Buying your first house

We advise a free of charge consultation with one of our experts before you start looking for a home. This will give you an accurate assessment of the price range that fits your budget and the related monthly mortgage. Then you can act quickly if you find the perfect house and start negotiating on price and terms. Within one week of the appointment you can expect to receive the following:
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– A summary of the meeting
– A First General Mortgage Report with:
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1. An indication of your maximum loan
2. Details of the price range you can afford
3. Calculations on gross and net (monthly) expenses with different mortgages and fixed interest periods.

When buying a house in the Netherlands, the purchase will normally relate to:

1. The purchase of a house, registered independently as a whole at the land registry or.

2. The purchase of an apartment right, registered as such at the land registry and managed by the board of an Owners’ Association (VvE). An apartment right consists of part of a whole apartment complex. You will often come across this situation in cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague.You have a statutory right to cancel the contract of sale within three days of signing it, without giving reasons (cooling off period).
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A civil-law notary is always involved in the purchase and sale of immovable property.
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The property buyer is entitled to appoint the civil-law notary of his or her choice. We will be glad to help you find a suitable civil law notary!As a rule of thumb, the buyer’s costs usually amount to around 5%-6% of the purchase price for the property to live in. Some people might be exempt from transfer tax (aged 18 to 35, for a property below €400.000)The contract of sale sets out information about the house, the price, the obligations of the buyer and the vendor, the date of conveyance and the guarantee. The guarantee comprises a 10% down-payment to the civil-law notary’s escrow account.
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That 10% can be paid in cash to the civil-law notary’s third-party account if sufficient liquid assets are available.
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Another option is to guarantee the 10% with a bank guarantee. Expat Mortgages can arrange the bank guarantee on your behalf.The contract usually includes a clause stating that the agreement is subject to financing being arranged.
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That dissolving clause specifies the amount of time you have to arrange financing so that the purchase can proceed. If you do not succeed in obtaining a mortgage within the agreed period (4-6 weeks in general), you can unilaterally terminate the contract. You will however need a written statement from two banks confirming that they have rejected your application for a loan.

‍Buying a home and accompanying costs
The price of a house in the Netherlands is always followed by an abbreviation, either ‘KK’ or ‘VON’
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‘KK’ means that all of the costs related to buying a house are paid for by the buyer (‘Kosten Koper’, or ‘purchasing costs payable by the buyer’).
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‘VON’ stands for ‘Vrij op naam’, or ‘purchasing costs payable by the vendor’, which in most cases only applies if you are buying a newly build property. For that reason, we will concentrate on ‘KK’These costs include:

-Transfer tax (2%)
-The costs of registering the property in your name and having that information filed in the usual registers (civil-law notary).
-The costs of your estate agent (if applicable)
-The fee of Expat Mortgages
-The National Mortgage Guarantee costs (if applicable)
-The costs of registering the mortgage in the usual registers (civil-law notary).
-The costs of the valuation/appraisal provided by an independent surveyor
-The bank guarantee costs (if applicable)
-The costs of an structural survey (if applicable)

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