IF YOU’RE MOVING TO AMSTERDAM, SHOULD YOU BUY AN APARTMENT OR RENT IT? An essential question for lots of expats moving to Amsterdam. It may sound easy to answer this question, but it really is not. Amsterdam has a complicated housing market and key to this is to get in touch with experts who understand your needs.
BUYING. The Netherlands has one of the best economic climates for buying property. If you live in The Netherlands you and you have an income of 100.000 euro per year, and you bought a property you get a tax-discount of 30%! Meaning that you’ll only have to pay taxes over 70.000 euro, which can make a big difference. Still, you should do proper research before jumping to decisions. We’ve found this site The Guide To Buying An Apartment in Amsterdam which gives you all the information you should know. AND via that site you can get in touch with real estate brokers who’re experts in the Amsterdam market and have worked with lots of expats.
RENTING. If you’re going to stay in Amsterdam for less than 3 years it is advisable to rent a property in Amsterdam. As the expat housing market in Amsterdam is quite fast moving and complicated we suggest you get in touch with a professional expat housing agent. Always check of the housing agent you’re working with is licensed by the city council. What you should know: if you find an apartment yourself, you have to pay 1 month commission. BUT if you get a professional housing agent you have to pay 1 month commission as well, so always make sure you get in touch with a licensed housing agent. This website about renting apartments in Amsterdam will tell you everything about renting a property in Amsterdam and sure is a must read!
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on August 20th, 2010
IF YOU WANT TO GO SHOPPING: YOU HAVE TO SEE THE PC HOOFTSTRAAT. Although the PC Hooftstraat in Amsterdam isn’t really that special, it still is a must see. Why? Because it’s more a hotspot of Dutch celebrities, rich kids and show offs. There was even made a TV-Serie of this street called Bij ons in de PC, it’s all in Dutch, but you might find it funny to watch. In the ever so busy PC Hooftstraat the Porsches are standing in line, the shop bouncers are looking grumpy and Vespa’s are riding on and off. And if you don’t believe me, roger, we’ve got vision. Oh, and did you know? The PC Hooftstraat even got its own Wikipedia page.
GLOBAL VILLAGE. You won’t see typically Dutch brands in this street, the ‘luxury global brands’ are dominating the horizon: Armani, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. So if you want to go shopping bring along a big wallet, the PC Hooftstraat is not cheap… One of the most famous stores is Oger, this family company sells business suits. Another popular shop is Cosmic Cowboys, for women a must see. And if you want to be prepared when shopping here is the exact list of shops in the PC Hooftstraat. Hell, I’ve even made a Twitter list of cool shops in Amsterdam, for all you shopping freaks! And even if you’re looking for a souvenir of Amsterdam, you can find it in the PC Hooftstraat. The PC Hooftstraat is perfect accessible by public transport: you can take tram 2 or 5. For more information about transportation in Amsterdam, I’d recommend you read my other post about Public Transport in Amsterdam.
LUXURY APARTMENTS IN THE PC HOOFTSTRAAT – AMSTERDAM are really popular because of their location and the vivid atmosphere which buzzes in the street. As you would not expect it; there are lots of apartments for rent in the PC Hooftstraat Amsterdam. Most of the apartments are starting around 1.500 euro per month, but hey, you have the best place to stay in Amsterdam. You are in between the center of Amsterdam and Oud Zuid (Old South). If you want to rent an appartment in Amsterdam do let us know!
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on July 1st, 2010
JUST FROM THE PRESS. Amsterdam is losing its position on the list of most expensive cities. Amsterdam is now #35 of the worlds’ most expensive cities. You can find more information about this research at the website of Mercer – Worldwide Cost of Living survey 2010. The main reason why Amsterdam is still expensives is because of the housing. Unfortunately the prices for real estate (especially for expats who rent) are quite high. Expats pay for a (legal) apartment in Amsterdam at least 1.200 euros per month, this is because of the city government regulations, so Amsterdam still is not that cheap. If you want more information about renting an apartment in Amsterdam you can leave your information at our site, we will help you find a professional agency.
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on June 29th, 2010
NOT IN AMSTERDAM FOR BUSINESS? Well, than there is enough to do to enjoy your stay in Amsterdam! Amsterdam has lots of beautiful sights to see. But why would you stand in queue for the dumb attractions just like all the tourists? Our advice: let a local show you around Amsterdam! A local is often a better guide than some tourist company. You get to see the depth of a city when a local is your guide, you see the real sights to see to find the caracter of a city. You can find local guides on the Guided by a Local site. Another site which I recommend is Pure Amsterdam which is lead by Anna Maria ‘Puur’, as an active ‘Tweep’ she might also be able to give you tips of great sights in Amsterdam. Puur has also a PuurDaily on Twitter (which is unfortunately in Dutch), but gives you information about what’s hot & happening in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has also a TimeOut magazine, but well, to be honest, the hot & happening they bring to you is already not that hot & happening anymore. You’d better check out the Amsterdam Weekly instead, as it isn’t active, it still is useful because of the ads you can place.
FOURSQUARE. You want real-time-coolness in Amsterdam? Take along your iPhone or other gadget and find out as a modern James Bond where the hot sights to see are right now! Logon to FourSquare, or look for some hot FourSquare sights right here. The Dutch made their own FourSquare, called Feest.je (which stands for party), but well it’s in Dutch… Anyway, don’t be worried, in some next posts I will give you some more tips of what to do and what sights to see in Amsterdam. The things that are really cool, you know 
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on June 29th, 2010
i29 ARCHITECTS from Amsterdam has created this wonderful apartment in Amsterdam Oud Zuid (South of Amsterdam). This piece of interior art has been flooded over the internet as a tsunami, some famous websites as Dezeen and Contemporist have been buzzing about it.
HOME 07: NAME OF THE APARTMENT. This apartment in Amsterdam has been created by a laser which has cut the holes. You can open for instance cabinets by these holes, they function as handles / handgrips. The whole apartment is full of air and light feeling.
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on June 27th, 2010
IT’S EVERYBODY’S DREAM: to rent a houseboat in Amsterdam. As Amsterdam is most famous for its inner waters (the famous canals of Amsterdam) to rent a boat is the wet dream for everybody: from tourist to the people from Amsterdam self. If you can stay at your holiday in a houseboat in Amsterdam, you can count yourself lucky. If you want to rent a houseboat, I’ve got some bad news: houseboats in Amsterdam are quite expensive to rent. So if you just want to get a taste of what living in a houseboat in Amsterdam might be, you can check in into the Amsterdam house boat hotel!
FACT: in Amsterdam 2.400 (round and about) families live on houseboats. As the government has strict rules for houseboats in the canals of Amsterdam, the houseboats can be quite expensive. And because of these rules and permits, when renting a house boat it’s important you should seek advice of a professional broker. If you want to buy or rent a houseboat in Amsterdam, we can help you contacting the right professionals, who have lots of know in how to rent / buy a houseboat.
THE DUTCH ARE WATER RATS. Dutch people are really creative when it comes down to water. The Dutch have a love / hate relation with water, but they have lots of experience with water. We’ve been building house boats for many, many years now. In fact there are two types of house boats:
1. Ark (Dutch: woonarken): houses built above concrete platforms. This Woonark in Amsterdam is a good example of an ark.
2. Houseboat (Dutch: woonschip / woonboot): houses built into ships which are out of the running.
Arks are most of the time more comfortable to live and have bit more luxury. Houseboats on the other hand are really cosy and you can find lots of them in the center of Amsterdam. Those kinds of boats look more like this.
BED & BREAKFAST + HOTELS. Here are some of the most unforgettable bed & breakfasts and hotels on a houseboat in Amsterdam:
- Blue Wave Houseboat B&B, great bed & breakfast accommodation in the center of Amsterdam. Lovely place to stay.
- PhilDutch B&B, also a bed & breakfast, you can also here rent a houseboat for a short stay in Amsterdam
HOUSEBOAT MUSEUM. Yes, Amsterdam has a house boat museum. It’s near the Anne Frank House. If you’re talking about sights to see in Amsterdam, this is definitely one you shouldn’t miss. And besides that, it’s cheap and good fun!
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on June 27th, 2010
TASTE AMSTERDAM: when visiting Amsterdam you have to try at least a pancake and a satekroket. The Dutch have their own sense of taste, some typical Dutch food includes: stroopwafels, frikandellen, drop, pancakes and satekroketten.
WHAT IS A SATEKROKET? A satekroket is deep fried pastry, pretty much the same as a croquette. It has been filled with a combination of sate, flesh and ragout. And the pretty thing of it all: in Amsterdam you can buy everywhere a satekroket. If it is about snacks, we sure make it simple. The snackbars in Amsterdam have often a wall with small doors, with behind the doors the snack. You just enter the amount for a satekroket into the machine (most of the time around 1.50 Euro), you open the door and you can start enjoying the satekroket: picture right hurrrr. Lovely. The snackbar franchise Febo sells satekroketten for instance. You want to try it, but you can’t come to Amsterdam? Sweet, I’ve just found some great recipes for you to try: Recept Satekroketten, it is written in Dutch, so I’d recommend you open the site via Google Translate.
PANCAKES: ANOTHER DUTCH SURPRISE. You have pancakes all over the world, in different shapes and sizes. The Dutch eat the pancake for diner, along with sweet ingredients (as sugar), but also in combination with bacon, apple or cheese. The ingredients of a pancake are quite simple: milk, eggs, flour and a bit of salt. As easy as it sounds, the art of baking the perfect pancake is still a hell of a job. So when visiting Amsterdam, we’d recommend to eat your pancakes at the (several award winning & world famous) Pancake Bakery. As the ‘pannenkoek’ (Dutch for pancake) is so famous, Wikipedia even got it’s own English page of the pannenkoek. Go check it out, and when in Amsterdam don’t forget this food: the pancake, besides that it tastes damn good, it is quite cheap as well!
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on June 25th, 2010
WHEN IN AMSTERDAM, the best way to get from one point to another is by taking the tram. A tram is some kind of train, but has been adjusted for the urban world: the city. The public transport (tram, bus, train, ferry, metro) in Amsterdam is quite well organized: with the tram you can travel throughout all the ‘hot’ places to visit in Amsterdam. You can also travel with buses in Amsterdam, but I wouldn’t recommend it: the buses aren’t allowed to drive through the old inner city of Amsterdam, so you will miss a lot of sights to see. The trams have by far the best sight see routes in Amsterdam.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT AMSTERDAM: if you want to use the public transport in Amsterdam you have to buy an OV Chipkaart (Public Transport Card). You can find all the info you need on the website OVChipkaart.nl. You can also buy in the bus or tram a Public Transport Card, but we’d advice you to buy these cards on forehand, as the 1-hour ‘public transportation’-cards are quite expensive. The public transport company (GVB) sells these cards in different places, as in kiosks and at train stations. Most important thing when travelling with the Public Transport Card: do not forget to check in and check out in the trams / buses / metros! When you enter a public transport vehicle keep your card near the reader until it gives a green light and bleeps. When leaving the vehicle you have to hold the card again near a reader until it bleeps.
THE IMPORTANT TRAM LINES. All the trams start at the Central Station of Amsterdam. The trams which lead you into the center of Amsterdam are these: tram 2, tram 5 (via the Dam to the canals, from the canals to the Leidseplein (Leidse Square), from the Leidseplein to the Museumplein (Museum Square), from that point the tram lines split up). Tram 1 goes also from the Dam to the canals, and from the canals to the Leidseplein and from there it goes to Osdorp (an area with newly built houses for bored families). Tram 16 and tram 24 lead you also through the canals and through ‘de Pijp’ (an interesting mixed cultures, student, arty area) and from there to Museumplein. The whole ‘train map’ with the tram lines can be found HERE.
CHEAP TRAVELING THROUGH AMSTERDAM. I would recommend to take the following trams: tram 5, tram 16 and tram 24. Why? On these trams they don’t check if you use the Public Transport card. Sometimes there are teams which check if you’ve made use of the card, but this is very rare: but when they catch you, you’ll catch a ticket. So good luck with traveling cheap in Amsterdam.
BY BIKE THROUGH AMSTERDAM, although this post is about public transportation, we have a word of advice for you: when renting a bike in Amsterdam (and yes, you should rent a bike, the best way of transport in Amsterdam), be aware of the rails of the trams, because you can easily ride into the rails..
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on June 24th, 2010
WELCOME to our website! We’re going to keep you up to date about everything what’s hip & happening in Amsterdam, The Netherlands! On this site you will see articles about how to arrange a short stay in Amsterdam, the best bed & breakfast accommodations, the hottest art happenings, where you’re going to shop (you can expect a post about the Cornelis Schuytstraat / PC Hooftstraat), the public transport in Amsterdam (what’s the best way of transportation).
BUT the MOST important thing is of course: our help with you finding an apartment to rent in Amsterdam. Where will you stay? On a house boat? In the business center of Amsterdam? Are you looking for a studio? Are you looking for something cheap?
EXPATS: be aware of the Real Estate market in Amsterdam, if you want to rent an apartment in Amsterdam you have to be cautious. So first off we advice you to work with a LICENSED Real Estate Agent, some of the companies we’d definitely recommend are:
- MyHousingAgent
- Amstel Housing
- Park Real Estate
DEFINITELY more to come… so keep looking at our site!
Posted by Apartments in Amsterdam on June 23rd, 2010
