Secretly Keeping: We Bought a House in The Netherlands

So this is something I am not yet open about. Probably after a month, I can finally post this. :)

We are living in The Netherlands for a couple of months now. Staying in a rented house with my inlaws (two families) is not such a bad thing. But of course, there is stuff that we want to do freely, like for example, having our private time together.

When I arrived end of last year, we already started looking for a house. We are not really very particular. We just want a shade above our heads. Apartment, house, we don't actually mind, as long as there's something we can call our own. We have been living as nomads for quite some time. Sadly, we did not find any success in the past months. The house market in The Netherlands went so crazy that even the locals keep on complaining about the bidding process and all this stuff. In the area where we really want to live (somewhere near Amsterdam) is so impossible to find something that suits our budget. And because it's only my husband who is working at the moment (well, even if I will work, the salary will not be included in the price that we can borrow from the bank because I only have a resident permit).

Days, weeks, months have passed and there's still no progress. Then we stopped. We stopped looking at that area and tried other locations. There were only two city options by the way. My husband was very particular about the neighborhood because he cares about my safety so much (I super appreciate that!).

Last month, I just tried looking in the neighborhood where we are living now. There were actually nice houses within the area and the prices were not as bad as the original area where we want to live. So I found this house near the city center and told my husband that houses in this city were actually pretty (like, prettier than the ones we saw near Amsterdam). With the price that you will pay, you do not need to add more money for the renovation and beautification. My husband was surprised to see such beauty and we've decided to have scheduled a viewing. Wow! It was something I can only dream of having! My family said that it looks like a showroom. And I can only agree with them.

So that being said, with all the beauty and amazement, we were picked! What a great blessing! Thanks to everyone who helped us unconditionally. We now have a house, a house that we dearly like, something that we are proud of and something we can call home.

The previous owner, however, still lives there. We need to wait until the end of November before we can finally move in.

We have signed the contract and now we are busy with other paperwork like taxes and insurance.

Want a reveal? Here’s a photo of the kitchen, which is obviously my favorite part of the house.