3 Tricks to Rent An Apartment in The Netherlands As An Expat in 2024 | SECRETS | Expat Life

are you looking to rent an apartment in the Netherlands you have probably just discovered that it's a little bit more difficult than you expected your messaging dozens of agencies on Funda and pararis but all you get is either the waiting list or no response at all I'm Anna I'm an expat entrepreneur living in the Netherlands and I do have some recent experience finding a accommodation here I'm also a member of several communities where people are looking for accommodation daily so I have the most recent tips for you in this video renting an accommodation in the Netherlands is real but it ain't easy all you have to do is a certain sequence of steps but you have to do it right and here are the steps step one respond to an online listing step two get a viewing confirmation step 3 view the apartment step 4 send in your documents and confirm your interest and step 5 sign a contract the that's it it looks so easy right yet renting a place might take weeks or even months because on each of the steps you have to figure out what exactly you need to do well not anymore because in this video you'll get all the exact steps you need to take with the right templates that increase your chances of being selected for an apartment of your dream so watch this video Until the End and before we move to step number one we'll answer the question that a lot of people are asking and probably that you have how long does it take to find accommodation in the Netherlands as you might expect it's really hard to give a ballpark if you're looking at middle segment which is from 1 000 Euro to 1 600 Euro and you have some special requirements for your apartment or you have some aggravating circumstances which we'll talk about a little bit later give yourself at least a month and better month and a half and if you find accommodation in three weeks or so you are very very lucky because I will not sugarcoat it it's hell but it's doable so let's now go through each of the steps focusing on exactly what you need to do to rent an apartment of your dream step one respond to an online listing the two websites you'll be using to find accommodation in the Netherlands are Funda and Ferraris and when you first visit those websites you see dozens if not hundreds of available apartments that you might rent so what's the big deal what a lot of Dutch newcomers do not realize at this point is that if the ad is over one day old it doesn't make any sense to respond to it because the viewing is full unfortunately it's even worse if you haven't responded to an ad within the first 30 minutes since publication don't even bother to do that because this property will like 90 percent of the time will have all the viewing schedule killed and two waiting lists on top of that yes the demand is this crazy that's why your goal at this stage is to respond to a listing as soon as possible preferably within 10 or 15 minutes since publication and one mistake I see a lot of newcomers I'm making at this stage is that they start to post their own ad that they are looking for an apartment to Facebook groups or to telegram chats and I have to tell you in 98 of cases probably 99 of cases that is just a waste of time and probably if you're looking to rent an apartment short term like for a month without any registration that might work and that might work very good but if you're looking to rent something long-term fat chance because picture you're a landlord you can list your apartment on these websites and have a hundred people coming to you 100 100 people that have stable jobs good income have no animals no kids no aggravating circumstances at all so why would you let your apartment to a random person on social network it doesn't make a lot of sense so back to our goals you need to be the first or among the first to respond to the listing Now to respond to the listing you usually need a text and this text can either double your conversion to viewings or kill any chance that you had so let's create a perfect text for you right now when I was looking for my first apartment I would respond to all these listings with something like that hi I love the apartment and I would love to view it is it still available thank you and with this text I got almost no responses at all what are the mistakes I made in this text first of all I didn't State who I was and who's going to be the tenant am I single am I student do I have kids do I have animals all of this matters the second mistake was I did not state my income and your income is basically the first thing the agency will be checking for you to be able to rent an apartment in the Netherlands your cross salary has to be three times the rent it's a requirement so if you satisfy this criteria mention it because it makes you a favorable candidate next my third mistake was that I didn't stay for how long I need the apartment and I know it sounds strange because basically the listing will state for how long you can rent this apartment but that is the question a realtor will ask you later so why not answer it straight away it's nice to be proactive so I perfected my initial message a little bit and it became this hi we are a couple of 35 and 36 years no kids no animals and we are very interested in renting this apartment long term where both employed in it companies with indefinite contracts and our gross income is six times the rent is it still available for viewing thank you you can notice that this message has become very specific and it's good one more tip I know that a lot of people would recommend you to call the agency right after you send a response via Funda or Polaris and I feel like a while ago it was a loophole and those who called were seen as more interested people who are more interested in running this specific apartment but nowadays it seems that real estate agents are more annoyed by that and there are a lot of listings that particularly mention that you should not call and you should only send the request via the website Funda or Polaris or the agency's website so it didn't work for me but if you feel like that's something you need to do try that why not it my work to conclude step one if you're respond in such a manner with a this specific message to three or four listings a day you should be able to get two three four viewings a week not like next week but wait before viewing the apartment you have to proceed to step two and step two is getting a viewing confirmation typically if you manage to respond to the listing within 10 or 15 minutes since publication you will get a very standard message from the agency it will contain a few questions and here is a very typical example at this stage your goal is to respond to this email as soon as possible and unless you have an extremely busy schedule I would not recommend you to be very picky about viewing times because sometimes they will ask you when do you want to see the apartment and if you respond oh I only can do 9am Tuesday Morning next week that's probably not going to work so the more flexible you are the more viewings you'll be getting if you work quick you'll get another email with date and time of the viewing and if you don't have any aggravating circumstances this was the most difficult part so congratulations and we are moving to step number three viewing the apartment the next step is viewing the apartment and in ninety percent of the cases you'll be meeting a realtor not the owner of the apartment however I had like 20 viewings last time I was looking for recommendation and two of them were actually with landlords another important thing for you to know is that in the Netherlands there are two types of viewings first you can get a time slot just for yourself so you come to the apartment and there's no one just you and the realtor and you can ask questions and you can you might want to make a connection with a realtor especially if you love the apartment very much I remember when we found our perfect apartment and we had five minutes with a realtor we asked all the questions and then just honestly told him that we really really love this apartment and we might not be the best candidate but we are certainly the ones who need it the most and who wanted the most and I just asked him to mention that to the landlord if he had this opportunity it didn't work out due to another reason but I got some really good feedback from that Realtor on my documents and I was able to improve a lot now the second type of viewing you might get is an open house an open house is basically when there is a set time slot it might be a half an hour or an hour and all the candidates like 30 or 35 families candidates are invited to come at this specific time so if it's at 9 00 a.m and it's one hour you might come at 9 a.m at 9 30 at 9 50. so it doesn't really matter you won't have this sense of privacy there will be a lot of people and you will see all of your competitors and that might scare you off a little bit but this is a very normal thing for the Netherlands and don't be discouraged by all of that it might work so basically there is no connection to to a human to the realtor or to the landlord and you have no idea what the deciding factors are I've had several viewings of this type and I guess the first viewing was the most stressful we came to the apartment and there were 10 other families 10 other candidates waiting by the door and it was a little bit terrifying but eventually the apartment I rented I rented it through this type of viewing although there were less people that time maybe I was just lucky so so just try it out don't be discouraged if it's an open house you have the same chances basically maybe a less privacy but it also works and I don't need to tell you that if you have a set time don't be late for the viewing Dutch people are very punctual and we're moving into step four just a quick reminder if you're enjoying this video please hit like And subscribe to the channel sending in your documents and confirming your interest but before we proceed to the full list of documents that will help you to get the apartment of your dreams I want to cover the most important thing when it comes to your documents and when it comes to renting an apartment because there is one key thing when it comes to Gathering your documents and running an apartment and if you're missing it you might be missing this key point which can undermine the whole process the key thing when it comes to your document is to convince your landlord that you can and will pay the rent until the end of the contract I know that might sound pretty obvious but let me tell you the greatest fear of the landlord in this country the worst case scenario is that you move in and you stop paying the rent and as far as I understand as far as I heard from other Realtors if you move in and stop paying the rent of course and landlord might go to court but of this whole process will take them at least five months it's five months to get you out with no rent at all now picture that on top of that a landlord might have a mortgage which they still need to pay so the tip here is gather all the documents you can find to convince your landlord that you can and will pay the rent until the end of the contract and there is another thing I don't really understand though when I was desperate to find an apartment and I I found an apartment I really loved I sent a message stating that I'm ready to prepare this apartment for half a year or maybe it was even a year so I was ready to pay for a year's rent but uh I still get absolutely no response and any time I was offering that option uh I did not see any interest from the other party you know most landlords will prefer a bigger deposit as one realtor said if you're ready to prepay half a year in advance do you plan to stop paying the rent after that that sounds a little bit strange to me but um hey guys if you are from the Netherlands if you have an insight into why is it like this please leave a comment below now there's another question that you might be very interested in answering what about savings but then again there are different scenarios so let's say you have a have to summon your bank account and you want to rent an apartment but you are not employed will you be able to rent something that really depends however I want you to know that um even I have to sum on your bank account does not resolve the situation we asked a few Realtors what they think about it and if like a large amount of savings can compensate for you know can convince your landlord that you'll be paying the rent and what they told us was basically um it's it's a it's a good factor it's good if you have savings however you have 100 000 Euros on your account and tomorrow you buy a Ferrari and you don't have that money and you are not able to pay the rent that's the way people see your savings here so the key thing your best chance to convince your landlord that you can and will be paying the rent is having this recurring Revenue your salary it stands above anything else so without further Ado here is the list of documents that your agency or your landlord will ask you to send in copy of your residence permit copy of your contract salary slips from the past three months a statement from your bank account that is the proof that you actually received this salary your savings account statements a recommendation letter from previous landlords a recommendation letter from colleagues or anyone you know in the Netherlands or if you don't have such people a recommendation letter from your landlord abroad it is much better than nothing a presentation about you and in a lot of cases you'll also have to fill in a specific form regarding this specific apartment with all your details if you're an entrepreneur here are some other documents they expect from you a kvk extract an account statement for the past three years and I guess any details on your business that you can share now whoever you are it's highly recommended that you prepare a presentation for your future landlord your presentation is probably one of the most most important documents you send in because it's your chance to connect with the landlord because probably there will be more people with more or less the same salary and the same conditions but uh you might want to add some Personal Touch because in many cases this is something that gets you an apartment but what's an ideal presentation your presentation should provide a clear understanding of who you are and what you do and why you're looking for an apartment overall it should contain a picture a brief description of why you loved this specific apartment now it's time to not be brief about that and you can also provide links to your social profile so that your future landlord knows who you are so if you do all of these things step five should not be a problem and on step five the agency will normally confirm that yes we have chosen you they will send you a draft contract they will state when they can transfer the keys and probably they will connect you with the previous tenant who is living just to arrange you know the moving in and all that stuff in many cases you'll have an opportunity to purchase some furniture from the previous tenant a part of the furniture or all the furniture and again in most cases it's not a lot so we were looking at an apartment and the previous tenant was selling all the stuff that was in the apartment for 500 euro it wasn't very expensive but uh you know it was nice and I guess that was it these were the most important things and tips and hacks when it comes to renting a place in the Netherlands in 2023. I really hope that these tips will help you to get an apartment of your dream sooner rather than later and if you learn something useful in this video hit like and leave me a comment because it really motivates me to create other videos on this topic thank you for watching and if you are interested in life in the Netherlands don't forget to subscribe to my channel see you next week foreign

Channel: Ana Denis

Views: 7,036

Keywords: marketing, seo, digital marketing, business, online business, how to earn money online, side hustles

Id: IpgN5JtSvh0

Length: 18min 38sec (1118 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 08 2023