JWH Netherlands JournalVol.2 (1)　　I Compared Every Property in Excel.

JWH Netherlands Journal

Vol.2 (1)

I Compared Every Property in Excel.

— Could the way I evaluated properties in Japan work in the Netherlands too? —

In July 2024, our search for a home in the Netherlands became much more serious.

By then, our family had already decided that the Netherlands was where we wanted to build our new life.

What we hadn't decided yet was where.

Our leading candidates were Delft and Leiden.

The Hague and Rotterdam remained strong alternatives, while Schiedam also stayed on the list depending on the right property.

This trip wasn't simply about finding a house.

It was about discovering which home, in which city, would become the right place for our family.

At the same time, I had another personal question in my mind.

Would everything I had learned from buying real estate in Japan still be useful here?

I had been using Excel long before coming to the Netherlands.

Over the years in Japan, I had purchased apartments, mixed-use buildings, guesthouses, and traditional inns.

Every investment began the same way.

I opened Excel.

Purchase price.

Renovation costs.

Rental income.

Future appreciation.

Location.

Lifestyle.

Potential risks.

Everything was compared under the same framework.

Eventually I would ask myself one simple question.

That question had guided almost every property I had ever bought.

So when I started looking in the Netherlands, I didn't invent a new process.

I simply brought the same mindset with me.

To be honest, I wasn't sure it would work.

The legal system was different.

The buildings were different.

The culture was different.

Maybe my experience from Japan wouldn't matter at all.

I wasn't comparing cities.

I was comparing possibilities.

As we visited Delft, Leiden, The Hague, Rotterdam and Schiedam, I wasn't trying to choose a city first.

Every property became part of the same comparison.

Schools.

Walkability.

Commercial potential.

Renovation costs.

Rental demand.

Energy performance.

And one question that couldn't be measured with numbers:

"Can we truly imagine building our life here?"

Cities and properties couldn't be separated.

A wonderful city means little without the right home.

Likewise, an unexpected property can completely change how you feel about a city.

My spreadsheet became something unexpected.

When I look back at it today, I realize it wasn't just comparing properties.

It was recording how I was thinking.

Every viewing added another note.

"Could the seller negotiate?"

"What if I renovated this myself?"

"How much is the commercial space actually worth?"

"Would our children enjoy living here?"

Looking back now, it feels less like a spreadsheet...

and more like a diary of decisions.

The rankings kept changing.

On one day, The Hague was my first choice.

The next day, Leiden moved to the top.

By the end of the trip, Delft became number one.

There wasn't a perfect answer waiting from the beginning.

Every visit changed the picture.

Every conversation with my family added another perspective.

Every spreadsheet update brought us one step closer.

That's why, when we finally chose Delft, it didn't feel like a guess.

It felt like a decision we had truly earned.

Maybe this spreadsheet was the beginning of something bigger.

At the time, I built it only for my own family.

It wasn't designed as a service.

It wasn't created for clients.

But today, when I open that same file again, I realize something.

The thinking process inside that spreadsheet eventually became the foundation of JWH Netherlands Home Review™.

Because good decisions rarely happen by chance.

They come from understanding both numbers...

and possibilities.

Next Chapter

In the next article, I'd like to share the idea that changed everything for me.

It wasn't about finding a cheaper property.

It was about discovering something much more important.

Hidden Value.

JWH Decision Point™

Every property has a price.

But not every property reveals its full potential.

The best decisions often begin where most people stop looking.