When Nienke and I crossed paths nearly ten years ago, one of our first topics of conversation was emigration, or more specifically, the desire to someday live in Sweden. Nienke had studied there for half a year and had fallen in love with the countryside. I had never been there, so I said it sounded like a great plan. You could call it the Pippi Longstocking mentality. When there’s foreign lands and adventure involved, I’m usually easily convinced.
In the years that followed, we dabbled in various jobs and did everything we could to explore as many new places in the world as possible. But Sweden kept coming back on our travel itinerary. We visited the country in both summer and winter. We met incredibly friendly people, camped in -20-degree weather, and each time, a feeling of relaxation and coming home seeped deeper into our souls.
Five years ago, we viewed a beautiful B&B, but it was clear that we weren’t the only ones who found the place enchanting. There were over 30 interested parties on the viewing day, and before we even had bank approval to make an offer, the property had already been sold for a hundred thousand euro’s above the asking price. Unfortunately, we missed out on this one, but this experience of actually being in the process made it clear that the dream was real.
A few jobs, an amazing journey through Central Asia in our Land Rover Defender, and now two children later, it’s finally happening. Due to a twist of fate, we decided in the summer of 2022, on the day we were leaving for our vacation, to drive not to Slovakia but to Sweden. The reason? It was too hot in Slovakia. And with Ellis (9 months old) in the car (no air conditioning), it seemed better to head north.
A lovely B&B had been for sale for half a year, and earlier that summer, I had jokingly said that if it were still for sale when we went on vacation, we would go take a look. And so it happened. The B&B was nice, but ultimately, the region didn’t convince us. However, actually viewing Swedish houses was a lot of fun, and we searched for more charming places on Hemnet (a Swedish real estate website). We visited two more homes, both of which were unsuitable for us for various reasons.
Back home, we continued our search, and soon we found eight apartments for sale in Glava, Värmland. We had already visited the nature park next to the apartments that summer and we had been both been very excited about the stunning nature, numerous hiking trails, and kayaking opportunities. Initially, we ignored the property because, while it offered a perfect base for visiting Glaskogen Nature Reserve, the house didn’t fit the typical Swedish image. This former retirement home had only one floor and was in its original state, which isn’t necessarily a plus when it was built in 1980.
However, the property kept lingering in our minds, and we realized how perfectly it was situated in relation to the nature park. Moreover, there was little competition in the village, a supermarket and a school were 300 meters away, and it was affordable. In November, we decided to get in the car and view the property. We stayed there for 2 days and toured the region. Despite the rain and dark days, we were enthusiastic once again. Could we make an offer? Yes, we did!
The actual purchase didn’t go very smoothly. It wasn’t easy to obtain information about the property. Also, questions we asked local parties (such as the cost of a heat pump, the energy consumption of the house, the cost of a new bathroom) were minimally answered. Additionally, we had to sell our own home to know where we stood financially after selling and buying the properties. Nevertheless, we decided to go for it. Our home was quietly put on the market within a week. We found it still quite nerve-wracking, and this method of selling gave us the feeling that we could back out without the whole world knowing. But soon, that escape option disappeared because we received an offer on our house. After some negotiations, we got a price we were very satisfied with.
At that moment, we resumed negotiations with the selling party in Sweden. Meanwhile, the property had appeared on Hemnet again through a new real estate agent. The sellers hoped to get a higher price than in our initial negotiation process. Thankfully, we stood our ground, and in the end, we reached a price we had previously discussed with the seller. That sealed the deal, and on May 12, 2023, we received the keys.
Moving wasn’t an immediate option because our second little one was still in Nienke’s belly. We decided to wait for the birth of Felix in the Netherlands and move once both mother and child were fit and stable. And now, we have a date planned. On September 11, we will pack our last things and drive towards our new life, filled with uncertainty, renovation projects, and energy. We absolutely love it. Through the blogs on this site, we will provide updates in the coming months about the projects we are working on. Our goal is to open our first apartments at the beginning of next summer. But before that can happen, there is a lot of work to be done! So, off to Sweden!
Peter, Nienke, Ellis & Felix
