Bought a house!

[Coop]

Today I signed the papers to buy a house! Unfortunately, I still have to wait until the 27th of February 2008 until I get the keys. But that will give me plenty of time to prepare for moving and arranging the last details for the mortgage (pretty much just need to sign the papers, talked to the bank guy yesterday).

Here's a few pictures of the new Casa de Coop (in crappy quality as they were taken by the real estate agent.

The front:

The kitchen:

The bathroom:

The attic (which will be my playground):

The backyard:

I know, to most of you americans this will look like a tiny little shack, but to dutch standards, it's a pretty decent sized house. Most of you guys will probably not believe how much houses cost in the Netherlands (UK guys excepted) We got this place at the bargain price of 207K euro. Anyway, we're pretty excited about all this and I just needed to share. Another good thing, well have a (small) guest room to accommodate visiting CPFers

 

[Beamhead]

Congrats! And as an American I will say it is a very nice place with good taste and not a little shack at all.

I hope you enjoy many healthy and happy years there.

Is that an open invitation..............

 

[LukeK]

Congrats Coop -- that looks like a great house for you guys! I'll have to come visit sometime

 

[Coop]

Is that an open invitation..............

I'll have to come visit sometime

You're both welcome to visit, but if you come at the same time you might just have to share a bed

 

[LukeK]

I'm not sharing with THAT schmuck - I call dibs.

 

[Illum]

wow, how did you come up with this?
very nice place you found there:huh:, didn't know your cooper was worth this much:naughty:

 

[Beamhead]

I'm not sharing with THAT schmuck - I call dibs.

Dibs in Dutch means Dog house..........

 

[Coop]

Actually, the word dibs is not part of the dutch language. But if you guys don't want to share, you can of course bring your sleeping bag & pad and sleep in the yard :nana:

wow, how did you come up with this?
very nice place you found there:huh:, didn't know your cooper was worth this much:naughty:

The cooper was worth much more to me, unfortunately the buyer thought otherwise Oh well, the money from the cooper was well spent on my recumbent bike

 

[Flying Turtle]

Nice house. Congratulations. Nothing better than having some property to call your own. Have fun.

Geoff

 

[Illum]

people these days....
most people I heard from don't give much care about buying used cars...regardless of how well the previous owner tends to it...which worries me about the fate of our family van [my current car], which served us well for 12 years, and now dads considering trading it in.


back to topic um....so how close to Bart now are you? :naughty:

 

[Coop]

about 17 miles by car via main roads, or just 8.6 miles as the bird flies...

And somewhere in the middle there is one of the dutch national parks 'Loonse en drunense duinen' which happens to be one of the darkest places in the Netherlands. Nice flashlight testingground

 

[MarNav1]

I like it!!!

 

[Lightmeup]

Congratulations, it looks like a very nice place. Do you have one of those "on demand" hot water systems for the bathroom and kitchen? The first time I saw one of those was in Holland. How far from Amsterdam are you?

 

[Illum]

"Loonse en drunense duinen" :thinking:

dont get lost in there
bring a spare light!

 

[mossyoak]

As an American currently living in a 9,000 sq foot house with just my dad (hes a doctor so this is nothing more than a trophy home for him to have parties in) i can say i would much rather live in your house than mine, big houses are way to lonely. i loved living in a dorm in a academy.

 

[djblank87]

Congrats Maycooper on the new HQ, it looks very nice......:thumbsup:

 

[gearbox]

Euro 207k = 297k USD currently.

I'm shopping for a home and have had all two offers rejected. Not a lot can be gotten for $235kUSD (€164k).

Here and in most metropolitan areas $300k would get you a decent home. Definitely something better than a shack. But it seems yours is actually an attached condo/townhouse. That $300k/€207k would go a little bit further.

The kitchen, landscaping, yard, bathroom and attic are all great, especially the kitchen. That money would have been well spent in urban US cities.

 

[KC2IXE]

...snip...
I know, to most of you americans this will look like a tiny little shack, but to dutch standards, it's a pretty decent sized house.

Most of you guys will probably not believe how much houses cost in the Netherlands (UK guys excepted) We got this place at the bargain price of 207K euro. Anyway, we're pretty excited about all this and I just needed to share. Another good thing, well have a (small) guest room to accommodate visiting CPFers

Nice looking house - enjoy.

That's about the size of my first house (in the outer borough of Queens NY), I was on the end unit

And ONLY 207K Euros? Fairly cheap - something similar in the general area of NYC I live in will run you about $470K - or about 326K Euros

for $297K - you can get a 850 sq ft co-op

 

[scott.cr]

Nice looking place! I see you already have your attic mapped out for your "sickness" hahaha. Have fun lugging the lathe, mill and all the tools up there. ;-)

$300k USD is a nice price for a nicely-appointed house like that. In California you can't really even buy a shack for that much. I paid $200k USD for my first condo, plus put another $100k into improvements, and by then it was looking as nice as your place does now, but this was back in 2001.

The place I live in now is bigger (4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms) but at $640k USD, a very steep price. Wife and I make middle-class incomes, so the mortgage payment and property tax is a significant expense.

 

[Coop]

I looked at houses with about the same specs in a similar sized city in the US, (+/- 180K residents) and found prices as low as $145K. When looking what the $300K I spent on my house would get me in a more rural area of the US... I was completely baffled.

There is a big difference in pricing of houses here too, depending on what area. The house I bought for 207K euro in the south of NL, if I bought a house in the west, where I currently live, a house with the same specs would have set me back 350K euro (about $500K).

And coming up summer 2008: Flashaholic BBQ at Coops place!!