Its amazing. Closer to the beginning of the year I set a six month goal for myself. And pretty much six months later I realized it. A few days before going to Kuala Lumpur for the Captaris Partner Conference, I told myself I would buy an apartment within 6 months in Amsterdam. 30 viewings, and 4 offers later, I signed the papers at a local notary’s office in Amsterdam. I am now the proud owner of a 2 floor, 120 square meter apartment in Amsterdam’s Old West neighborhood. Well, I signed the papers. Money has yet to change hands and that won’t happen for nearly 2 months, but I am committed. Well, I have a few days to realize my mistake and get out of it, but I don’t think I will.

Buying a place in the Netherlands proved to be far more difficult than I ever expected. I tried to look in Utrecht, but couldn’t get an estate agent to call me back. No, really, they just never called me even though they said they would when I spoke with them in person in their offices. I had great success with a estate agent and mortgage broker in Amsterdam and would recommend them to any expat looking to make the big move. In fact, they are both from the same company: Finsens. But even with a great agent, I had to see lots of crap apartments before finding a few gems. And those were just the ones I could see. Some even turned me away when I had an appointment…the owner just didn’t feel like showing it that day.

As I mentioned, I bought it, but I won’t be moving in for a while. First I have to wait till November before the money changes hands. Then I am doing renovations and that will take 2 months. So I probably won’t actually move in until January. So I am most of the way there and soon I will be done and living in a new apartment…woohoo!!!