According to Dutch Central Bureau of Statistic, the most prevailed type of housing in the Netherlands is a terraced house. In June 2023 my partner and I bought one in Almere Stad. Read about all the (hidden) costs below.

TL;DR — table with the costs breakdown

2% tax	€ 9.020,00
Previous owner reimbursment	€ 416,31
Deed of transfer	€ 1.180,00
Kadaster	€ 239,00
Buyer’s agent	€ 2.650,00
Mortgage adviser	€ 3.500,00
Bank guarantee	€ 451,00
Technical inspection	€ 465,00
Appraiser’s report	€ 794,99
21% service tax	€ 278,97
Other	€ 66,44
Movers	€ 1.000,00
House	€ 451.000,00
Hidden costs	€ 20.340,01

The case

Our house is located in Danswijk, right in front of Hoge Vaart canal. It is a 3-story-high corner house with a total area of 133 m² on a plot of 178 m². It was built in 1997 and rated with Energy label A.

The owner asked € 425.000,00 for the house and our bid was € 451.000,00. They took care of the house, so we moved in without renovation.

House-hunting

We started the process in February 2023 and hired an agent to help us. They had a flat fee paid upon purchase: € 2.650,00. Despite the cost, we are convinced that a good agent is invaluable.

When we arranged property viewings ourselves, there was a high chance that the viewing queue had already been full. Apparently, there is a special agent queue since our agent always successfully arranged the viewings for us. The bonus part, we did not need to make calls and submit applications to view the house.

Then, we needed to take a mortgage. In 2023 the housing market was still crazy and people overbid the asking price. We were always wondering “What would have happened if the bank had appraised the property lower and we had not had the money?“. Our agent was working with two local appraisers to make sure that we did not bid too much. Thus, we did not need to worry about this risk.

Finally, our agent gathered intel about the current bid status. And we won just the third time we had bid. Of course, the seller’s agents can lie. But overpaying a bit and getting the house we liked, was something we agreed on.

In April 2023 we won the bid and started preparing for the mortgage.

Mortgage preparations

Before applying for a mortgage, we needed to have both a technical inspection and appraiser reports ready. Additionally, we had to provide either a bank guarantee or 10% of the purchase price to the owner within a month. Again, our agent did everything for us. We just needed to pay for the services.

Technical inspection

A technical inspection report describes the condition of the house. It gathers insights into the costs of immediately necessary repairs, expected maintenance costs and improvement costs. The inspector cannot harm the property in any way. Which means that some defects can be left unnoticed.

Immediately necessary costs include spending that will have to be incurred to avoid further damage. For example, the inspector found wood rot in our shed.

Expected maintenance costs include the defects for the next five years. They are necessary to avoid consequential damage. In our case, the bargeboard is poorly painted and can start rotting if left untreated.

Finally, improvement costs will increase safety and comfort. They are just recommendations, and we had none.

The inspection cost us € 465,00.

Official appraiser report

The appraiser report estimates the price of the house based on similar properties in the area. The bank needs this report to make sure that the property is worth the money the bank provides.

It cost us € 794,99.

Bank Guarantee

The bank guarantee protects the owner if the buyer refuses the deal. We did not manage to get the mortgage within the month given to provide the guarantee, so we had to apply to an independent provider.

The cost is 0.1% of the deal or € 451,00 in our case.

Taking the mortgage

In the Netherlands, the bank is legally obliged to make sure that you understand the consequences of taking a mortgage. Thus, they oblige the customer to pass a test. We did not want to work on the test and communicate with the bank, so we hired a mortgage adviser. This cost us € 3.500,00 and it is tax-deductible.

The adviser secured us a mortgage with a 2.45% variable interest rate or the gross payment of € 1.770,30 per month. Our November interest rate is going to be 3.75% or € 2.046,00 per month gross. We expect it to grow even further to the common 4.35% offered by other banks, or € 2.230,00 gross.

Attending the notary

On the 1st of June, we visited the notary and became the owners of the house. Here is the breakdown of additional costs we incurred:

We did not meet the criteria of the starter exemption. Thus, we payed 2% tax on € 451.000,00 of € 9.020,00.

We reimbursed the taxes paid to the municipality by the previous owner: € 416,31.

The deed of transfer cost us € 1.180,00. Half of that is tax-deductible.

Kadester registry cost us € 239,00. Half of that is tax-deductible as well.

Finally, we did not speak Dutch. The notarius is legally obliged to speak Dutch during the transfer. So, we were legally obliged to use an accredited Dutch-to-English translator. This cost us € 278,30.

Moving to the new house

On the 2nd of June, we moved to our new house.

We were living in a terraced house before and had quite a lot of bulky items. We hired a moving company to help us and paid € 1.000,00 for their job.

Aftermath

Buying a house is not just taking a mortgage. There are a lot of hidden costs associated with the process. I hope our breakdown will help you to buy your house. Good luck!