.
The video is exaggerating and some points are mostly valid in Amsterdam but there is so much more than Amsterdam. What would you say if big hurds of Dutchies would like to move to Manhattan? Or Hong Kong? Crazy right? Would you also complain if you need to learn Chinese? And people are not crowding on your doorstep to deeply befriend you? 😛 Or would you be surprised if people are a bit different than you expected?
the housing shortage is most notable in social housing, which is a big part of the population, as you are even applicable with a year income of 44.000 for an one person household. not that "social housing" is ment for "the poor" ;) so "social housing" is a broad segment. that is the main problem to us, less housing for that demography. if i'm honest, i really dont care if an expat, with "high skilled immigrant" tax cut, is paying 1200 or 2400 euro rent.... we rather need houses for people that fled for war or prosecution in my opinion. rather than more QoL for wealthy expats. it makes me a tat mad we still cut taxes for people that we consider "more useful"because they had the privilege of a good education. i know a lot of people that don't have that education but still are of great value for our society. so yeah housing problem excists, but expats should be last on our list.
Good point. Like I said, we are not here to accommodate the Americans, claiming to be the example to the rest of the world. I also don't see how they are any "added value" where Dutch have a far superior education system to theirs. So they want to come, pay market price that they themselves worship the model anywayz. Don't complain when you decide to come here to enhance your quality of life and find out it is not free or what you are used to. They save so much from their medical bill here and other facilities in comparison, it should not be any problem to pay some more for housing. And remember, the Dutch infrastructure was built by Dutch tax payers when they were not around and didn't pay a cent for it. All free to them.
I think it’s possible. Do you have any sport or anything you do for leisure ? If yes, joining a group or club where you can do these things in groups will help.
@@josphineogugua Goodmorning! Thanks for your reply. I really do not engage in sporting activities except watch football. Apparently is just work, church that's it. And I'm a bit scared if i subject myself to clubbing or partying it might not go well with me if I get used to it..
Or Asia for that matter or, much worse, their own trailer camps and ghetto's and, in general, can't even walk the streets safely. Or just go a bit rural and you think that you are set 20-30 years back in time where every ones carries a gun to protect themselves from other people with guns. Talkin about a really dark side, just look at their politics. Nothing much darker than that, a total disrespect of human kind.
No country is perfect! The only reason why most people are leaving Nigeria is due to numbers of reasons like insecurities and unreasonable government policies. Well done my sister you're doing a great job 👍
This guy that put this video together is just trying to make clickbait. His points are like: Yeah like the country but it's a pity it's not the mirror image of the USA ;-) And there are so many Dutch people here that talk a funny language ;-)
If i wasn't happily married an knew you got a fantastic husband and lovely kids i would ask you to be my wife, but first.time me and my wife bump up to your family in the hoven or on the market we buy you and your family a drink and bitterballen
