Dutch property porn - someone talk me out of moving to North Brabant!

[LemonCat]

DH and I are currently house hunting and I'm beyond frustrated as there's absolutely nothing on the market that I even remotely like. At some point I found myself randomly clicking around the Dutch equivalent of Rightmove and found this absolute gem:

https://www.funda.nl/koop/reek/huis-42186566-monseigneur-borretstraat-7/

This would be my dream house and what an amazing price! Neither of us speaks Dutch and I don't know the area at all, but so tempted to move to the Netherlands now! DH and I can work from almost anywhere, but of course it's a silly idea. Just daydreaming, really, but had to share that gorgeous house with someone!

If we stay in Germany, I think it's either (southern) Bavaria or possibly Schleswig-Holstein or the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Baltic coast for us.

Bavaria is home for me, my parents still live here, it's beautiful and we like the lifestyle, the people and being close to Austria and Italy. Also, Munich probably has the most attractive job market in all of Germany. House prices are absolutely nuts, though.

Schleswig-Holstein and especially Mecklenburg Vorpommern would be a lot cheaper but would also come with lower salaries and far fewer job opportunities. We both have jobs that can be done remotely, but many employers will still expect you to come into the office once a week or so, so moving to the absolute middle of nowhere probably wouldn't be the greatest career move.

I would love a properly rural location but close enough to a larger city for the occasional commute. I've always dreamed of buying a big old house in a small village where I can create an amazing garden and have a large collection of animals. Unfortunately, recent political decisions at EU level and in Germany may well make this completely unaffordable unless you're much better off than we are. The reform of the EU Emissions Trading System, the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and new German heating regulations will mean long-term crazy energy prices and mandatory insulation, new windows, heat pumps and solar collectors for most houses. It will easily take 400-600k to get a draughty old house up to the required standard and ruin some of the historical charm in the process. There will be some exceptions for listed buildings, but not all old houses are and it's still a massive risk, so we're a bit unsure what to do at the moment.

DH thinks it's time to leave the EU and would like to move to the US but I don't want to be that far away from my family. I'd much prefer the UK, but can see why DH is put off by the clusterfuck that is current British politics, a flailing economy and the state of the NHS.

Sorry for the long boring post, it's just a bit of a frustrating situation overall.

I live rurally in the Netherlands, move OP! Loads of fantastic properties with lots of land that also have great public transport links. I've been here 12 years now and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Great place for kids to grow up too.

I often think about moving to NL, more to the Maastricht area though. Dh is Dutch and his family still live in that area, we also have an aunt in Brabant who we visit a lot and she takes us to the Efteling or looks after our dog while we take the dc

I think it is in the middle of the Dutch 'Bible Belt', not all of the Netherlands is a liberal beacon. That might not be for you. The political party that represents the views of the main church there has only recently accepted the idea of women candidates.

It's not a long boring post at all! It's important and it helps you jot things down and perhaps get a better idea once it's on your screen. And I enjoyed reading your point if view so please don't apologise xx

Love it!! I went sesrching for property in Amsterdam after watching Van der Valk. I want a loft apartment by a canal!! 😍

I actually don’t like it. Would want to completely redecorate.

It's beautiful!

You don't need to learn Dutch. It's basically just a jumble of English and German words thrown together

You would need to do a bit of remodelling on the bedroom floor as it looks like you have to go through all the bedrooms to get to the bathroom. Tricky with visitors!

I lived in The Hague for 6 years during the 80s. Never learnt Dutch and never had a problem. I would occasionally try to speak it in shops, but the assistants would just chuckle and answer me in English.😬

What it's the price that's an amazing house. The Netherlands is an absolute fantastic place I wouldn't put you off.

@LemonCat so what did you do.

@MNetcurtains when one of my family married a Dutchman I decided to have some lessons for when visiting the new inlaws. They sadly have since died but even my limited words go down a treat, and when in Belgium very useful to 'accidentally' speak the wrong language if someone is a jobsworth.

When in NL, I had a colleague (Irish) married to a Dutch guy. When her brother came to visit for the first time and was going to be meeting her inlaws, he asked his BIL to teach him a greeting in Dutch for when he met his parents. This is what he taught him to say: "Aangenaam kennis te maken, ik heb een enorme erectie" 😂Poor guy never lived it down.