They bought a family house while still living in the UK without having seen it!
Buying a house in the Netherlands whilst living in the UK? Without actually having seen it firsthand? And during Covid Times? It is possible! It wasn't always easy, but they would do it again.
In mid-January we came into contact with a British-Australian couple named Chris and Ginny.
Chris was offered a great job at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven and they wanted to move again anyway. And now, about five months later, they are just about to receive the keys to their new residence in Waalre and they already speak a few words of Dutch. How quickly can things develop?
The Netherlands was top on their list of preferred countries; the UK is easily accessible, it is centrally located in Europe, the atmosphere is good and they had already lived for a while in Germany. They had already made many beautiful trips to the Eindhoven region. Therefore Chris didn’t need much decision time to agree on the job offer in Eindhoven.
Their wish was to purchase a property. But how do you do this if you are not able to visit? Everything was different and more cumbersome because of Brexit and Corona. For example, it was not possible to come to the Netherlands to view properties. Even more difficult in a overstrained housing market. Yet it worked; good preparation plus a good dose of guts. And thanks to the trust that was placed in us; we acted as case manager and did the viewings for them in the Netherlands. We were their eyes and ears!
In the first weeks, the offers on the market in the villages surrounding Eindhoven were explored. Sometimes the ideal home seemed to have been found, but it was too close to an airport! Not an option; a quiet environment was a prerequisite. Or the intended dream home was sold just the day before. Many skype meetings, phone calls and emails later, there was a top three and we did the physical viewings. Chris and Ginny were there from a distance of course and how much fun it was. Together we looked at every nook and cranny of the houses and walked through the neighbourhood. Shops nearby? And yet a green environment? What is the condition of the roof? Is there room for guests? Check! We then negotiated the price, the delivery date and all other conditions. Several very exciting days later it was confirmed; they had their very own Dutch house!
Of course, still a lot had to be settled and agreed upon before all questions and matters were resolved.
The biggest challenge turned out to be opening a Dutch bank account from the UK and clearing the moving goods at customs in Rotterdam. Legalizing the birth certificates was not an easy job either, but with support from our office and using P&D as a postal address, this worked out fine in the end. Thanks to the Dutch employment contract, residence permit applications via the IND and the appointments at the Expat Center South everything ran smoothly.
And then for the Covid issue! Fortunately, they were already vaccinated before departure. Still, just before departure from the UK, two more tests had to be carried out - and another after arrival in the Netherlands to come out of quarantine. It all worked out well. They arrived in Eindhoven on King's Day and saw the Royal Family walking around the High Tech Campus on TV; Chris's new work environment.
Chris and Ginny have now spent one night in a hotel, 10 days of quarantine in a B&B and a number of weeks in a furnished temporary apartment. The wait is for the big day in July; then they get to go to the notary and receive the keys to their own house in the Netherlands. They have already gone to look at the house and are very excited! On the day of the video viewing there was a thick layer of snow, but what was revealed once the snow dissipated was everything they hoped for. There is a lot of green surroundings and hopefully they will get to hear a lot of singing and chirping from the birds in their garden.
““We knew that we wanted to buy a house rather than to rent one as this was better for us long term. As experienced travellers we felt confident to take this big step and move to the Netherlands. Our ideal house would be close to Eindhoven, in green surroundings and with an active community. We think we found all that! ”
We like cycling around but really need to get used to the Dutch traffic at the right. It’s so hard to know which way to look on the streets or how to act on a ‘zebrapad’.
We look forward to talking with the Dutch and are taking lessons already. Then again; everyone is so helpful and speaks English and quite well too! But we like to integrate and hope to get the chance to speak Dutch a lot and to pronounce the words correctly. Our favourite Dutch word so far is ‘neushoorn’. And the most difficult words have a ‘g’ in them, or even two! How to pronounce those?! The Dutch language is quite hard but we can read quite a bit already.
We will surely feel at home soon. What we haven’t figured out yet is what the Dutch eat for breakfast. We are testing different kinds of cereals and we do like the ‘pindakaas’ here. It’s a little runnier than the peanut butter at home. We are still finding the best shop to buy our English tea.
For now, we hope that life will open up again after Covid and we can’t wait to travel around the country and to explore Europe. And off course Chris looks forward to meet his new colleagues at the office in person.
The help of P&D has been very valuable. They were engaged very quickly and have been of great support throughout the entire process”.
It’s our pleasure Chris and Ginny and thanks for the trust!
We wish you a warm welcome again and are convinced that you will soon feel at home in your new place of residence!
Kind Regards,
Team P&D Expat Care