Mortgages in The Netherlands are insane

[Reginald Ret]

I have been looking into buying a home.

It is normal to get a mortgage that takes 30 years to pay off. The cheapest appartments i have seen are 85.000 euro and stripped bare, so you will have quite extensive construction costs. 120.000 euro is usually called a very cheap house.
I checked on a bankwebsite how much mortgage I could get and by lying about my studentloan i could get 90.000 euro. Lying about my studentloan in reality would be impossible. Fun sidenote: When i started studying I was promised that my student loan wouldn't influence my chances for a mortgage.
Missing too many payments not only means the bank takes back the house but leaves you with massive debt on top of that.

You could declare yourself bankrupt but around here that doesn't mean you lose your creditrating in exchange for getting rid of your debt like it does in sane countries.
No, it means the debts keep existing but you just won't be expected to pay them off (for a while) and a government curator takes control of your life: Your mail is redirected to this curator, all your income goes into his care, he sells all your valuables, and you get a minimal allowance from him.

Interesting sidenote: The Judge usually doesn't allow a Bankruptcy to occur if you have no assets and limited income, in that case you can just resign to having your creditors taking a big chunk out of your paycheck.

So I think i won't be buying even though it is by far more affordable than renting.

Speaking of renting...
You can get on a 7 year waiting list for subsidized living where refusing 3 offered houses means you go back to the bottom of the list. As you can imagine this doesn't give you a lot of choice about where you live.
Or you can get a 'free sector' house.The prices for these start at 700 euro a month. This is what i am doing now. Of course they are very difficult when two men want to rent a house together (I couldn't afford one on my own so i pooled my resources with a friend) so we had to get a registered partnership, this is legally equal to marriage. To get a house I can still barely afford.

My father is the second man in a municipal political party and he told me about one of their plans to build many tiny affordable houses. I hope this happens soon because i can´t stand wasting 40% of my income on 4 walls and a roof much longer. I know that will still mean I have to get one of those evil dutch mortgages but if the payments are affordable enough I don't expect to run into any trouble even if i lose my job.

There is not enough mirth here to call it horrormirth from my perspective but i imagine others can laugh about this.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The more horror, the more mirth.

Go buy a house in Norway. 

[Junkenstein]

For what it's worth, it's largely the same all over as I understand.

I resigned myself to private renting a long time ago due to the nature of my work and frequent moves.

There are other options I could suggest but they would be very dependent on cash and the kind of environment you're willing to live in.

Also, paying 40% for 4 walls may hurt, but I promise you it's a better situation than having no walls and 100%. I've got no idea what your eviction laws are like but if you don't have an address here it's a nightmare trying to do anything. Which leads to our wonderful homeless problem that isn't worth discussing.

[LMNO]

For the record, home ownership ain't all that great either.

[Junkenstein]

Yeah, for one thing you get asshole neighbors like me renting next to you.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That sound almost exactly like a mortgage in the US. I love the idea of paying it off someday but ha, ha. Only 25 years to go!

What's a fucking bummer is  that if I'd kept my first house it'd be paid off next year. Stupid remarriage.

[Reginald Ret]

Alla youse are depressing me even more. 

[LMNO]

Yeah, for one thing you get asshole neighbors like me renting next to you.

Seriously.  There I am, thinking all I have to deal with are asshole Bostonians, and then a wormhole appears and suddenly I'm living next to UKIP.

[EK WAFFLR]

The more horror, the more mirth.

Go buy a house in Norway.

Yeah. No. Not gonna get a house in Norway (unless you want to be north of the polar circle among the reindeer) below €200,000. Sky high interest, and you need 15% of the amount up front.

[Junkenstein]

The more horror, the more mirth.

Go buy a house in Norway.

Yeah. No. Not gonna get a house in Norway (unless you want to be north of the polar circle among the reindeer) below €200,000. Sky high interest, and you need 15% of the amount up front.

Ironically, I would suspect property investment in Norway to be a relatively safe bet. The country is affluent and there's no immediate sign of everything turning to shit. No idea on their capital gains laws but unless they're totally brutal it's probably a decent place to make cash out of.

[EK WAFFLR]

The more horror, the more mirth.

Go buy a house in Norway.

Yeah. No. Not gonna get a house in Norway (unless you want to be north of the polar circle among the reindeer) below €200,000. Sky high interest, and you need 15% of the amount up front.

Ironically, I would suspect property investment in Norway to be a relatively safe bet. The country is affluent and there's no immediate sign of everything turning to shit. No idea on their capital gains laws but unless they're totally brutal it's probably a decent place to make cash out of.

Buying apartments to rent out is the safest investment you can make in Norway. The trick is to get the money for the first apartment. After that it pays itself.

[Junkenstein]

Behold my total and utter lack of surprise.

[The Johnny]

Oh you 1st worlders, i pay 45% of my check to rent a crappy apartment in the shady side of the city. 

Athough i will say that i dont work full time and its more for curricular/experience purposes, so yeah, it probably is worse situation for you guys, im not sure.

[Junkenstein]

Well I'm throwing out about 30% on a half decent place in a meh area. The mortgage on the same place would be about 20-25% as I understand it. Would I like that 5-10%? Sure. Do I want to commit to living here for XX years and owing the bank XXXXXXX, which if I fail to pay consistently for XX years, regardless of circumstance, I lose everything I've put in so far? Fuck no. Not for 10%.

[Reginald Ret]

Well I'm throwing out about 30% on a half decent place in a meh area. The mortgage on the same place would be about 20-25% as I understand it. Would I like that 5-10%? Sure. Do I want to commit to living here for XX years and owing the bank XXXXXXX, which if I fail to pay consistently for XX years, regardless of circumstance, I lose everything I've put in so far? Fuck no. Not for 10%.

That's the worst that can happen to you???!!
I WOULD LOSE MY AGENCY.
I would effectively be treated like a child for years without any of the benefits of being a child (like not being in massive debt).