Creative Financing for Investing in the Netherlands

[Erwin Groenendijk]

Dear all,

Originally, I am from the Netherlands and for two years now living and working in the city of Barcelona in Spain. It is also here that I started investing in Real Estate investing. In this forum post, I would like to discuss the topic of Creative Financing for Investing in the Netherlands.

The reason for that is because in Barcelona there is a creative way of Fixing & Flipping a house without being the 'official' owner. This is done via a 'Contrato de Arras', meaning a down payment of 10-20% which gives you the right to do the rehab and sell within 6 months without officially needing to buy the property yourself (excluding all involving costs of the process of doing so, as e.g. notary costs, taxes etc.). Then, if things go well, you never own the property but you do get the profit as a contractor for selling it for the rehabbed price. This way, taxes are lower and with a relatively small amount of money you are able to Buy, Rehab, and Sell properties. Of course, the downside is that you need to be able to sell the property in 6 months, among some others.

Are there similar creative financing set ups in the Netherlands? Do you know/use particular smart ways of buying, rehabbing, or selling properties and would like to share? Tips for beginners or the tricks for more experienced investors?

Please share/comment! 

[Erwin Groenendijk]

Hi Bas, thanks for the reply. The crowdfunding space is indeed getting more interest and more initiatives coming up. Would be interested if anyone else knows some creative tips how to handle with creative financing in the Netherlands. Although, the rules and regulations are differing between the countries, there should be ways. This because in Spain a lot of things are regulated (there is relatively quite some bureaucracy), and still constructions like this are proven to be quite successful. 

Good luck with your first real estate investment!