Rob Simmons & Tanya Melnychenko
It’s been a Long Road… I first met Henk Jansen in October 2012 when he came to my office to explain the complexities of Mortgages when you are an Expat Self Employed Consultant with the 30% Tax Ruling. He explained everything clearly, asked a lot of questions, and gave me a long list of information to produce. Shortly after providing this we had a further meeting to clarify some options, and then he disappeared into the Monolithic Banking systems of The Netherlands, to get us a Mortgage. He returned with more questions and very shortly after that he told us that we had qualified for a Mortgage, and had options for us to select from; to obtain a secure qualification offer, with an excellent fixed 5 year rate which was good for 18 months. So we were very happy indeed… It turns out that the secured offer was very important because it took us until, October of 2013 to actually make the purchase happen! We looked at a lot of houses, and due to the current financial climate, and negative equity in the Netherlands housing market, it took a long time to get to a property that would accept a realistic offer. Once we had we turned Henk Jansen loose on the Banks, to get the promised funding. He was at all times highly professional, very responsive, and took the time and care to explain the exact consequences of each option available to us, all taking into account our individual finances; and plans for the future. This was more complex than it sounds as my Wife’s primary language is not English or Dutch… We are so happy we selected Expat Mortgages, as in the end-phase the Banks tried to make things awkward, by attempting to change the parameters of their guaranteed offer. Henk Jansen was invaluable at this point as he addressed every single concern and simply insisted that they fully honour the original agreement. None of my colleagues can believe the fixed 5 year rate he obtained for us. I am convinced that the only reason we have our Beautiful New Home is because Henk Jansen worked so hard to make it happen, following every step in the process. Without him I am sure the Purchase would have fallen through and we would still be searching. We cannot recommend him highly enough as a Mortgage Advisor.