Moving house can always be a challenge. Finding a suitable place that you like and that matches your requirements such as the space and more importantly the price. It can be both a long or short process, but the outcome is usually rewarding. As an expat, it was time to really search and invest time/money into a new home sweet home. Finding a home in Rotterdam definitely kept us on our toes with searching.
During my childhood I had moved to a few different houses, all with different unique selling points that my parents fell in love with. But at that age you never think about how much time and energy it takes to find a place and move in!
Living Arrangements
When I decided to move to the Netherlands to become an Au Pair I never had to choose where I would be staying, as I lived in the same house as the family. And once my 1 year contract was finished, I moved in with my partner’s/his family’s apartment. It got a little crowded at times but we made it work perfectly, until the time came that we couldn’t really live in 1 bedroom any more (maybe too many clothes had something to do with it!). We were craving for our own little place. The next place was our current place from a different family member. A cute one bedroom house in Rotterdam provided us the space and independency we were looking for.
However for the last 5 months I have been on the lookout for a new place to live. Our living arrangement contract was coming to the end and we needed a new place by the end of January. It was time to find a new place of our own.
One of the most challenging things was finding a place that fit all of our requirements, such as the total square metres, storage, easy to move to (not much DIY needed!), maybe a view and the price. Looking in Rotterdam has been a BIG challenge, as houses or apartments that fit our budget didn’t fit the rest of the requirements, or the other way round, fit all our requirements but then was way over our budget! We realised half way through our 5 months that we would have to make compromises. One thing we knew for certain was that the new place had to be in Rotterdam. Why move away from a beautiful city?!
Finding A Home In Rotterdam
We signed up to many websites such as Pararius.com and Funda.nl to see all the latest houses and apartments for sale, checking through the lists for something suitable. We also had help from friends and family when they had found something we might like. We visited many houses all shapes and sizes, buying or renting, with not much luck. Even when we did find a place we thought was good, we applied and we were not chosen or lucky enough to win the lottery for the place. Finding a home in Rotterdam sure was harder than we had expected.
That’s the negative part about finding a place to live in a city that is growing and growing. One house we viewed had at least 20 other people viewing at the same time! It felt rather strange, after my experience of viewing houses with my parents as a child, being the only people in the house with the selling agent. Now it was like a fight to get to the kitchen first, to stand on the balcony or to squeeze into the bathroom. Definitely more efficient for the sales agent at least! You also had to be fast in responding and applying, as it would be gone within 2 days of being advertised.
But it wasn’t until the day before Christmas Eve that we viewed a new apartment to rent. This finding a home in Rotterdam challenge was something we were not going to give up with! We were one of 6 people in total who had the chance to view it, as the selling agent only took the first 6 people who called, saying that it would definitely be taken by one of us. We’ll he was right, out of the 6 people who viewed it, 3 people applied, including us… AND GUESS WHO GOT IT?!
We did.
Are you also trying to find a home in Rotterdam? Try the websites we did and also let others know you are searching, as they may spot something for you too!
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