Finding accomodation

My experience

I decided to do this as my first blog entry as I think it's the hardest thing to do from abroad. In my case, I was coming here on my own and last minute decided to come with my partner, so my budget increased. The sshn were extremely helpful in helping me find a place and it really is a dream studio. I paid a subscription for 2 months on kamernet and looked day and night on all the facebook groups I could find, but being non-dutch and therefore unavailable to go to viewings (I was still living in Spain) made it nearly impossible. 

TIP; look into the huurtoeslag (below)

At the beginning I was sceptical of using the sshn as I did not want to share a kitchen and shower with 8 other people paying 340€ a month, I thought it was too much, so if you can, I would recommend getting a small studio (mine was 500€ a month). A good thing you can also do is if you have "your own front door" (meaning you don't share the house with anyone else and therefore you have your own entrance) you can ask for the "huurtoeslag". This is a subsidy for rent that you can get even if you are a foreigner if you have "your own front door". It takes time (took me 4 months) BUT I got 240€ a month back because my income was so low, meaning a shared studio with my partner ended up costing 260€ a month, 130€ per person. It really is worth all the hassle.

I hope you like the pic, it's from my back garden! :) If you have any questions or suggestions I would be glad to answer them as I am new to all this but really keen on giving a hand! 

Best

Cristina

Photo gallery