Forums » Netherlands » Housing in the Netherlands

• barbenny

  

  • 7 posts
   

  April 10, 2012 12:58:10 PM CEST

  Looking for information in English and contacts for selling a house in Leiden surrounds.

   

  Makelaar website in English?

  Any other useful website in English about selling house in Zuid Holland?

  Good/successful experience with a Makelaar in Leiden surrounds for selling?

   

  Thx,

  Ben

  
  This post was edited by barbenny at April 10, 2012 12:59:04 PM CEST
• barbenny

  

  • 7 posts
   

  May 1, 2012 11:54:42 PM CEST

   

  Hi,

   

  About 3 weeks since first post... no answer, but many viewing! In fact, no website in English, right?

   

  But we invited 3 makelaars to visit the house... selected based on what houses they sell on funda (using same criteria than our house or houses we could buy as the next one) ...then 3 makelaars randomly selected out of ten! I will not give names but share an experience.

   

  Tip 1! We "sold" the house to the makelaar. We made the house almost to its best! Clean and tidy, they can see beyond things, but still. Then after 1-2 hours chat during which they have "sold" their own person/product, they come with their price estimation of the house... meaning what they think they can sell it on the current market. Ah! we also took a visit in a house they are currently selling as they will do for ours, right! For selling, costs varied between fix 4000+VAT and 1.6% of selling price (of which 750 fix at start, incl the stylist advice costs!). The makelaar should propose a reduction in his costs if he does both selling (your previous house) and buying (the next one).

   

  Tip 2! We did not mention anything about the price we hoped before they do their estimate... it is their job! They did well, all 3 within less than 10% difference in price estimate, just around our pessimistic prognostic. Make the average; you get your reasonable price! Our neighbor gets crazy with 25% difference between estimates.

   

  Tip 3! chose between 2 strategies... either put the price to what you wish and hope for visits (10-15% negotiation margin) and plan a large price reduction after 2-3 months; Or accept that the market is bad, start at a (very) reasonable price and play with (very) little margin of negotiation, hoping for many more visits!  Tough, hum! Market is going down, so you could remain behind constantly despite a 3-5% reduction every 6 months! And We are so annoyed -wasting time- visiting houses overvalued by 10-15%, we could not do that!

   

  Tip 4! For <1000 euro it is apparently possible to be on Funda and do most of it on your own, including visits (in dutch)!

   

  Finally, we have chosen the makelaar who was the most convinced about the beauty/potential of the house (a renovated, modernized, well maintained house dated pre-1600 in the city center of Leiden). He actually went up to the attic on the ladder, was punctual with no last minute change, had not forgotten document and seems the most efficient to put house on market asap (6-8 working days between contract signature and be on funda...). All is about impression...and luck! We will see.

   

  Feel free to share your tips/experience...

   

  Ben

   

   

• idearulez

  

  • 85 posts
   

  May 9, 2012 3:11:38 PM CEST

  Hi Ben,

  Thanks for your informative post. I bought a house in 2010 in Amsterdam Zuidoost area. Its a newly built house and although I am not looking to sell it instantly but my plan is to leave NL in few years, now I know the market is not right at this moment. But I am interested to know the process for selling house with no knowledge of dutch language. I hope you keep posting on this thread and inform me about how things are moving for you.

  As I bought my house directly from the builder I didn't have much thing inside the house, and few rooms are empty since start.

  We are couple only using 3 rooms out of 6 we got. I would like to know about how to make it attractive for buyers and what else I can do.

  Thanks.

  
  This post was edited by idearulez at May 9, 2012 3:13:23 PM CEST
• gbu1

  

  • 14 posts
   

  May 9, 2012 7:46:18 PM CEST

  idearulez said:
  

  Hi Ben,

  Thanks for your informative post. I bought a house in 2010 in Amsterdam Zuidoost area. Its a newly built house and although I am not looking to sell it instantly but my plan is to leave NL in few years, now I know the market is not right at this moment. But I am interested to know the process for selling house with no knowledge of dutch language. I hope you keep posting on this thread and inform me about how things are moving for you.

  As I bought my house directly from the builder I didn't have much thing inside the house, and few rooms are empty since start.

  We are couple only using 3 rooms out of 6 we got. I would like to know about how to make it attractive for buyers and what else I can do.

  Thanks.

  Idearulez, you sound like a designer, like me! - with so many spare rooms would you be interested in registering 2 people (Brit)?. I'm a euro commuter temporarily contracting in the uk but business registered in Amsterdam.

  Lease of say 6 months- only occasional overnights required.

  If so, contact me:

  gbu1gbu1@gmail.com

  
  This post was edited by gbu1 at May 9, 2012 7:48:16 PM CEST
• idearulez

  

  • 85 posts
   

  May 9, 2012 11:35:04 PM CEST

  gbu1 said:
  

  idearulez said:
  

  Hi Ben,

  Thanks for your informative post. I bought a house in 2010 in Amsterdam Zuidoost area. Its a newly built house and although I am not looking to sell it instantly but my plan is to leave NL in few years, now I know the market is not right at this moment. But I am interested to know the process for selling house with no knowledge of dutch language. I hope you keep posting on this thread and inform me about how things are moving for you.

  As I bought my house directly from the builder I didn't have much thing inside the house, and few rooms are empty since start.

  We are couple only using 3 rooms out of 6 we got. I would like to know about how to make it attractive for buyers and what else I can do.

  Thanks.

  Idearulez, you sound like a designer, like me! - with so many spare rooms would you be interested in registering 2 people (Brit)?. I'm a euro commuter temporarily contracting in the uk but business registered in Amsterdam.

  Lease of say 6 months- only occasional overnights required.

  If so, contact me:

  gbu1gbu1@gmail.com

  Hi gbu,

  I am not designer, no and also not looking for subletting my house. But if you are really in a fix and need some help then I can help. We can dicsuss about it. I never been into this business. I will mail you soon.

• barbenny

  

  • 7 posts
   

  May 18, 2012 12:50:26 PM CEST

  Another 2 weeks since last post...

   

  We end-up on Funda in a record time, 5 working days since contract signature with makelaar.  It was important at the time as the tax reduction on buying to 2% instead of 6% was in place till July 1^st. (Since then it has been prolonged till the new election in September…) To reach this fast viewing on Funda, we skipped the floor maps (plattegrond) at first, planning to submit them later as a change. However, it took about an extra 6-7 working days to get the floor maps and English text fully right in there, which was slightly disappointing even though we are very happy with the final results.

   

  We now think this was a small mistake and should have waited for having it all ready before going on Funda – Tip 5. The reason is that many people looked at the house over the first 4-5 days. Whether this is by curiosity or real interest, it is not known…but the first 3 day viewing is really impressive… People are really looking on a daily basis! You can get the statistics over the Funda website for your property from the makelaar.

   

  Here we go. Now we wait and see… the average selling time is more than 4 months nowadays… but we do not have an average house, ;o) !

   

  You can have a look at it:

  http://www.funda.nl/koop/leiden/huis-84824202-volmolengracht-2-b/

   

  Cheers,

  Ben

• barbenny

  

  • 7 posts
   

  May 18, 2012 2:23:46 PM CEST

  Another useful quote:
  ouloveit1 said February 10, 2010 11:58:08 PM CET on -http://community.expatica.com/forums/topic/16276/any-tips-for-househunting- :
  It's just like buying a home in my home country (America).
  
  You choose a Makelaar and you sign a contract with him that says you are ONLY using him to buy a house. (You cant hire several Makelaars to represent you and if you do ... you will get sued.) He will contact the Makelaars that are representing the houses you want to view. Let your Makelaar do his job.
  
  Then you go through the routine of your price point, the area you want etc and he finds you places.
  
  With the internet it is easy because you can watch and monitor EVERY house that is for sale on www.funda.nl and tell you Makelaar ... which ones you want to view.
  
  Of course, the listing is not up to the minute so your Makelaar will normally get the heads up on any NEW listing in the 24 - 48 hour turnaround before the house actually gets posted in funda. So if he KNOWS his client wants a certain kind of house and he gets the heads on in advance .. he can get you out there for a viewing before the rest of the world sees it on Funda. You can't do this part on your own.
  
  One thing that is odd though - they want you to view the houses during weekdays during work hours - this is a killer. So you typically cannot view the homes after 6:00pm or on weekends, Of course, you might get lucky ... just don't count on it.
  
  I watched the area and the houses in my price range like a hawk for 3 months until I got a buyer for my old house - verbal commitment, Then I immediately told my other Makelaar in Den Haag that I had a buyer so I wanted to hurry and view the houses that I was interested in all in 1 day.
  I took only that one day off work.
  
  I think I had 8 houses on my list that I had been tracking on funda and I got to see 6 of them (grueling!) in one day. I wanted house number 3 .. so I forced my Makelaaer to call them at the end of the day and make an offer (didn't want to play hard to get!) and we came to an agreement right then and there. BUT I knew exactly what I wanted.
  
  My advice is to get your Hypotheek (Mortgage) offer letter in your hands so you know what you can spend, find a nice Makelaar and start going for viewings. Then do your research so that you know what's going on and just have the Makelaar suppliment your information and of course, make the bargain to bring the price down etc. He should know the city and thye area as well - lots of stuff you can't find out on your own.
  
  I think you should get a place in the centrum of AMS if your friends are all there. Otherwise .. it's gonna drive you nuts to be off the beaten path.
  
  A lot of my friends already lived in Den Haag centrum so I knew I wanted a certain area.
  
  Don't be indecisive and wishy washy and focus on all sorts of little petty details - cause then he will think he's got a dingbat on his hands so ... he's not gonna treat you right.
  
  Get your ducks in a row and make him like you .. then you will get want you want.
  
  
• barbenny

  

  • 7 posts
   

  June 8, 2012 12:26:10 AM CEST

  Another 3 weeks since last post...

   

  Observing what comes and go and the number of visits...we conclude that the market is very very very slow and there is so much choice... So we try to bring people in and organise an OPEN HOUSE on Saturday... more info on Funda as usual! 

   

  http://www.funda.nl/koop/leiden/huis-84824202-volmolengracht-2-b/

   

   

  
  This post was edited by barbenny at June 8, 2012 12:27:36 AM CEST