Finding a place to live for my new job

Some of you already know that I finally found a job in the Netherlands after years of searching. Now we're facing a problem which I didn't really expect to be this big. I was even reluctant to ask for your prayers here but since it's clear that it causes lots of stress to my wife and I, I thought that it's important enough so to speak.

The problem is that it's extremely hard to find a place for us to rent. Apparently it's difficult enough in the Netherlands already but we face extra challenges because of my salary and the amount of children that we have. My salary is too high to apply for the social renting system, which is something like renting from the government who won't charge you insane prices. Then there's the private sector, which can get pretty expensive but I've run the numbers multiple times and we'd manage easily every month. There's still lots of competition though, which is one of the reasons why lots of real estate agents demand a salary that is at least three times as high as the monthly rent. The ones that ask four times the monthly rent are the most annoying; their houses are cheaper and they don't accept others to guarantee their income (my parents in law are both able and willing to do this). This is all the more frustrating since we don't exactly spend much on extravagant things, unlike our Dutch peers apparently.

There's also our kids. We live in a pretty small apartment at the moment with all four girls in one room. They are having a blast and are really well-behaved, even according to an American friend who works with kids a lot. And why? Because my wife's a stay-at-home mom. Yet real estate agents will see that as a big family with only one salary, besides sometimes they are arbiters of whether a house can be lived in with four kids. The fact that we also have a small dog complicates things further.

So yeah, prayers apprectiated for the success of our search. I want to be able to be physically there for my wife and kids every day, and this feels like a huge existential thing.

Praying

It doesn't look like we're gonna be having a home by the 1st of August. We did decide to go to the Netherlands though, since we did get an OK appartment by October 2nd if it should come to that. And also no small factor: I'm pretty sure my wife was reaching a breaking point from all the stress. It's good to have a clear plan.

Today I made a reservation at a storage facility near our families and tomorrow there will be a guy from a moving company to see if they'll be able to transport our things by next week. We can crash at my mom's place for the first few days (we'll go there by train) but we'll be looking out for a holiday house closer to my job.

By then it'll be a matter of where our dog can stay, probably at my dad's; most campings and holiday parks don't want pets on the premises. In the meantime the search for a new home will continue, since October 2nd isn't ideal and besides we'd like to have a bigger place where my wife and I don't need to sleep in the living room. It's a nice little town though, very very Christian.

So yeah, it's going alright considering the circumstances. Thanks for the prayers, further prayers greatly appreciated. It's a pretty big thing for me to arrange and I'm getting more organized over the years but it's still a great challenge.

Dang I am so sorry that things are not going as smoothly as desired.  I can only imagine how stressful that'd be - especially for your wife.  I'm praying for you guys, and wish we could help in practical ways as well.  I'm glad you've got a plan to move forward with though and hopefully something amazing will open up very soon!

A little update: at least we have more certainty until October 2nd. This Friday we'll be traveling to my mom's where we will stay for a little over a week until my sister and her husband and kids will go on a holiday. We will be able to stay there for two weeks and after that we *might* live in the house of my wife's much older niece, very close to where I will be working. My wife's niece lives in her own little appartment anyway.

In the meantime I contacted a truck driving cousin of mine if he could help me out shipping our stuff one weekend. He's trying to make it work with his permit and renting a truck, and I might get one of my brothers (the inexhaustable one) to tag along. We'll have to move our stuff to a storage unit but at least it'll be in the Netherlands. And whatever it may cost me, at least it won't cost nearly as much as hiring a moving company.

It's still quite an operation but at least we'll be able to stay together, even with our dog. And I might be able to strengthen some family ties in the process.

Now there's a possibility for a house that's really close to family and from where I can easily reach work. Also in the same town as a solid church that I already had some good contact with. There's three or four other candidates, and by Monday we'll hear if we have it.

Prayers appreciated, it's a way better family house than that appartment and available sooner. The rent isn't that bad either. Also prayers for us to maintain a good attitude if we get disappointed.

Quick update: job is going great, taking my wife and kids along turned out to be a smart move since it's way easier for them to get along with our own countrymen and -women and we just heard that we got a house. That's worth some serious praise I think.

Awesome news!  Congratulations!!!  Praise God.

Great to hear! Thankyou Jesus!

Now that it's weekend and I'm having a bit of time on my hands, I thought I'd give you a more detailed update.

We're in my wife's counsin's house at the moment (see my current location), and it's about 15 minutes by bicycle to my job. Also there's the possibility of working from home. We can stay here until the beginning of October and theoretically we'd be able to stay at my wife's friend because that family will be on holiday for over two weeks. But hopefully that won't be necessary since we bought what we call a maisonnette (like having two little appartments on top of each other). It's very near my parents in law, an aunt of mine who was recently widowed and lots of other family and friends. And we might be able to move in as early as next month, which would be insanely fast.

Last weekend I went to my old place near Berlin with my brother, two cousins and a truck. We got pretty much all of our stuff in, drove through the night and everything fit into a storage unit. And more good news: I have the storage unit in the same town where we turned out to be able to buy that house.

It's also a very christian area and there's a solid church of "our own" denomination, those people already tried to help us. Also, in case we won't be allowed to homeschool there even are reformed schools in the neighborhood (and lots of other christian schools). In the Netherlands, religious schools have the same status as public schools according to our constitution, so it won't be expensive either.

I'm kinda missing our stuff, we had the foresight to bring a few of our CDs but I'm starting to feel like something else than Trace Adkins or Alan Jackson. And my wife doesn't want me to put on the new Gloryhammer CD so... Good to have small problems again!

Thanks for the update! I'm so glad God is blessing you and things are working out. It's neat hearing stories like this from other parts of the world where the culture is just a bit different from here.

We'll sign the transfer deed (I believe it's called in English) tomorrow and we'll receive the keys. We'll throw in our beds and the luggage we have at the moment and after that we'll gradually move our stuff from the storage to our home.

Apparently there's some asbestos in there. Just a small piece between the wall and the central heating boiler though.

Great to hear. I'm thanking God on your behalf on leading you through this and giving you strength and wisdom throughout the process. It's always fulfilling when you completely finish a process/project/etc. 

I'm not entirely sure, but I think asbestos is completely fine if it's not disturbed. Our entire fellowship hall at church has asbestos flooring. The health inspectors said the best thing to do (other than tearing the building down and starting again) was to leave it and put the new flooring overtop.