We bought a house in Amsterdam! 🏠

It's the reenactment scene for me
It’s been over a year of searching for a house in Amsterdam and we finally did it! In this vlog-style video, I want to share ALL the emotions with you around this massive challenge!
Let’s get into it!
00:00 Why we wanted to stay in Amsterdam
01:26 Entering the housing market
02:07 The reenactment of all reenactments
06:44 Our practical steps: renovating a home in Amsterdam
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#amsterdam #expatlife #buyingahome

[@michelle_kahn]

If you have any moving or renovation advice, I'd be forever grateful if you could share it with me in the comments below 🏘

[@itomg]

Van harte gefeliciteerd! (congrats). It's a challenge to find a place, but you did it. Even as a Duchie it's not easy to find a suitable home. So good on you two.

[@michelle_kahn]

Dankjewel 🫶🏻

[@iZha249]

Congrats! That's a huge thing.

[@michelle_kahn]

Thank you! It really is!

[@Sports_Shorts101]

So cool :) congrats guys

[@michelle_kahn]

Thanks so much Steve!!! ☺️

[@anonuser12345]

No price? It would have been good to add. It would help give some context and also allow us to compare it to other places in the world.

[@michelle_kahn]

This information will eventually be public anyway but I don't want to discuss my finances too much here. Listing price was €675k but you have to overbid. For a bit more context, we would have won another house potentially when overbidding 100k but unfortunately that one didn't workout. This one we overbid less because the house needs work done to it and unfortunately I think we overdid it so it's a touchy topic.

[@anonuser12345]

@@michelle_kahn Thank you for that. When I came back to see your comment I notice you only have a few hundred subscribers and aren't full time TH-camrs, so that definitely makes sense that you aren't sharing all your details on here. I really appreciate it still!! That is quite a lot but comparable to some places in my country (Vancouver, Toronto) so I understand. Really appreciate you answering my comment though - thank you :)

[@michelle_kahn]

@@anonuser12345 indeed! I'm a newbie here haha! 😎 Thanks for respecting that ☺️ I don't know how much more our properties can rise, because salaries are just not matching it. I hear Canada is insane too.

[@johnd3426]

@@michelle_kahn Thank you for sharing those details. I am sure you have it all worked out but it must be quite a high monthly payment. A few weeks ago we were told we could borrow €650k for a monthly payment of €3,051 and we felt we could not stretch it. We earn 11k net but €2,700 goes in childcare and school fees (and that's after the state subsidy) so this might be something to take into account depending on your future plans...

[@Allyblly]

Congratulations. I’m a South African who just bought an apartment in Utrecht. I have a lot of renovations to do as well. It would be great if you could share the costs and advice you have received for the renovations of your apartment 😊

[@michelle_kahn]

Congratulations to you too! I will share. For now, if you can try and get access to a Facebook group called "expats renovating in the Netherlands", I think this might be of help! Message me on Instagram if you have issues with this and I'll try help :)

[@johnd3426]

Maybe you mentioned it in the video but did you use a buying agent? And if not why? Here in The Hague I have been told that it is advisable to use one.

[@michelle_kahn]

We did use a buying agent. I actually want to dive into this a bit more in another video. So many people here talk about the makelaar mafia, but while being in the market for over a year, I actually question if this is truly a thing. I was not at any advantage to anyone else by having a makelaar, and based on reactions from the selling agents (and I met a lot of them) they were not at any advantage either. I just think the market is wild and there's nothing you can truly do to predict what to bid. We had a number of properties taken off before we could even view or bid and I think this must just be through connections. We had a South African reach out to us when he was considering selling, and that could have potentially worked in our favour. I'll never know.