House Hunting

Finally, the real purpose of our trip - the house hunting. In Chicago, we have a 4-bedroom house with 3 full bathrooms and a two car garage. It's not huge by US standards, but the Netherlands is not the US. We knew that homes in NL would be smaller and that we would not be able to bring all our furniture. But we weren't really prepared for the sheer smallness of the places in our price range.

Our real estate agent, Esther, was wonderfully helpful. She had us look at the real estate website Funda to see what's available. We made some initial choices and she narrowed the list down, making sure that each place would allow cats and be available for 3 years. We wanted to see several of the neighborhoods that are close to the office. I want to be able to bike to work. We also wanted to be close to the train to get in to Amsterdam and to the airport.

The first place was a house in Huizen that is close to the office but a bit far from the train station. Most of the "houses" are really duplexes. But the house had a nice front garden, a driveway to park the car, and a shed for the bikes. The back yard had two patios and kiddy swing set. Inside, the kitchen was small and out-dated. The carpets were beyond dingy. But, with a bit of clean-up could be nice. This ended up being our second choice over-all.

We also looked a some apartments. By apartment, they mean you have to go up a flight of stairs to get to the main floor. Most are above stores in the city center. There are no parking spots for cars or bikes (see previous post for parking issues). But getting back to those stairs - let me describe the stairs more fully. The Dutch are fond of narrow steep and winding staircases. Once place had a metal spiral staircase outside. You had to climb this staircase to get to the front door of the apartment. I can't imagine going up and down those stairs everytime I wanted to go out - what happens when it gets icy? And how do you get your furniture into the house?

We quickly realized that our king-sized bed was not going to make the trip to NL. The Dutch put two twin mattresses together to make a bigger bed. That's the only you can get it up the stairs, even in the houses we looked at. Also, the dresser and armoire would never make it up the stairs. Most rooms have built-in cabinets and shelves to take the place of the big dressers.

I can deal with buying a new bed and I'm sure I can figure out how to store my clothes, but I can't figure out the kitchens. I love to cook, so a nice kitchen is high on my wish list. But I'm not going to get it. The kitchen in my hotel room is bigger and better appointed than any of the ones we saw. The standard oven is about the size of a small microwave or a good size toaster oven. I would not be able to fit a 9x13 cake pan or any of my cookie sheets. A turkey for Thanksgiving? Not even a chance!

Our first choice house, in Bussum, is closer to the train station and only about 2 miles from the office. It also has a small yard, a shed, and place to park the car. The main floor looked nice enough, but we weren't able to go into the house. Esther had seen it and thought we'd like it, so we're trusting her. The upstairs has two good size bedrooms and one small one. By good size, I mean 10x10' and by small I mean a closet. The bathroom might be odd since the toilet is in a separate room from the shower. There is also a powder room on the main floor. Because of the great location, this is our first choice. Esther is going to negotiate for a new oven and a lower rent than they are asking (she says it's over-priced). If that goes well, we should have a place to live!