Real estate blues
Lately Karine and me have found ourselves in a Shacker-like position. We want to buy a house in Utrecht, which is well known for being the most expensive and generally hardest city in Holland to buy in house in.
We look at several places already, very often finding out that there are already 3 people that made an offer for it when we arrive there early afternoon on the day they start with the tours there.
It is apparently customary to start negotiations with the first person to make an offer and only after it becomes clear that it is not going to work they will move to next one.
The prices are outrageous! Compared to Enschede, where I lived before moving to the rented house in Utrecht I now live in the prices are between 2 and 3 times higher. I could buy a small villa in Enschede for the amount we are likely to end up spending.
Still we are now in negotiations for this house. It seems to be going alright but if it actually comes to a deal we won't be able to move there until mid december :(.
As an added "problem" we visited another house today. This one is part of a new development on the outskirts of Utrecht. We had already driven through the area and decided it was not something we would be interested in because of the remote location (remote in the dutch sense anyway) and the fact that the whole are is a new development, so per definition less "cozy" (very important for dutch people in general).
Still we went for a tour of this house today and we were absolutely amazed by it. It's large, has an interesting layout, all the features you could want etc.
But the location is still a big issue. Karine won't be able to walk to the train-station to get to work (in Amsterdam) every morning. So bidding for this house automatically means buying a second car.
Still at least there are some options available for us now and I think we'll manage in the end. I can however understand how Shacker must feel a bit better now :).
We look at several places already, very often finding out that there are already 3 people that made an offer for it when we arrive there early afternoon on the day they start with the tours there.
It is apparently customary to start negotiations with the first person to make an offer and only after it becomes clear that it is not going to work they will move to next one.
The prices are outrageous! Compared to Enschede, where I lived before moving to the rented house in Utrecht I now live in the prices are between 2 and 3 times higher. I could buy a small villa in Enschede for the amount we are likely to end up spending.
Still we are now in negotiations for this house. It seems to be going alright but if it actually comes to a deal we won't be able to move there until mid december :(.
As an added "problem" we visited another house today. This one is part of a new development on the outskirts of Utrecht. We had already driven through the area and decided it was not something we would be interested in because of the remote location (remote in the dutch sense anyway) and the fact that the whole are is a new development, so per definition less "cozy" (very important for dutch people in general).
Still we went for a tour of this house today and we were absolutely amazed by it. It's large, has an interesting layout, all the features you could want etc.
But the location is still a big issue. Karine won't be able to walk to the train-station to get to work (in Amsterdam) every morning. So bidding for this house automatically means buying a second car.
Still at least there are some options available for us now and I think we'll manage in the end. I can however understand how Shacker must feel a bit better now :).