How to buy a house in Holland

My brother-in-law opens his front door. An unknown gentleman stands before him.
-Good afternoon sir, I heard you want to buy the house next door!
- Yes, I am considering it. What can I do for you?
- Well, you will buy it from me, I’m sure you gonna do that!

My brother-in-law, let’s call him Hans, didn’t know the man, so he asked:

- Well, I subscribed to an auction where the house will be sold. But when you bid a higher price than I will, and you will be the new owner, why should I buy it from you, then? I can also move to a bigger house. Just wait and see what the auction will bring.

Hahaha, when you don’t buy it from me, then I will take care of some nice neighbors for you to whom I will sell it.

Hans understood that the man didn’t want to live in the house next door but that he was only interested in profit. The house was now owned by the mortgage-bank because the neighbor couldn’t afford his mortgage terms anymore, he was in big trouble and lived elsewhere in miserable circumstances. In such situations a mortgage bank always wants to sell a house a.s.a.p., at a lower price than the market value. A difference between mortgage debt and auction price is charged to the previous owner who can run in lifelong debts because of this. Hans despised people who strive for profit from other people’s misery. So he said to the man: I think we have nothing to discuss, goodbye, maybe see you at the auction.

After the man had left Hans was worried. A couple of years ago he had bought his little house at the dyke of a small river as his first house after he had married his wife. Now the house next door, which was under the same roof as his own, became available and he saw it as an opportunity to enlarge his house, which was really very small. After he discussed the new development with his wife they concluded that they wouldn’t have enough credits to start a bidding competition with the man he spoke to at the door, and afterwards pay him a still larger amount to prevent moving to another house or have neighbours who would spoil their living conditions. But he had an advantage: he knew somebody well experienced with the matter and asked him for advice. From him he heard about the auction rules and about the practices of the guild of the house-auction runners.

Banks in the Netherlands try to attract people to house auctions by giving a small percentage of the selling price of an offered house to everybody who does a bidding at an auction. This fact causes the existence of bidding clubs. As a pastime, or even to gain a living, some people form clubs that go from auction to auction to do a bidding, just to receive the bank premiums. Of course they run the risk that they “keep stuck on their bidding” and are obliged to buy a house. That’s why they form clubs: if a club member is obliged to buy a house against his will, then together they have enough credits to buy, and they will re-sell the house a.s.a.p. at the price they bought it for or higher. If they do well, then after a while they can use the saved premiums to cover this risk. They don’t bother that most of the houses sold this way are from poor people not able to afford their house anymore,. Why should they? It’s all within the limits of law. Hans learnt that the man at his front door was such a member of a bidding club who tried to assure that his new property would be sold, supposed he or another club member would be obliged to buy it at the auction. What to do? Go to the auction and bid against them? He would cut in own flesh: the prices would raise too high, and he saw the sarcastic smile of the club member already in his mind. His expert friend suggested that he would go to the auction with his mobilephone. The auction rules were that a maximum bidding had been done, then the bidder would get the house, provided that no higher bidding would be done fifteen minutes before the auction would end. The friend told him to go out of the small village he lived (when he would be noticed in the neighborhood of the auction place this would raise the price, because everybody knew he was interested in the house) and hide somewhere within fifteen minutes driving distance. He had to make sure that his car couldn’t be seen. As soon as the maximum bidding had been established, he would notify him by his gms. Then he had to drive immediately full speed to the auction place and do a higher bidding exactly 15 minutes after the maximum bidding up to then.

So it went and Hans got the house. He told not without irony about the facial
expression of the man at the front door.