* Revised edition of 1 September 2024 with improved formatting and several updates & additions *Short description:Buying a home is one of the most important financial decisions of your life. You shouldn't have to do it alone, especially in Belgium with its maze of regions, languages, and regulations.

This book guides you through all steps of the process, covering all practical, legal, and financial aspects for all three Belgian regions. It covers houses as well as apartments and includes specific advice for both.

Written in plain English, it provides the French and Dutch technical terms in brackets. Besides a detailed step-by-step guide, it also contains checklists, a timeline, a list of useful resources, a glossary, spcific advice for greater Brussels, and 25 pro tips.

Long description:Buying a home is probably the most important financial decision of your life. It can be a daunting prospect, even if done in your home country in your own language.

Let alone in Belgium, with its complex linguistic setup and frequently changing rules that differ between regions. In addition, prices have skyrocketed, interest rates have increased again, and real incomes are stagnating.

You don’t know where to start, and the entire process is difficult to understand. It is exhausting, exciting and nerve-wracking.

You shouldn’t have to do it alone. There is plenty of generic advice available in English on buying real estate, both online and in excellent books.

For Belgium specifically, there are several books available in French, but just one that is not focused on buying to let as an investment, and it is rather verbose. A book on buying real estate in Belgium also exists in Dutch.

But to my knowledge, there are no books available in English specifically for Belgium. This book aims to fill that gap, focussing on buying a home for personal use and covering all three regions; Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia.

The time of writing is April 2024. This is a complete but concise guide to the entire procedure and all its practical, legal, and financial aspects.

It covers houses as well as apartments and includes specific advice for both. The book uses non-technical English language and provides the French and Dutch equivalent terms in brackets for convenience.

It will make frequent reference to websites where you can find more information in English, French, or Dutch – treasure troves that the author has found over the years. It also includes specific advice for greater Brussels, 25 pro tips, a detailed timeline, a list of resources, checklists, and a glossary.

The author is an expat and an economist. His experience is based on buying 4 pieces of real estate: Two apartments bought to let as a financial investment, his current family home (house), and the previous family home (apartment) that has since been sold at a profit of more than 70,000 euros.

Having bought his first apartment earlier than most of his friends and colleagues, he has advised several of them over the years, which allowed him to learn from their experiences, as well as his own mistakes. This is the book he wishes he had read before starting his own real estate adventure.

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