#househunting — Loes Wagemans

In today’s housing market, house hunting in the center of Amsterdam can be a daunting experience. Loes Wagemans and her partner Eric didn’t let this stop them. And their efforts paid off. They ended up buying a beautiful fixer-upper, a listed monument, in the same neighborhood where they currently live — with a little help from their friends at Walter Living, an agent, and Dutch real estate website Funda.

The current madness in the housing market can make finding a home very difficult. Don’t let the madness get to you!

You have a beautiful home in the center of Amsterdam. Why move?

I’ve been living in this house for twenty years now. It’s in the heart of Amsterdam, in the red-light district. The street is getting busier and we were also just ready to move to a slightly larger house. We sold our current home for a good profit, which made it possible for us to upsize. We did want to stay in the same neighborhood so our son wouldn’t have to change schools. But with the current madness in the housing market, we weren’t sure that was going to work out.

House hunting became an almost daily activity.

When did you start your house hunt?

We started looking for a house about two years ago. I think we must’ve viewed about forty houses in all. House hunting became an almost daily activity for us.

Did you ever look outside Amsterdam?

At some point, we did. We didn’t want to cling to our ideals, wanted to think outside the box. You get more space and luxury for your money outside the city, but living there means having to drive everywhere. Neither of us wanted that.

We viewed huge properties, but we love living in the city — being close to everything and being able to cycle to work. We didn’t want to lose that feeling. That’s why we continued to look for a house in Amsterdam, although we did look outside our own neighborhood as well. We viewed properties all over the city.

Our house hunt taught us a lot. You learn how to “scan” a house, what to look for and how to analyze photos.

Were all forty properties worth a viewing?

This may come as a surprise, but we learned a lot from all those viewings. You learn how to “scan” a house, what to look for and how to analyze photos to better visualize what it looks like in reality.

Scanning also teaches you to actually go to viewings. You may think a house is not for you based on the photos, but the property might actually be really nice.

How many of them did you seriously consider buying?

Ultimately, we only seriously considered three of them. One was the first house we viewed, at the very beginning. The second one was halfway through our house hunt and the third house is the one we ended up buying. Some properties are sold before you can even arrange a viewing and sometimes you have your own reasons for not placing an offer, whatever they may be.

How did you feel about the housing market itself?

It’s obviously rather ridiculous how fast the market moves. Sometimes you attend a viewing and have to put in a bid right away, or you won’t stand a chance at all. But buying a house is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll make in your life. It’s not like buying a new pair of pants. In fact, it sometimes takes me longer than that to decide whether I want to buy a pair of pants!

We were looking for a house we could completely renovate to our own liking.

What kinds of properties did you consider?

We were fortunate enough to be able to consider more expensive properties. We also weren’t afraid to buy a fixer-upper, which increased our options. I think a lot of people are hesitant to buy fixer-uppers and prefer to look at properties in good condition. But we weren’t interested in the kinds of properties that are renovated by developers so buyers can move right in. We really wanted to do the renovations ourselves. We’re very particular when it comes to that.

Looking for a fixer-upper was both an advantage and a disadvantage. Many of the houses on the market had been partially renovated and fitted with a new kitchen, for example. Obviously, we weren’t going to tear out a new kitchen — that would be a waste of money. We were looking for a house we could completely renovate to our own liking.

Did you do everything by yourselves?

No, we teamed up with an agent who happens to be a friend of ours. They helped us during our house hunt and really understood what we were looking for. Walter also helped us a lot. We checked the real value of each property we viewed. Agents are useful in negotiations, but Walter was decisive in making the right choice from a financial point of view.

Agent + Walter Living = a success?

Definitely! Walter is an invaluable resource when looking for a house. The knowledge Walter helps you gain gives you so much confidence. The more you know, the stronger your position is when you’re making an initial offer, for example. You know exactly how much money to offer.

It wasn’t love at first sight, but I did think, “This might be it.”

And that’s when you found this house?

Yeah, we happened upon the house we ended up buying. We saw it on Funda on a Friday and then kind of forgot about it over the weekend. And then friends pointed it out to us again.

I attended the first viewing by myself. It wasn’t love at first sight — the house needed a lot of work — but I did think, “This might be it.” Eric and I went for a second viewing together. Before we did so, we checked everything on Walter Living to make sure the property was worth buying. And that’s when we made an offer.

When we placed our offer, we found out there was another interested party. The seller was free to choose the buyer. He was moving to a lower floor and wanted to pick who was going to live in his old place. He and his family had lived there for years, but he wanted to downsize as his children had all moved out. We went to meet him with our son, with his big smile and head of curls. We instantly hit it off.

That’s amazing! Any tips for (future) house hunters?

Finding a home can be very difficult in the current housing market. Try not to let the madness get to you. It can be daunting, especially if you’re a first-time buyer and unfamiliar with the workings of the market. That’s why it is important to be well informed. What really helped us was our agent’s help combined with the wealth of information Walter Living provided us with.