We moved into an apartment in another country without seeing it in person

After living as digital nomads for almost two years, my husband and I decided to move from the United States to the Netherlands.

We went there several times and fell in love with the bike culture and walkability. Plus, I have a connection to the country since my great-grandparents were Dutch.

With the help of a real estate agent, we found an apartment far from the United States, signing a one-year lease in the city of Utrecht before even setting foot in the house.

We encountered some surprises while looking for an apartment

Since the process of finding an apartment abroad can often take months, we chose to search remotely from the United States. To make things easier, we hired a Dutch real estate agent with local connections who was able to view the apartments for us in person.

The prep work was much more intense than I was used to. In the US, I’ve rented apartments in three different states, and the scope of the application was usually filling out a basic form and sometimes running a background check.

This was not going to be enough for the Netherlands.

Our agent gave us a long list of documents to prepare, ranging from 12 months of bank statements and links to our LinkedIn profiles, to a “get to know us” letter, which included our hobbies and photos of us. Then she went looking.

Rentals are often snapped up within a few hours or days, so my husband and I routinely woke up at 4 a.m. in Colorado to read our agent’s emails about new listings each day.

When we finally found one that checked all our boxes, we asked him to schedule a walkthrough. Luckily, she recorded a video for us to watch, so we didn’t need to get up early for this part of the process.

However, it was during this visit that we learned that apartment listings in the Netherlands are not as detailed as those we were accustomed to in the United States. When our agent arrived, we discovered that the ad had left out several important pieces of information.

For example, there was a fully fenced back garden, with a shed, a picnic table and blackberry and rose bushes. The kitchen had a dishwasher. And there was a washing machine hidden behind a closet door – and a dryer (which is not as common in Europe).

A score, right? So we jumped at the chance, submitted our offer and jumped for joy when our offer was accepted.

Despite a few setbacks, we fell in love with our apartment

We arrived in the Netherlands a few weeks later, traveling straight from the airport to our rental. When we first opened the door, hoping to fall in love with our new home, it was… freezing.

It turned out the heating had stopped working and the rental company couldn’t send someone out to fix it until the next day. So we spent our first night in the Netherlands in a hotel.

Luckily the heating was fixed the next day and we were able to start unpacking. That’s when we started to notice some of the more nuanced differences between a Dutch home and an American home.

The first thing to get used to? THE alarmingly steep stairs (a feature of skinny, tall Dutch houses) that made moving furniture up to our second-floor office seem like a Herculean feat.

We have also learned to accept moths and gnats as guests, as Dutch windows generally do not have screens. However, with no air conditioning and a century-old home built to retain heat, we definitely want to keep those windows open.

Overall, aside from a few stowaway bugs and a few hot days, we were very lucky with our rental. I especially like the neighborhood and how we can walk to a grocery store, bakery or park in five minutes.

The greatest lessons come from being part of a Dutch neighborhood

Although finding our rental was a whirlwind process, I found that the most interesting aspects of living here came from the cultural differences between the American and Dutch neighborhoods.

For example, shortly after our arrival, our neighbor invited us to the neighborhood WhatsApp group. If you need to borrow a drill or lose your cat, you send a message to the group.

It’s very active and joining the group helped me feel like I was part of a community before I knew anyone here. Although I have heard of similar groups in the United States, I have never been invited to join one.

Ordering packages is also very different. Back in the United States, the packages were left at my door. In the Netherlands, however, they are not left unattended.

Instead, the delivery driver will start ringing the neighbors’ doorbell until someone is home. Then they will leave a digital note indicating which house owns your package.

One place I didn’t expect to feel such a contrast is the sidewalk. On sunny days, my Dutch neighbors pull out their dining room chairs, park them on the bricks outside their front door and enjoy a cold drink. Sometimes it feels like an impromptu block party – and I couldn’t be happier to join in on the festivities.

After renting an apartment across the world, without being seen, would I do it again? I definitely would, especially if I could hire a real estate agent to check out the house in person.

The quirks of our apartment and neighborhood are all part of the experience of living abroad, and although I didn’t expect it, I have now grown attached to these cultural differences.