How we made the decision to move to the NL - Part 3
Hurry up and wait
Step 6: Hurry up
April 1st was when the move began to feel real. We signed contracts with our relocation support team, including a Makelaar. Click here for part 2 of our story.
The second week of April was all about document gathering. If you’re in the US, get those apostilles early, people! Thankfully, I had ordered our apostilles months prior along with making sure our passports were up to date. We began buying boxes to see how the Tetris worked with UPakWeShip and started sorting our life stateside.
Step 7: And wait ..
We had our kick off meeting with our Makelaar on April 12th with all our documents in place and our criteria for a property laid out. As a former urban planner and architect, I know how to research cities and housing so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect in housing and what neighborhoods I wanted to focus our search. Because of my background research, I can tell within minutes if a property meets our criteria and if there are any red flags. I can elaborate if anyone wants another post on that otherwise I won’t bore you. It’s saved us a lot of emotion already.
All the steps: But … emotions …
The hardest part of this process is finding a place to live. The NL rental market is really, really, really tough. Many people are looking, and due to some law changes last year, there is 30% less housing on the market than in the past if you are looking to rent. When something does pop up, people pounce! There is also timing at play here. Most properties become available for rent one month prior so you can’t really start looking too soon. We were told most families go on vacation in the month of June so no one is moving before this. So, wait until summer? However in summer, all the Makelaars are booked! This is when my emotions kicked in. If there’s nothing to rent, you’re stuck in limbo watching Pararius and Funda religiously.
And so I watched … and luck was in our favor. This is why I haven’t posted over the past few weeks, I’ve been busy packing. Part 4 coming soon on what happened next!