10 unnecessary stupid facts about buying houses

At ten o'clock in the morning, I was standing in the garden looking out over the meadow, at eleven o'clock we made an offer and at four o'clock in the afternoon I heard that it was accepted. It can go quickly. Now, two years later, it seems almost impossible to secure a house (sorry about that), hence the ten facts to sprinkle around when it comes to buying a home.

1. The most expensive house on Funda costs a meager 18 million euros and is located at de Biltseweg in Bosch en Duin. Then you can indeed hope that you have a bit of a flashy house for that. Remarkably, the house has only four (!) bedrooms. I still find that a bit few for such an amount, but that might just be me.

2. When you buy a house, you (I hope) close the biggest debt of your life. Think about that for a moment before you sign at the notary.

3. Always try (yes, even in these times) to view a house twice. When viewing a house, you deal with the effect of the first impression, which simply means that you find a house more beautiful the first time than the second time. So push for it, with that realtor.

4. At this moment, 3.3 percent of starters can only afford a home. Aiii, that's not very much.

5. So you need roughly a gross annual income of 80k to buy an average house. I repeat: average.

6. In Scotland, homeowners paint their front door red when the mortgage is fully paid off. I have to chuckle at this because I have a red front door and still no paid-off mortgage. The Scots call it: out of the read.

7. Did you know that there is something called the ‘farm-on-the-Dam effect’? This is a group of people who actually have an unrealistic expectation pattern. People who suffer from this (we can now call it that) find it harder to find a home.

8. The expectation is that people who do not buy a house before their thirty-fifth year will not do so quickly thereafter. Not yet thirty-five and still in for your own little place? Don't wait too long.

9. Realtors are there to drive you completely crazy, just assume that. They do everything to drive up the price, making you very greedy again. Always remember that they work for the seller and not for you.

10. Taking your time is important, even if it seems impossible right now. It is the best way to avoid bad purchases and to calmly get through the buying process.

Image: Atelier Mabel