So I've finally caved in and am now the proud owner of a "blogger" blog, YIKES. I want to use this place to document the progress in the new build that is going to be our new house. I've already blogged about how we came to Westwijk Zuidwest phase 2b, so I'll just cut and paste from there:
Anyway. I haven't blogged in ages, there have been a lot of things going on, as usual. But seriously, this time it's a bit of a thunderclap, instead of the usual busy niggly wiggly things. We have decided to move. YES! what started out on Easter as a possibility, has suddenly turned into scary reality. During second Easter day, we were at my MIL and were talking about how we were thinking of moving (lots of reasons, Danah growing up and having to change her room etc, but mostly the insane driving time we have everyday with Danah in the car....) and MIL suggested, why not look at Aalsmeer? Lots of new houses there and it's much closer to work than Alphen. We were like hey, you are right. We drive by there everytime we go through the Amsterdamse bos; the place is surrounded by new developments. So the next day we decided to go take a look. Funnily enough, we stopped by a development in Amstelveen that looked nice from a distance. I looked at the adverts in the window of the model house, and said Oh Lord we can't afford this! Let's leave. But the next day, I couldn't help looking at the website for the developers; the houses really were gorgeous. I was clicking around and saw there were actually several phases of houses that were being built. And the latest phase was actually affordable! I told Jasper immediately, and he got excited too. We went to the model house again (which was open that day) and took a look around. It was really very nice...floor warming! new build! hugh ceilings! The funny thing was, the Phanos guy told us that for the previous phase, people lined up to get the house they wanted since the night before, that's how popular these houses were. So for the next few days, Jasper spent a lot of time looking at our finances, the brochures etc etc, as we prepared for our night out in the car in front of a model house in Amstelveen. How ridiculous! But we did it, we put a bid on the house we wanted, and went home shattered. It was even in the news: here. Since then, and continuing as we speak, the days have been a whirlwind of activity, packing, painting, information evenings, decisions decisions decisions........
But you know, the house is 10 mins from VUMC. And 20 mins onwards to Almere. You just can't beat that. My heart is breaking to leave Alphen tho. I find myself saying goodbye to everything.
Time to move on I guess.
Lots of dates to remember...
Well that's it. More updates to follow!
Anyway. I haven't blogged in ages, there have been a lot of things going on, as usual. But seriously, this time it's a bit of a thunderclap, instead of the usual busy niggly wiggly things. We have decided to move. YES! what started out on Easter as a possibility, has suddenly turned into scary reality. During second Easter day, we were at my MIL and were talking about how we were thinking of moving (lots of reasons, Danah growing up and having to change her room etc, but mostly the insane driving time we have everyday with Danah in the car....) and MIL suggested, why not look at Aalsmeer? Lots of new houses there and it's much closer to work than Alphen. We were like hey, you are right. We drive by there everytime we go through the Amsterdamse bos; the place is surrounded by new developments. So the next day we decided to go take a look. Funnily enough, we stopped by a development in Amstelveen that looked nice from a distance. I looked at the adverts in the window of the model house, and said Oh Lord we can't afford this! Let's leave. But the next day, I couldn't help looking at the website for the developers; the houses really were gorgeous. I was clicking around and saw there were actually several phases of houses that were being built. And the latest phase was actually affordable! I told Jasper immediately, and he got excited too. We went to the model house again (which was open that day) and took a look around. It was really very nice...floor warming! new build! hugh ceilings! The funny thing was, the Phanos guy told us that for the previous phase, people lined up to get the house they wanted since the night before, that's how popular these houses were. So for the next few days, Jasper spent a lot of time looking at our finances, the brochures etc etc, as we prepared for our night out in the car in front of a model house in Amstelveen. How ridiculous! But we did it, we put a bid on the house we wanted, and went home shattered. It was even in the news: here. Since then, and continuing as we speak, the days have been a whirlwind of activity, packing, painting, information evenings, decisions decisions decisions........
But you know, the house is 10 mins from VUMC. And 20 mins onwards to Almere. You just can't beat that. My heart is breaking to leave Alphen tho. I find myself saying goodbye to everything.
Time to move on I guess.
Lots of dates to remember...
- 14th April ~ We went to Westwijk for the first time. Took a quick look at the model house from the outside, and realized from the ads in the window that it was waaaay above our budget.
- 15th April ~ I couldn't resist looking at the developer's website, and clicked around until I got to Phase 2b, and the prices were fairly affordable! I alerted Jasper and we decided to take a peek at the model house that was open that evening. It was incredible! We loved the high ceilings, the roomy spaces, and best of all, the floor heating. The developer told us that the last time anything from the previous phases went on sale, people lined up in front of the door from the night before to be able to put a bid down on the house they wanted. We understood what we had to do.
- 16th and 17th April ~ Jasper did a lot of homework figuring out the different houses, which one we might want to put an offer for, and most importantly if we could afford it. Our financial advisor, Peter, came into play; he was happy to help us out again in our quest for the second house.
- Evening of the 17th ~ We had an appointment with Peter in the afternoon today, we talked a long time about our options for the new mortgage. Jasper went straight to the model house after that, and took up his position at around 5pm. He was still not in the first one, in fact, he was third. Luckily none of them wanted the house we did. I joined him later that evening at around 10am. Then we spent the night in the car. It was horrendous...NEVER doing that again!!
- 18th April ~ We put our names down for #87, style A1b(s)! Hooray! Then staggered back to mother-in-law's for some much needed sleeeeeeeeeeeeep. Felt completely out of touch, it was completely unreal. So tired though, it was hard driving. I fell asleep for about 2 seconds while driving in the tunnel to mum's...that's when I knew I needed some sleep badly.
- 25th April ~ Sandra and Erik came over to help with some major things. They painted the whole kitchen white! It looked pretty awesome. The first of the real estate agents came by to quote their price for our house in Alphen.
- 28th April ~ We had our second appointment with Phanos, and we went over the contract line by line with him. Then we signed!! It was all very exciting, but over in a flash haha. I remember the Phanos guy saying if you wake up in a sweat two days from now, thinking, OMG what have we done?! then we can still get out of it. We were quite sure we didn't want to do that :)
- 2nd May ~ Started the packing to get rid of all the stuff from the surfaces of our furniture. Meanwhile Jasper is doing a lot of reading and thinking about all the extra work we want in our house.
- 4th May ~ Mum came round to wallpaper the last bit of wall on the stairs.
- 12th May ~ Peter came by in the evening with an offer from the bank for our new mortgage. After asking about 20 million questions, every one of which he answered very patiently, we signed the offer. We still have to collect some documents, including a list of all the extras.
- 14th May ~ Information evening @ the Modern Art museum in the center of Amstelveen. We walked into the shopping center and I felt like singing "Hallelujah!"...it is of course amazing! The information evening was great, we had lots of questions answered. Also we realized that we needed to inform them about the extra build stuff immediately. we also made several appointments with the interior designer, the bathroom people and the kitchen people.
- 15th May ~ Jasper emailed Phanos the list of extras. These were only the ones which involved the outside build of the house, for example the extension in the living room etc. Mum came around again to wallpaper the kitchen wall.
- 16th May ~ Rented a storage box!
- 20th May ~ Interior designer appointment. It was really great. She had some amazing ideas (and I told her so liberally). But at least now we know what we want, and where we want it.
- 25th May ~ Appointments with the bathroom people. We sat with her and went through the ideas we had, and the things we wanted done, including a long drain in the shower, and a Rain shower! Also we talked to the tiling person. We are sticking to the standard black on the floor and white on the walls. Later we had an appointment with Phanos to go over the fine tuning of extras, this time including inside the house like location of power points etc. She will make a new drawing for us and send that to us for our approval. How nice to customize our place!
- 30th May ~ By this time we have chosen the real estate agent to sell our house in Alphen. She came by for an appointment this morning to give us some paperwork to fill out. All this time, we have been packing stuff slowly and moving it into our storage box.
- 4th June ~ Jasper stayed at home to work on the house. By the time I got home, he had cleaned out the attic completely and worked on the kitchen later that night. I did my table and dressing table. The house looks really empty and big by now. Pics tomorrow!
- 5th June ~ The photographer from the real estate agent came round to take pictures of the house in the afternoon today. In the morning, Andrea worked hard to clean the house for him. Pictures were taken successfully, and the guy apparently said we had done a lot. I was really relieved..I didnt think we'd make it to be honest. There still a lot of stuff out, like books etc, but at least it is tidy. I am very happy. I didn't think we'd make it, but we did! The house will now be on sale very soon.
- 6th June ~ We dropped off the paperwork at the real estate agent. They promise to get the brochure to us this week, and also the "for sale" sign.
Well that's it. More updates to follow!
