Hi!<BR><BR>I am a US citizen, my husband is Dutch, and we are planning to live in Amsterdam for a year starting Sept 03, with our 3 year old daughter. So far we haven't had much luck finding a decent 2 or 3 bedroom apartment for 1400 euros or less a month in Amsterdam. Does anybody have any advice or leads for us? We would very much appreciate it! Thanks.

Hi Ann,<BR>Here are three ideas for you:<BR><BR>www.ihen.com/vac/nether/va928.html<BR>It's not advertised as a long-term rental, but maybe you can negotiate...<BR><BR>www.expatexchange.com<BR>There are several listings you might be interested in, including one in Haarlem with a yard. Haarlem would certainly have some great plus points with a young child: less traffic, fewer crowds, easier biking, and much easier access to some lovely parks and dunes - and the sea!<BR><BR>www.rotsvast.nl<BR>Specializes in long-term rentals. Not the cheapest but there are certainly properties within your budget. If you see what you like, you have to act fast because they have a lot of inquiries.<BR>Good luck!

Hi jenviolin,<BR><BR>Thank you so much for responding and taking the trouble to include some links and info for me. I will check them out! The expat site looks especially useful. In the meantime, we have learned of the apartment of a friend of a friend in Amsterdam that is small but very nice, so that's an option too.<BR><BR>Thanks again,<BR>Ann

Just a sidenote since you mention 1400 Euro's per month... will you be driving a car in Amsterdam? If so, be adviced that parking is *expensive* - make sure you ask the people that offer appartments about parking arrangements. Cars without a parking ticket *will* either be clamped or towed. <BR><BR>As for the search: check out http://www.shopbel.nl/homes/boco/proplist.php once. There seem to be a couple of appartments that fit your bill.

Hi Joost,<BR><BR>Thanks for the URL and the caution about parking. We probably won't have a car, so I guess we won't have to worry about that. We have just gotten back from Amsterdam, where we saw one apartment but it was too small, so the search continues! We are now thinking possibly about living in Utrecht too.<BR>Thanks again.

AnnH,<BR><BR>Since you mention you're looking into considering something in Utrecht as an option...<BR><BR>In Utrecht and in Amersfoort two large projects are underway in which a lot of new houses are sold to locals that already own a house in Utrecht or Amersfoort respectively. Selling a used house proves to be quite difficult at the moment. That means there's a large stock of houses that are more or less available. Lots of home owners however get their new house in the upcoming months whilst still not having sold their old place. They may be willing to rent the place to you. <BR><BR>Try and contact a (couple of) broker(s) to see if they can find you something in that category. A good starting point for finding brokers and houses (including rentals) is http://www.funda.nl (Dutch only, your husband shoud be able to translate . Note: these houses and appartments obviously are not furnished - I don't know if that's gonna be a problem. <BR><BR>I'll post again if I think of other possibilities.