Looking back, the first three months were challenging- I was looking for a job, and we moved twice.. I was lucky enough to find a job within a couple of months, which is good considering there aren't many jobs in my field in English.
We had to move out of our first apartment as we wanted a place that didn't have furniture- our furniture was due to arrive from Australia soon. Rob's work found a good apartment for us we could stay for a few months facing a canal in the Jordaan- my favourite area in Amsterdam (not cheap but they gave us a good rate). Meanwhile, hunting for an apartment was pure hell. This sounds dramatic but it was. Thankfully we had a great support system back home for encouragement, my sister, wonderful friends and family who we Skyped with regularly. This made me happy and kept me on track.
The problem is this-the Amsterdam property market doesn't always rely on real estates for rentals. It's mostly done via word of mouth network- vis-a-vis. So and so has a place that they're subletting, and you have to be quick..and you have to trust that this random person you've never met will be a good landlord,and that the apartment is in good condition....
No thanks.
If you want to go through an agent, you have to deal with a makelaar. That's Dutch for lazy, money-hungry real estate agents- you have to pay them two months rent in advance as a commission for nothing other than showing you the place; on top of the deposit for the rental property. I don't like it- but this is a very European thing. You then deal with the landlord directly afterwards for anything you need- so really that's the world's easiest job.. Showing tenants empty apartments and listing them online- sign me up please, people!
It's different to Sydney, where you don't pay real estates anything, and you always deal with agents even after you sign the lease.
Thankfully Rob found a place through a real estate and, no commission had to be paid to the makelaar. This was a scoop! Even though it was not in the centre of Amsterdam, it's in a very nice suburban area next to the Amsterdamse Bos (a really nice big park that Dutchies love). Full of families, very quiet, not much here. But it has a kick ass shopping centre close by (indoor, this is not common in Holland despite the awful weather), and lots of lovely trees. ..so we took it.
Our furniture was not due to arrive for another two weeks.. yet we had German friends visiting the first weekend we were moving in. Thankfully Ikea is here.. and oddly when you walk in there and see the same stuff you saw in Australia; get a good whiff of that Ikea plasticky, fake wood and Swedish sausages while simultaneously getting trampled on by fifty people at the entrance.. you are home, sweet home!
Four hours, a mad scramble to the check out to make it in time before home delivery closed (I can race people with a full Ikea trolley!) two double sofa beds, copious amounts of other crap useful home wares, and a lot of Euros later we had furniture.
We had to move out of our first apartment as we wanted a place that didn't have furniture- our furniture was due to arrive from Australia soon. Rob's work found a good apartment for us we could stay for a few months facing a canal in the Jordaan- my favourite area in Amsterdam (not cheap but they gave us a good rate). Meanwhile, hunting for an apartment was pure hell. This sounds dramatic but it was. Thankfully we had a great support system back home for encouragement, my sister, wonderful friends and family who we Skyped with regularly. This made me happy and kept me on track.
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| The Jordaan-historic neighbourhood |
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| View from our balcony-told you it was good! |
The problem is this-the Amsterdam property market doesn't always rely on real estates for rentals. It's mostly done via word of mouth network- vis-a-vis. So and so has a place that they're subletting, and you have to be quick..and you have to trust that this random person you've never met will be a good landlord,and that the apartment is in good condition....
No thanks.
If you want to go through an agent, you have to deal with a makelaar. That's Dutch for lazy, money-hungry real estate agents- you have to pay them two months rent in advance as a commission for nothing other than showing you the place; on top of the deposit for the rental property. I don't like it- but this is a very European thing. You then deal with the landlord directly afterwards for anything you need- so really that's the world's easiest job.. Showing tenants empty apartments and listing them online- sign me up please, people!
It's different to Sydney, where you don't pay real estates anything, and you always deal with agents even after you sign the lease.
 |
| Makelaars are for decoration! |
Thankfully Rob found a place through a real estate and, no commission had to be paid to the makelaar. This was a scoop! Even though it was not in the centre of Amsterdam, it's in a very nice suburban area next to the Amsterdamse Bos (a really nice big park that Dutchies love). Full of families, very quiet, not much here. But it has a kick ass shopping centre close by (indoor, this is not common in Holland despite the awful weather), and lots of lovely trees. ..so we took it.
 |
| Amsterdamse Bos |
Our furniture was not due to arrive for another two weeks.. yet we had German friends visiting the first weekend we were moving in. Thankfully Ikea is here.. and oddly when you walk in there and see the same stuff you saw in Australia; get a good whiff of that Ikea plasticky, fake wood and Swedish sausages while simultaneously getting trampled on by fifty people at the entrance.. you are home, sweet home!
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