You find the home of your dreams in the Netherlands, and you offer to buy it for the princely sum of . Your offer is accepted! You pay the seller and the house is yours. If only!
This calculator assumes that the cost of the home is covered by a mortgage from your friendly neighborhood bank. However, there are numerous other additional costs associated with a home purchase that you will need to pay for out of pocket.

Transfer tax (*Overdrachtsbelasting*)

After the actual cost of the house itself, the biggest expense is the transfer tax, because it is a percentage of the property price.
In order to determine the amount of the transfer tax, age and price matter. If you are under 35, and your home costs less than €440,000, you pay no transfer tax. Otherwise, the transfer tax is 2% of the property price. This transfer tax exemption can be used once in your lifetime. If you are buying the house with a partner, and one of you is over 35 years of age, then the older partner will have to pay the 2% transfer tax on their share of the home. You are years old, and your home-buying partner is (ignore this if you have no partner) years old, so your transfer tax is €0.
Note that the rate of 2% only applies to owner-occupied homes. If you are buying a place intending to rent it out the transfer tax is 8%.

You may be surprised, as I was, to discover that the 2% transfer tax doesn't apply only to the price of the house. It also applies to the value of the ground lease, if any, that is being transfered to your name.
Has the seller bought off the ground lease for the house? If not, I strongly encourage you to skip ahead and save yourself the painful mental gymnastics of the next section.
You're still here, so we need to compute how much transfer tax you owe on the deemed value of the lease.
Ok, deep breath. I'll make this as fast and painless as humanly possible. First: did the seller buy off choose an optionthe lease in perpetuitythe lease for a fixed number of years?

Bank guarantee (*Bankgarantie waarborgsom*)

When your offer is accepted you will need to pay the seller (actually the notary, the money is held in escrow) a deposit of 10% of the property price. You can choose an optionask for a bank guarantee for the 10%pay the 10% yourself. Banks typically charge 1% of the amount guaranteed. Based on your choice, you will pay €0 towards the deposit.

National Mortgage Guarantee (*Nationale Hypotheek Garantie*)

The NHG is a unique scheme that guarantees that if you can't make your mortgage payments for a certain set of specified conditions, that they will make the mortgage payments on your behalf. They will take over your mortgage payments if you lose your job, if your relationship ends, if your partner dies or if you become disabled. If you take out a mortgage with NHG you typically get a discount on the mortgage interest rate.
The NHG is available for houses that cost up to €405,000.
The mortgage guarantee costs 0.6% of the home price. The cost of the mortgage guarantee is tax deductible. Will you use the NHG? YesNo The NHG costs €0 for your home

Notary costs

A notary is required to complete a real estate transaction in the Netherlands. The notary's job is not just to witness the validity of your signatures. The notary has three main responsibilities:

1. Record a deed of transfer of ownership with the land register (Kadaster). This is the document that certifies that the house belongs to you.
2. Record the mortgage deed with the land register. This document records the terms of your mortgage and the fact that the bank can sell your house to recoup its investment if you fail to meet the terms of your mortgage.
3. Hold any money (like the 10% deposit) during the escrow period, and ensure transfer of funds from the buyer to the seller.

Notary costs are not fixed, and it can pay to shop around. It is also possible that the seller will choose the notary and you may have no choice in the matter. According to the independer site the average cost of notary services is €1100. We paid close to €2000 in Amsterdam. Enter your notary costs here: . The cost of drawing up and recording the mortgage deed is tax deductible, any costs associated with the deed of transfer of ownership are not deductible. Your notary will give you an itemized bill so that you know how much you can deduct. We will assume that half the costs (€0) are deductible.

WWFT, VIS, BRP , CIR

The notary also has to examine various registries as part of the real estate transaction and will charge for this service.

• WWFT (*witwassen en financieren van terrorisme*) Control/compliance checks for money laundering and terrorism financing.
• VIS (*Verificatie Informatie Systeem*) Identity verification. This register will be used to verify your identification documents.
• BRP (*Basisregistratie Personen*). This is the register of persons, including marital status and addresses.
• CIR (*Centraal Insolventieregister*) This is used to check for previous bankruptcies.

This calculator assumes that this service costs €80, and we will add this to the number you entered above.

Mortgage broker costs (*hypotheekbemiddeling*)

A mortgage broker will help you shop around for and secure a mortgage for your home. The cost of a mortgage broker is tax deductible. This service costs between €2000 and €4000. Enter your mortgage broker costs here: .

Appraisal costs (*Taxatiekosten*)

You will need to pay to have your house appraised - a professional will visit the property to determine how much it is worth. Note that the bank will only give you a mortgage up to the amount that the property is worth, as determined by the appraisal. If you overbid, you will be on the hook for the amount above the appraisal cost. Enter the cost of your appraisal here (as a point of reference if you don't know what to enter here, we paid €550): .

Technical home inspection (*Bouwtechnische keuring*)

It is wise to have the home inspected (and to make your purchase contract conditional on the results of the inspection). The cost of the inspection depends on the size of your home, varying between €200 and €500. Enter the cost of your inspection here: .

House Bills

Real estate tax, water board taxes and sewage tax are paid annually. If the seller has paid these costs for the year, the costs will be amortized based on the date of sale. This section will calculate these costs based on the rates in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam the combined bill is called the *gecombineerde aanslag* and is calculated as follows:

• Property tax is 0.0431% of the WOZ (Wet Waardering Onroerende Zaken) value of the house. If you have an address for the home you are planning to buy, you can look up the WOZ value and enter it here: , or ask us to assume a WOZ value that is a % of your90% of your80% of your purchase price. The property tax is €0.
• Water board taxes are made up of a number of line items and the amounts depend on the WOZ value of your house and the size of your household. You have select household sizeone persontwo or more people in your household. Your annual bill is 123.26.
• Waste levy is €331 for a single person household and €441 for a multiperson household
• Sewer connection charges are 152.50

Assuming you buy your house in the month of choose a monthJanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember your portion of these bills will be €0.00.

Brokerage costs (*aankoopmakelaar*)

You may choose to use a broker to help you find a home to buy, to advise on the bid amount and process, and to help with negotiations. Some brokers charge a % of the home price, others charge a fixed, pre-agreed upon amount. Enter the cost of your broker here: .

Home insurance costs

Most mortgage insurance companies will require your home to be insured as a condition of the mortgage. You will need to provide the notary a proof of insurance at the time of deed transfer and mortgage deed registration. So, for the purposes of this calculator we need to add the cost of one month's worth of insurance premium. You can use this FBTO calculator to estimate your insurance costs and enter your monthly premium here: .

Translation services

If you are not a native Dutch speaker the notary will require you to have a professional translator present at the time of the final signing and transfer of ownership. The notary reads out relevant portions of the mortgage agreement and the transfer of ownership deed in Dutch, and the translator will translate to your native language. The translation service cost us €260. Enter your cost here: .

Negative interest and money transfer charges

Interest rates in EU banks are currently negative. This means that your notary will be charged something to hold your money in escrow, and will pass on that cost to you. They may also charge you for money transfers. This calculator assumes these costs are €50.

Conclusion

If you plan to buy a house that is appraised at €0 using a mortgage from a bank, you should be prepared to pay €0.00 in out-of-pocket costs. You will recoup some of these additional costs when you file your income tax return.