One of the most important things to consider when buying property in the Netherlands is the financing of your purchase. Make sure you understand beforehand if and how you can get a mortgage for your purchase, and what conditions this mortgage will probably have.
There are many different kinds of mortgages you can get and many different businesses that offer them. Most banks will be weary about providing expats with a mortgage, since they don’t have any record of financial status in the Netherlands yet. But there are some banks which specialize in providing mortgages to expats.
Most banks will ask you to present a valuation report for the house you want to purchase and the insurance for the property, as required by law. Any other surveys that you have done on the property can also come in handy when convincing the bank to provide you with a mortgage. Sometimes you will also need to provide a copy of your work contract.
There are many different kinds of mortgages available in the Netherlands: mortgages where you only have to pay interest (aflossingsvrij), mortgages where the monthly costs stay the same but the amount of interest reduces with the amount (annuiteit), endowment mortgages (leven or spaar), and others. There are also many ‘starter mortgages’ for first-time buyers. Take your time to look around and find the best mortgage for you.
If you want to make sure that you can pay your mortgage even if you’re forced to sell your property for a lower price than you originally paid, you might want to look into the National Mortgage Warranty (Nationale Hypotheel Garantie/NHG) by the Stichting Waarborgfonds Eigen Woningen. It’s a warranty that you can get with a mortgage and that ensures that the Waarborgfonds pays for the reimbursement of your mortgage to the bank. If you can no longer pay for your mortgage and you need to sell your property for an amount lower than the mortgage, the Waarborgfonds will pay the difference.
Of course there are certain conditions that you have to meet. For example, the mortgage can not be more than €265,000, you need to be an EU resident, or have a residence permit, etc. More information can be found on the NHG website (www.nhg.nl ).