Quote from: freeyourmind on July 10, 2015, 08:50:38 PM

Quote from: bigtimespaghetti on July 10, 2015, 08:19:16 PM

Quote from: freeyourmind on July 10, 2015, 03:24:24 PM

Quote from: bigtimespaghetti on July 10, 2015, 06:02:04 AM

Quote from: freeyourmind on July 09, 2015, 10:21:26 PM

Amsterdam is one of the nicest cities I've been to, and would love to go back there, even to live for a year or two.

I'd do a quick financial scenario analysis between renting and buying and keep an eye on what's available for sale on the market.

I think I'm in a little bit of a middle class bubble here compared to the rest of the Netherlands, despite the crime being highest here compared to the rest of the country I haven't had much trouble, but I am lucky enough to live in the centre right now.

Is crime an issue there? I was only there for a week a couple years back, but every interaction I had with anyone was pleasant.

So are you currently renting the place that you're in?

Another option would be to entertain the thought of buying a place with income producing potential. I'm currently searching for this type of property in Toronto.

Crime isn't really an issue, no. Crime is highest in Amsterdam in all the netherlands. If you are wise you will not put yourself in harms way. Junkies and criminals are not a major worry, I do not go out late or wander the city in the early hours so I almost never encounter them. There are plenty of gross men out and about of all nationalities, which accost any women. It's pathetic behaviour and gives extremist feminists more ammunition, from the way I've seen some disgusting assholes act I almost don't blame them.

When I first got to Amsterdam, it was around midnight and I didn't really know what it would be like. Anyways I went for what I thought would be a short walk around the area by myself, which turned into a long walk because I got lost lol. I found it to be very safe, and most nights we walked around for hours.

As long as the more negative interactions are exceptions, you can find that even in the best of cities. The canal houses we saw were absolutely beautiful. Do you know the price range for the ones on the canal, and maybe on smaller streets? I saw a show that had some Americans moving to Amsterdam in houses ranging from 600k a little further out to 2.2MM on the canal.

When did you come? The city has cleaned up considerably in the last 5 years. It is very easy to get lost in the centre if you are not familiar with it, the islands and canals all end up looking the same! I'm talking about being outside of the centre specifically, but even that is relatively safe when compared, for example with New York or London.

The most expensive canal ring is Herengracht (pronounced Heragrach, if my dutch serves me). I linked a fun study earlier in the thread about the prices on there. If you want a look, check out www.funda.nl- it has an english option and see prices for yourself. You can find studios on the outer canal rings for as little as 120k eur- granted they will be rabbit hutches, but probably not a bad long term investment. I recently saw a 135k 20m square studio on the canal ring after Herengracht- extremely nice finish (wasn't even freehold, was on a municipal lease), went in less than a week. I actually live in a canal house (again I consider myself extremely lucky), it's pretty cool! Apart from the general noise at night it's a beautiful view when it's not raining- actually sometimes even when it is too

But yeah 2 million euros isn't even the lowest end of what large apartments in the more beautiful parts of the centre can cost. There are some truly incredible properties available. Another anecdote- a corner house on Herengracht facing the Amstel river was renovated, and all of the flats went in less than a week. Some property developers are making out like bandits right now.