Markets

What a Dutch buyer looks for in a listing

A Dutch buyer starts with the technical sheet and ends with the photos. They open a map, measure distances by bike, compare the price per square metre for the postcode. A listing that opens on feeling reads to them as a listing hiding its figures.

What they check first

  1. Floor area and the method behind it

    They want square metres and the measuring rule. Floor area without a method is not data, it is a claim.

  2. The energy label, letter and value

    The letter alone will not do: they expect kilowatt-hours per square metre per year, and they use it to discuss the price.

  3. An address precise enough to check

    “Quiet neighbourhood” means nothing until they can place it on a map. They really do measure the distances, it is not a figure of speech.

  4. Charges, itemised

    Building charges, local taxes, upkeep. A total with no breakdown reads as an arranged total.

The gaps that stop them

  • Floor area given without the measuring method.
  • An energy label reduced to its letter, with no consumption figure.
  • A vague location that cannot be placed on a map.
  • Charges rolled into a single amount.
  • No floor plan, or rooms that appear in no photograph.

The word to know

“Gezelligheid” (the pleasure of being together in comfort): the one thing figures do not capture, and it weighs. A kitchen large enough to host in, a measured garden, somewhere to keep the bikes are worth more to them than an adjective about the standing of the address.

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