Buying a House in The Netherlands | What you should know and some tips

* Transfer Tax Exemption Update 2023*
As of 2023 the purchase price criteria, to benefit from the transfer tax exemption, was extended to an amount below 440.000 euros (instead of an amount below 400.000 euros, mentioned in my video).
In this video I share with you my take on the process of buying a house in The Netherlands. I provide some tips regarding the offer and how can you leverage the information available via the owner’s association. I tried to go through the main steps of buying a house and mention topics that are very specific to the Dutch context, such as ground lease, criteria for transfer tax exemption and the National Hypotheek Garantie.
It is also interesting to mention that in The Netherlands you can finance up to 100% of the market value of a property! Purchasing costs and financing fees can’t be included in the mortgage. I do a simulation of these costs in the video!
I would like to clarify that it is not mandatory to hire a real estate agent (I bought my house without one).
I hope this video provides some value and helps you to have an overview on what you might come across when buying a house in The Netherlands.
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⏱️Chapters⏱️
00:00 Start
00:06 Know your budget
00:49 Mortgage Advisor
01:58 National Hypotheek Garantie (NHG)
03:39 Find your home
04:02 Ground Lease
05:28 VvE - Owner's Association
07:09 Visits
08:44 Offer
09:15 Clauses in the offer
12:14 Property valuation
13:08 Loan paperwork
13:52 Transfer Date + Notary
14:55 Additional costs
16:21 Costs simulation
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Links:
➡️Online Mortgage Calculators:
ABN Amro www.abnamro.nl/en/personal/mo...
Hypotheker www.hypotheker.nl/zelf-bereke...
Expat Mortagage expatmortgages.nl/mortgagecal...
ING www.ing.nl/particulier/hypoth...
Consumentenbond www.consumentenbond.nl/hypoth...
➡️National Hypotheek Garantie www.nhg.nl/english-summary/
➡️ Funda www.funda.nl/
➡️ House Visit Checklist: drive.google.com/file/d/1jfFi...
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DISCLAIMERS
This content is for education and entertainment purposes only. Mafalda does not provide tax or financial advice. The information is being presented without consideration of the financial objectives, risk tolerance, or financial circumstances of any specific viewer and might not be suitable for all viewers.

[@mafaldaboers]

** Transfer Tax Exemption Update 2023** As of 2023 the purchase price criteria, to benefit from the transfer tax exemption, was extended to an amount below 440.000 euros (instead of an amount below 400.000 euros, mentioned in my video).

[@SwirlingSoul]

I'm Dutch, and I wish they had taught me this in school when I was 14. This was a very clear explanation of purchase possibilities and costs.

[@igorkatkov4915]

Brilliant, thank you ❤

[@OrkunAkar]

thank you for providing clear and useful information.

[@SNEHDENCARDOSO]

You explain so nicely and so precisely

[@murthyspec2002]

Very Clear and Nice explanation!! Thanks for sharing this info!!

[@Sean1homeles]

This is excellent. Thank you

[@marcosnicolau5137]

Best video about the full process and estimations....great.

[@sassyandawesome3838]

Great video!

[@MshTch]

Wonderful video!!!

[@hernantibolla64]

Hi Mafalda! We are moving to NL next year with my husband so I have binge-watched all your videos haha. I wanted to thank you because I have found all the information very well communicated and organized. We have this long-term project of buying a house there (not at the beggining of course) and this was very helpful. I hope you get a lot of subscribers soon :) Just one question: which would be some of your favourite places to live in NL (considering a balance between prices/costs but also not so very far from a big city like Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, etc)? As someone who has already lived a few years there, I would really value your opinion!

[@jaccovermeulen2762]

nice summary, even for Dutch people.

[@melissalau6570]

Hi Mafalda, can I ask using an example below: Mortgage by income: €400k Property listing price €320k Market valuation price: €380k In this case, our maximum mortgage will be at €380k or €400k? Can we max out the mortgage amount and use the excess (€60k-€80k) for renovation or additional works?

[@user-sc4bj7be5u]

Hey What happens if I pay additional payment every year other than allowed 10% re-paymenet and monthly mortgage, I have mortgage from ABN Amro bank.

[@Sean1homeles]

Why does the buyer have to pay the real estate agent? Surely this a cost for the seller?

[@peterf1]

An excellent video. Very thorough so I feel bad asking this question, since apparently not in any Funda listing, so not routinely part of the house purchase conversation. But how can someone find out about the annual tax obligation an owner of Dutch property would owe to city, provincial or federal tax collectors?

[@RealConstructor]

You pay three property taxes in The Netherlands, national, municipal and waterboard, no provincial property tax. The property tax differs per municipality and per waterboard area. The municipal assessment notice, every Februari, is the most important, because on this taxation form is the appraisal (WOZ-waarde) written. National property tax (eigenwoningforfait) is payed with your income tax and is a nationwide percentage. In 2022 it was 0.45% of the WOZ-waarde, the appraisal assessment notice of the municipality. So if your home is appraised at €500,000, your eigenwoningforfait is €2,250. This is not the tax, but this is the amount you’ll have to add to your income, which is taxed by 37.07% in the first bracket and 49,5% in the second bracket. So depending on your income/bracket, you can calculate your national property tax. At most it will be € 1,113.75. The municipal and waterboard tax percentages can be found on the website of your municipality and your waterboard area. In my municipality it is 0.0724% of the WOZ-waarde, so f.e. €500,000 x 0.0724% is €362. In my waterboard area the property tax (called watersysteemheffing) percentage is 0.012483% of the WOZ-waarde, so f.e. €500,000 x 0.012483% is €62.42. The WOZ-waarde (appraisal assessment notice) is the base for the property tax percentages of all three government bodies. Hope this is the information you requested.

[@peterf1]

@@RealConstructor A sincere Thank You! Way more detailed content than I hoped for so this is very very helpful. My wife and I plan to retire to NL so for us 'fixed income' folks, the tax burden becomes (more?) important. As a comparison, in my town a $500,000 property would be responsible for about $6,000 in annual taxes and as you get closer to NYC, it can more than double. Knowing NL had a fairly high income tax, I just didn't know if there were similar 'other' taxes. Thanks again and look forward to more great content.

[@DRX777]

Hi Mafalda, i wanted to ask if there is a way to have the house inspected BEFORE I make my bid? Because what if I make a bid for 300.000 and then the house inspection tells me that the market value of the house is 250.000? Now I have to put 50.000 from my own pocket, it's a borderline scam. Where am I supposed to get that money? How am I supposed to know the market value of the house that I want to buy? Thank you

[@robertvermaat2124]

That was the case in the past when owners could only negotiate with one buyer at the same time. But during the last 2-3 years the system became overheated and it became like an auction sale.. :( Hopefully the market will cool down enough to return to old times when you had time to (re)consider your bid.

[@mafaldaboers]

Hi Dario, thank you for your question, it is a good one :) Doing the valuation before making a bid is not common. Firstly, you would have to pay for the valuation, not knowing if you get the house. If you follow this strategy for several houses, you will end up spending a large amount of funds. Secondly, to make the valuation a valuer has to visit the house, which is very inconvenient for the seller (because he/she has to clean the house, free the agenda for the appointment etc). Then the valuation report can take up to 1 week, after the visit, to be ready, which in some cases is too late to make the bid. In order to avoid the risk of paying a large sum from your pocket, you can always put the Financial Clause (that I mention in the video), stating that your bid is only applicable if you can get the financing of a certain amount. For example, you make a bid of 300.000, but your clause says that the bid is only applicable if you get a financing of at least 285.000. In this case, if the valuation report concludes 250.000 of market value, you can cancel the deal without additional costs. If you are hiring the services of a real estate agent, he/she can support you with an estimate of the market value. You can also research on Funda.nl similar properties and see the asking price (although the actual selling price may deviate from this number). You can also ask the broker who is selling the house, but you might get a very biased answer. In general, I would not expect that the market value is much more than 10% below the purchase price (talking from my experience in buying a house and from friend's experiences). I hope this answer helps :) Good luck!

[@DRX777]

@@mafaldaboers Thank you very much for the detailed answers. 🙏🙏

[@Monsterpoxa]

Hi Mafalda. I am planning to buy a flat in the coming two years, but I have a question. In case there are 60k left to be paid, can I just pay it off, in case I have the money? Is it possible?

[@MohMah]

Exemption limit on purchase price for the 2% transfer tax is 440000 in 2023. You mentioned 400000 which is the outdated number.

[@mafaldaboers]

Hi Moh Mah! Thank you for the call out :) Indeed, fortunately the amount went up as of 2023! As I can't edit the video that is already uploaded, I added the correct amount in my description and comments. Have a great day!

[@Commenter9120]

is it worth to buy a house in the current market with 4% average interest rate?

[@mafaldaboers]

Hi Nikhil! Thank you for your comment :) Unfortunately I can't give personal financial advice on this. What is best for you really depends on your personal situation and plans for the future. I would build a case with the pros and cons and taking into account the amount of time I would live in the new house. If you are currently renting a place now, you can compare the amount of your monthly rent with the potential monthly mortgage payment and consider maintenance, taxes etc. Lastly, I would say that buying a house is not just a financial consideration. You should feel safe, comfortable and happy where you live :)

[@robertvermaat2124]

When I bought my house 27 years ago my father and father in law advised to keep the mortgage interest rate variable. I don't know if that option is still available but I have never regretted it. I'd say 4% is not very high (it never went much below 3 I think) and judging the current developments it will only go up. But that's just my personal view on this.

[@RealConstructor]

@@robertvermaat2124It depends on your situation and on the current interest rates at the moment you buy a house and close a mortgage for it. When my parents bought a house in the seventies, interest rates were between 10 and 15%, when I bought my apartment in the nineties the interest rates were about 7%. In these cases I and my parents took a variable rate, so we could profit from lower rates, because the interest rates were very high. When I bought my second apartment in 2017 the interest rates were about 4% and I fixed them for 10 years. When I bought my third home in 2021, the interest rates were about 1% and I fixed it for 20 years. When you fix the interest rate, you pay a little higher interest rate. In my case the 1% variable rate became 1.6% fixed rate for 20 years. If I wouldn’t have fixed the rate, I would now pay an interest rate of 4%. That would mean €1,800 instead of €700, so a whopping €1,100 more interest payment of my monthly salary. So the fixed interest rate of 1.6% is a gift from heaven for me. I made the right choice.

[@Allan-lr5eg]

'PromoSM'