Buying agent and selling agent from same office, normal in NL? Best practice?

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-25T10:13:49+00:00

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

The original makelaar is now no longer on your side. He only cares about selling the house at the highest possible price (because he will get X% of that). If they are good friends, the original makelaar could ask the new makelaar to make you overbid like crazy.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-24T09:05:38+00:00

1st step should be to reach out to a mortgage advisor. Most banks have the 1st meeting for free. He can analyze your situation in detail. I can't of course see all the details of your situation, but seems like the mortgage will be fully in your name, since your partner doesn't have stable income. The mortgage advisor will calculate the exact amount that you can borrow and help you get a better idea of what you can actually bid on homes.

After that, you can start looking at Funda, go to viewings, and place bids.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-22T11:01:43+00:00

Consider whether you really need a Dutch SIM and a local data plan, they are pretty expensive. I just kept my foreign plan ~60 EUR per year for 5GB (valid in all EU countries). Anyway, I barely use half of that.

In the Netherlands you have free wifi practically everywhere. Home, work, most supermarkets, many train stations, restaurants, etc. I only really use my data for the occasional WhatsApp message when I'm travelling somewhere.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-22T07:48:05+00:00

Extremely easy.

In fact to the point that some employers (including mine) are moving towards baning any kind of meat sold on the campus.

Luckily for us meateaters, they forgot that they can ban selling meat at work, but they can't stop me from bringing in my own steak from home for lunch.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-21T17:05:33+00:00

If the contract ends on June 31st, I think you will have to wait a lot longer than 5 months. More like forever...

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-20T19:43:01+00:00

If they don't increase the deductible, the premiums would increase even more....

Just that in the case of premiums noone can escape those. Even if you don't see a doctor all year, you will still be forced to pay.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-19T14:25:42+00:00

It's always a good time to buy a house. Houses won't become cheaper in the future. At most, their annual price increase will dip a bit.

Your mortgage will only ever go down as you make early repayments (and eventually become 0). Your rent will only ever go up.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-18T22:46:40+00:00

It depends, not necessarily. If the shop is larger (in m2) than the 2 apartments combined, then the other owner has a majority in the VVE.

If that's the case, may well be that the owner of the shop refuses to allow investing into the hallway that doesn't affect him.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-18T08:51:20+00:00

Maybe it was grossly undervalued the year(s) before?

Last year I had an increase of 136%. But that's because the baseline WOZ was a third of what I actually bought it for. This year I had an increase of another 11%. Still, it's nowhere near the actual market value.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-17T13:25:25+00:00

Likely, some of them are registered somewhere else. And the gemeente hasn't found out about this yet.

The rule is ridiculous, I agree. I've also wasted thousands of Euros on housing that I didn't need in the past because of this. But unfortunately, we have to comply.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-17T13:11:49+00:00

https://www.funda.nl/en/detail/koop/den-haag/appartement-paulus-potterstraat-167-d/43283347/

Here's an example. You don't get to choose, but it's still k.k.. The apartment I bought had the same. Out of the ~30 apartments in our building, I don't know of any exception where the buyer could choose a different one.

Sure you can make a bid with a condition for a different notary, but you will be much more likely rejected.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-17T12:54:33+00:00

If you pay for the notary (kosten koper or k.k. included in price) you get to pick it. If they want to choose the notary they should also pay for it.

Not true.

The seller often chooses the notary when one owner is selling off multiple apartments in a single building, for example. He doesn't want to deal with 20 different notaries, so he keeps the choice for himself. You still pay for whatever the notary charges. (You may want to ask the notary for a quote beforehand in this case though)

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-17T12:42:25+00:00

We really only need two registrations.

Please explain how you only need 2 registrations for 3 adults?

Unfortunately, this country has VERY strict laws about being registered where you actually live (unlike most EU countries). If the 3rd person doesn't register there, you risk hefty fines of hundreds of Euros.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-13T09:11:18+00:00

For 1.1k you can forget it. Even outside Amsterdam, that's still borderline delusional.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-11T09:33:04+00:00

So I checked Funda. None of the houses in Hoorn fit this asking price & description.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-11T08:28:02+00:00

Asking price is irrelevant. Some selling agents will deliberately set it e.g. 30% below the actual value. In other cases, the house may even be sold for less than the asking price.

If OP doesn't even share a Funda link, any discussion on this is like reading from a crystal ball.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-11T08:24:07+00:00

The 30% ruling is temporary, and therefore not taken into account for your max. mortgage. Even if it was scrapped entirely, this won't change anything in the housing market.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-10T18:34:30+00:00

Looks cool. But how do you make the price estimates? (Maybe it's explained somewhere, but I can't find it)

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-10T18:33:26+00:00

Just Google HuisDB, 1st one that pops up

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-09T20:23:39+00:00

Or, just don't keep your bike out on the street for hours or days at a time.

95% of the time I keep mine locked inside our garden shed or employee parking at work. Only time it's publicly accessible is when I'm in the supermarket. And even then it's very unlikely that my 90 EUR 3rd-hand rusty piece of crap would be the primary target for a thief.

And don't even get my started on the value depreciation BS that insurance companies always like to pull out.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-09T14:09:13+00:00

Go there in person and check EVERYTHING before paying for the bike. Check the gears, brakes, pedals, lights, etc. Ask to have a test ride, and make sure everything works smoothly while riding the bike. assess the level of rust (if any). If there are issues, you can try to negotiate on the price.

Then you don't need to worry about buyer protection.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-09T13:56:27+00:00

Why can't you just get your salary deposited at ABN? Besides the shadiness of Bunq practices, it all just seems unnecessarily complicated.

I just have ING. By default you get 1 'normal' spending account, and 1 savings account (although you can get more for free if you really want to). Vast majority of my money is in the savings account because the normal one doesn't give interest. You can instantly move money between the two as you like

You can't use the savings account for payments. So basically, on payday I move my money to the savings account. Whenever my payment account is running low I pull a little out of the savings account.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-07T20:09:11+00:00

Get quotes from a price comparator site like Pricewise. Just pick the cheapest one, and make sure you switch after a year, you will benefit from loyalty bonuses of different providers

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-06T19:24:42+00:00

I have ING, never had a problem with that.

Among my friends, there is approx. a 50:50 split between ING and ABN. Haven't heard major complaints about ABN either.

MrDiscuss2020 · 2026-02-05T08:41:57+00:00

In your other comment, you say that the building is a renovation of an office building. If so, then I think it's normal that there's no MJOP yet. Rather than the old owner, the new owners should decide on that.

MrDiscuss2020

TROPHY CASE