Moving to netherlands, thinking of affordable housin

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

If by affordable housing you mean social housing, then no, that's pretty much all taken up by refugees, you can't even put yourself on the list nowadays.  This pretty much applies to the whole country these days; the housing market is just insane.

All I can advise is to search around the online rental agents; Pararius is one of many, this link will take you straight to its website; it has price details there.

Further, you can expect to pay a substantial deposit on any rental property you manage to find.

45 minutes from Amsterdam will take you as far as Utrecht in the east - it's actually the middle of the country.  It used to be a simple rule that the further away you went from the west of the Netherlands, you got more house for your Euro, now it's not so simple.  My sister in law recently sold her house in the east, the price she got paid for a new house just over the border in Germany.

Hope this helps.

Cynic

Expat Team

I dont mean social housing, But renting from a private entity. Is there any villages near amsterdam(45min distance). Would there be affordable housing? idont have to live in a city, if amsterdam is "close". Surely there must be some "sleepy" village where its esyer to get housing and prices arent that steep

My monthly budget is somewhere from 700-850, is that low? Maybe i need to increase it?

Thanks for your input.

Hi again.

The private Entity you refer to is the likes of Pararius, for whom I gave you a link to their website.  You can do a search using key criteria, i.e. place, rent cost etc.  From the link I gave you for your budget, you will get a single room in Utrecht on a short-term contract.

If there was a sleepy village somewhere, then it would have been given to the refugees; there are people living in storage containers at the moment.

Hope this helps.

Cynic

Expat Team

I noticed a 30 square feet appartment for 655e, Is this expensive? I was expecting MUCH more.
So i guess i'm moving in july. Is that price common, or a "steal". Just wondering should i snatch it asap or look for other apartments.

Thanks for all your info. I'm very thankful,

Hi again.

30 square feet is a single (very small) room; my bathroom is bigger than that.

In general, when dealing with housing of any sort in the Netherlands, if it's to be good to be true, then it's probably a scammer.  My daughter moved back to the Netherlands 5 years ago, when we discussed it, the best/safest way is to use something like Airbnb for your first couple of months so you can find a place where you want to be at the price you can afford; you also get a chance to check that the place you end up renting actually exists; people have told us stories where they got scammed at the doorstep and it wasn't until they walked into the house and found the cupboards full of somebody else's clothes, that they realised they had just been scammed for 6 months rent on a house they were never going to be able to live in and they would never get their money back.

People still go the Airbnb route, but there is such a shortage of houses that many Gemeente's have put limits on how long you can stay in them.

Hope this helps.

Cynic

Expat Team

Sorry, english is my second language, Its 30 square meters

How can they scam if i visit the place first. See all the papers. And pay only after the papers are correct and have some lawyer etc check it all?

The listing was from the website you linked

Lawyers get involved in house purchases, not house rentals.

The person who told us they had been scammed had the key to the front door in her hand and was standing outside the house, papers signed, money handed over.

30 Square meters is still a small place to live in; whatever, be careful and if possible take a friend or a work colleague with you when you go to see the place.  You already know from your own research that there are issues in renting in the west of the country, the new bit as far as you're concerned is that it's pretty much everywhere unless of course, you have the money to pay the high rents.

The Dutch government have a website with a section devoted to rented housing, it's worth reading it; this link will take you straight to it.