View Amsterdam, pick your location! Property orientation!
As stressed out in the rental introduction, it’s very important to keep a housing agent at your side which you (of course) trust. Give the housing agent some time to get to know you, so he can make the best selection of apartments in Amsterdam possible.
Home in Amsterdam: what it should look like
But you can do some homework for yourself already, before the house hunting! It’s wise to visit Amsterdam some times before the house hunting, get to know the city. Find places where you feel most at home in Amsterdam. Go shopping in Amsterdam, take photos in Amsterdam of places you like. And work yourself through following checklist:
- Do you know where you will work in Amsterdam? (Do you want to live near your office?)
- If you have kids: is the school nearby? (Most kids in Amsterdam bike to their school)
- Do you know what location in Amsterdam you like? (Visit all the districts of Amsterdam and Amstelveen for instance!)
- What type of “Amsterdam buildings” do you like? (Amsterdam canal house / Amsterdam boathouse / Modern / etc.)
- What is your budget? (The prices of most properties in Amsterdam are exclusive, so without energy costs and taxes)
- Are you looking for a furnished apartment or an unfurnished apartment? (Most unfurnished (or semi-furnished) apartments in Amsterdam include wash machine / dishwasher / etc.)
- How many bedrooms are you looking for? (Most housing agencies in Amsterdam will put storage rooms as an additional bedroom, so be careful)
- Do you want to drive your car in Amsterdam? (Parking in Amsterdam is hell, in a few districts in Amsterdam (Oud Zuid) you will be able to get a parking permit)
- Do you bring your pets along? (Some landlords won’t allow you to take your pets along, so let the housing agent know if you will bring them along)
- Are you looking for an apartment with balcony / roofterrace / garden? (A roofterrace is a great luxury to have in Amsterdam!)
- When are you going to move to Amsterdam? (Most of the time you can start house hunting one month before your moving date, if you go earlier most of the properties will already be rented out)
When you have sorted this out, we can go on to the next step: viewing the apartments - house hunting
