Please feel free to reach out and make a no-obligation appointment with one of our brokers. We will schedule a (telephone) meeting in the near future to inform you about the sales process, housing market and to answer any questions you may have. During this meeting we will discuss the rest of the process in detail, but below you will find a concise summary: after the meeting we can link you to a mortgage advisor so you know for certain what you can borrow and therefore spend on the housing market. The next step is the house search itself. We will start this search together based on the houses published on Funda.nl. Funda.nl is the largest housing website in the Netherlands. All houses for sale are published here. Based on your feedback we will schedule viewings. During these appointments we will guide and inform you about the neighborhood, current state of the house and other topics that may be of interest. If you are interested and would like to bid on a property, we will give advice based on thorough research of the property and the neighborhood. We will then draft the proposal and guide you through the negotiations. When your offer is accepted, we arrange a valuator, technical inspector and notary. We will go through the contracts together and during all the appointments above we will accompany you to ensure that the object is handed over to you in good condition.   

You can start right away, however please keep in mind that buying a house can take quite some time. How much time depends on various factors, such as the market at the time you start looking, your personal wishes and your financial situation. In addition, you need a mortgage. Applying for a mortgage can take 4-8 weeks. Furthermore, there are several third parties are involved when buying a house: notaries, valuators and other services. Working with partners can take extra time. For this reason, we advise you to look for housing for between 3 months to a year, so that you have plenty of time to find your dream home.  

To apply for a mortgage you must have a Dutch home address and pay taxes in the Netherlands, register at the town hall and have a BSN number to open a Dutch bank account. You cannot get a mortgage without a private address (not a temporary business address). Depending on the amount you earn and/or any debts you may have, the mortgage provider will grant you a loan amount.   

In short, a mortgage is a long-term loan taken out with the mortgage lender (a bank or pension fund) and used to make payments for real estate. This mortgage and the associated interest are paid off in monthly installments.   

In the Netherlands the two most commonly used mortgages are the annuity mortgage (“annuïteitenhypotheek” in Dutch) and the linear mortgage (“lineaire hypotheek” in Dutch). With an annuity mortgage, the gross monthly costs remain fixed during the lifetime of the mortgage. This is however only when the interest on the mortgage is fixed. The structure of the mortgage changes throughout the lifetime: at the start you pay more interest and less repayment on the principal and at the end this is reversed: you pay little interest but repay more on the principal. Because you pay less and less interest over the lifetime of the mortgage, and you can deduct mortgage interest from your income for tax purposes, this tax benefit you receive will decrease each month. This results in higher net monthly costs. 

Linear mortgage type is similar to an annuity mortgage, but with one important difference: the monthly costs fall during the lifetime of the mortgage. Repayments on the principal will stay the same during the lifetime of the mortgage. Consequently, interest payments will decrease and as a result the tax benefit you receive falls as well. Monthly net costs decline gradually. 

As a rule of thumb, you can assume that you can borrow a maximum of 5 times your gross annual income, but this depends on various factors. If you have other financial obligations and loans (e.g. student loan), this will be taken into consideration in your calculation. The bank also wants to know the value of the property before offering you the loan, to make sure that you do not borrow too much. 

It is important that you have saved about 6% of the purchase price. You will need this to cover the buying costs (“kosten koper/k.k.” in Dutch). The buying cost or “kosten koper” means that the buyer bears all costs for the transfer of the property. The costs of the buyer include the following costs:   

• Transfer tax;   
• Notary costs (for drawing up the deed of purchase, deed of delivery and registration of the mortgage deed);   
• Valuation costs;  
• Bank guarantee costs; 

If the buyer has engaged a buying agent, the corresponding brokerage fee is also for the account of the buyer, but these costs are not officially part of the costs of the buyer. The costs for the purchase broker are generally settled via the final invoice drawn up by the notary. The costs of the selling broker are for the account of the seller.  

It is important to properly map out your requirements and wishes. For example, ask yourself how big the house should be and how many bedrooms the house should have? If you need help drawing up the list, please do not hesitate to contact us.  

Before visiting a house, list exactly what you are looking for and take the checklist with you.  

Some objects are on ground lease. This occurs regularly in Amsterdam. It means that the buyer has the right to use the land, but is not in possession of the land itself. So the ownership of the land is separated from that of the house. What you buy is the right of ground lease: the right to use the land and the house on it. For this you have to pay a fee: the ground lease canon. In this way you buy the ground lease for a definite or indefinite period of time. In most cases, the municipality is the owner of the land and is therefore also the one who determines the ground lease conditions.   

No, the price visible on Funda is the price for which the object is offered on the market. This price is determined by the selling party in consultation with the selling broker. It means that this is the initial offered price. You can best see this price as an invitation to bid. In the current Amsterdam market there are regularly overbids with relatively high amounts. If you would like to know more about this, you can always reach us by phone on 020 620 0813.  

If there is a lot of interest in a property, the owner may decide to sell the property per registration. All interested parties are given the opportunity to submit a final offer including resolutive conditions to the selling agent before a certain date and time. In the Amsterdam housing market it happens regularly that a house is sold per registration.    

You are negotiating if the seller makes a counter offer on your proposal. The selling agent can also explicitly indicate that he is negotiating with you.   

You are not negotiating (yet) when the selling agent only indicates that your offer will be discussed with the selling party.   

f a property is ''under bid'', it means that the seller has a serious bidder. However, it does not mean that the purchase has already been made and viewings can continue during this period.   

No, this is not necessary. Together with the selling broker, the seller decides which interested party he or she will negotiate with. As a buying broker we will inform you in advance about the selling broker's sales procedure and inform you about this upfront.   

If the seller and buyer agree on the items that are most important to them during the sale, such as the price, delivery date and the resolutive conditions, then the selling broker or the notary will record these agreements in writing in the deed of sale.   

As a buyer, the resolutive conditions are important. As a buyer, you do not automatically receive resolutive conditions. If, for example, you wish to include a resolutive financing reservation, you must report this when making your bid. It is important that the parties also agree on the additional arrangements and resolutive conditions before the deed of purchase is drawn up. 

The seller of a property has an obligation to notify the buyer. This means that the seller must inform the buyer about characteristics of the property that are important for the buyer to know, such as defects of which the seller is aware and which are not immediately visible to the buyer.   

The buyer also has an investigation duty. When a buyer is not sure of the state of maintenance of a property, we advise to have a building inspection carried out. For legal matters, such as zoning plans in the neighbourhood (the zoning plan is the plan drawn up by the municipality and describes how the property may be used and how the surrounding area may be used), the buyer may consult the municipality and the Land Registry. 

After the deed of purchase has been signed by both parties, the agreement can still be cancelled. This gives the opportunity to consult experts, for example.   

This cooling-off period lasts three days and starts on the day following the day on which the deed (or a copy thereof) signed by both parties is handed over to the buyer. The cooling-off period ends at midnight of the last day of the cooling-off period. It is therefore irrelevant at what time the buyer has received the copy of the deed. After these 3 days, the buyer can no longer under the purchase of the object. 

If you have stipulated in the deed of sale that you may dissolve the contract if you do not obtain a mortgage (resolutive condition), you must show the seller two refusals to dissolve the deed of sale. If you have not included a resolutive condition and you do not get a mortgage? Then you are obliged to deposit 10% of the purchase price.  

A purchase broker only works in your interest. He or she continues to look at the object rationally, whilst you can be on cloud nine. In this way we take into account; does the object retain its value, does a lot of maintenance still need to be done, what is the state of the foundation and the UvE? On the basis of (among other things) these questions he gives advice on whether or not to buy a house, and for what price. The purchase agent also knows exactly what to pay attention to during the negotiations, the contract of sale and the delivery of the new house. Another advantage is, that a selling agent would rather sell to a buying agent than to a private individual, because he/she has more confidence in that deal. Therefore, hiring a buying agent can be a big advantage!