Why We Decided to Invest in the United States Instead of the Netherlands

When we started our real estate project, we did it from where we live: the Netherlands.

In fact, the first step was creating our company here, after spending several years analyzing different possibilities and studying how the real estate sector works. Our goal was to start developing house flipping projects.

At that time, it seemed like the most logical path: if we live here, why not invest here?

However, to be honest, I had always had the idea of investing directly in the United States in the back of my mind. Still, I wanted to give the Dutch market a real opportunity and see whether it was possible to invest here as easily as in the U.S. market.

But as we started moving forward and speaking with different professionals in the sector, we realized that the reality was more complex than we had imagined.

A Difficult Market for New Investors

One of the first things we discovered was that entering the Dutch real estate market as a new investor is not easy. Many lenders prefer to work with investors who already have previous experience or a track record of completed projects. From a risk perspective, this is understandable, but it also makes it difficult for newcomers to take their first step. In addition, the market is very competitive and, in many cases, access to good opportunities depends on professional relationships built over time.

A Highly Competitive Environment

Another reality we encountered is that the real estate market in the Netherlands is extremely competitive. Interesting properties often sell very quickly, and in some cases it can even be difficult to access certain opportunities if you don’t already have a well-established network within the sector. This doesn’t mean investing here is impossible, but it does require time, contacts, and experience to find your place.

A Solid Market, but With Less Margin for Certain Strategies

It’s important to say something clearly: the Netherlands has a very solid and stable real estate market. However, for strategies such as Fix & Flip or renovation projects aimed at creating value, the margins can be smaller due to the high property prices, strong competition between buyers, and some recent regulations. For example, in certain cities there are price limits on some properties, and in some cases regulations have been introduced that make it harder for investors to buy homes to rent out. During this process we analyzed several potential deals, but one of them made us seriously reconsider whether this was the right market to start in. We realized that the system is quite rigid: lenders tend to have very strict criteria, and negotiations are often limited. In many cases, the only real option is simply buying the property, with little flexibility in how the deal can be structured.

This led us to ask an important question:

Are there markets where these strategies can be applied more efficiently?

Looking Toward the United States

That’s when we began seriously analyzing the real estate market in the United States.

What we found was a much larger and more diverse market, with thousands of cities and many different types of opportunities.

In many areas there are still properties that can be transformed through renovation, which opens the door to strategies such as Fix & Flip or BRRRR (Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance, Repeat).

Another thing that caught our attention was that the U.S. real estate ecosystem is very accustomed to working with investors — both experienced investors and those just getting started. Many of these projects can even be managed remotely.

In the United States, it is quite common to work with investors from other countries on house flipping and renovation projects, which makes it easier to find specialized professionals such as contractors, real estate agents, project managers, and other industry experts.

An Important Difference: How to Start Investing

Another thing we discovered during this process is that starting in real estate does not work the same way in every country.

In the Netherlands, starting to invest often requires a significant amount of capital from the beginning. Without a substantial initial investment, the available options can be limited. For many new investors, this makes the first project difficult to launch.

The Dutch market is very structured, and in many cases the most common model is simply buying a property with your own capital or traditional financing. Lenders do exist, but there are far fewer compared to the United States, and they tend to be less flexible.

In contrast, when we analyzed the U.S. market we discovered something that really stood out: there are many more ways to structure a real estate investment.

In many cases, you don’t need to have all the capital from the start. There are different ways to structure a deal, for example:

• Partnering with the property owner, renovating the house, and later sharing the profits from the sale.
• Creating joint venture agreements, where two or more partners participate in a project — one may provide capital, another manages the project, and another brings renovation experience.
• Partnering with another investor, where one person provides the capital while another finds the property and manages the project.
• Using private financing or specialized lenders focused specifically on investment projects. In fact, there are financial institutions dedicated exclusively to this niche.
• Participating in projects alongside other partners by contributing smaller amounts of capital.

In addition, in many areas of the United States it is still possible to find properties at relatively affordable prices. In some markets you can find houses for $20,000 or $30,000 that require renovation. This means that in some cases an investor only needs to contribute a relatively small down payment, and the rest of the project can be financed through a lender or private investor. This opens the door for many people who want to start in real estate but do not have large amounts of capital at the beginning.

Compared to this, in markets such as the Netherlands these collaborative investment structures are less common, and the most typical approach remains purchasing the property directly with your own capital or traditional financing.

This doesn’t mean investing is easy or that every project works out — but it does show that there are more ways to get started, even with limited capital.

Our Decision

After analyzing both markets, we decided to focus our efforts on finding opportunities in the United States, which is why we created an LLC in the U.S. From that moment on, we began taking the next steps: searching for financing, partners, allies, and building a team that would allow us to start our first projects. Not because the Dutch market is bad — quite the opposite — but because we believe our investment strategies can be developed more effectively in the U.S. market.

At JaniyuHome, we continue studying opportunities, analyzing properties, and learning every day about this industry. The path of a real estate investor is never simple, but that is also what makes it interesting: every market has its own challenges and opportunities.

And for us, today, the U.S. market represents an opportunity worth exploring.

Next Article

In the next article we will explain something many people ask us:

How it is possible to invest in and manage real estate projects in the United States from abroad.