Buy a house in the Netherlands as an Expat
Although most people will rent for a while before buying a house, the difference in monthly payments can make purchasing a property an attractive option for those staying longer.
The difference comes largely from the fact that (for the time being at least) the Dutch government repays some of the mortgage interest as tax relief. The mortgage interest payments are tax deductible if the house is your main residence. Your monthly expenses will be lower because of this tax refund.
Note that buying a house will take a few official steps and will cost a certain amount (which partially is tax deductible) like getting a mortgage and finalize the process at a notary.
Much will depend on the financial situation, your personal needs, and the expected length of your stay in the Netherlands.
Before you acquire your new property, you need to go through a time-consuming process with quite a lot of third parties involved, such as the real estate agent (property broker), the bank that is granting you a mortgage, the civil law notary, and the tax consultants.
Some parts of the process include:
- Starting to look around for the house (research).
- Doing the negotiations with the selling estate agent and making sure that the right conditions for the purchase are accepted.
- Taking care of the technical survey.
- Making a proper judgment of the (legal) contents of the purchase agreement.
- Taking care of the mortgage with the requested conditions.
- Collecting the required documents for the mortgage.
- Contacting the civil law notary for setting up the legal deeds for delivery to you of the property and the mortgage (including translations).
- Taking care of the involved tax matters.