We are Niek and Dion

How it started

We were both looking for a house, and time after time someone else got it. Every home was a guess: how much are the others bidding, and how far above the asking price is enough?

A Dutch buying agent (aankoopmakelaar) easily costs €2,000 to €4,000. We found that too much. We also had the feeling that agents mostly settle things among themselves, and we did not want our bid to depend on that.

Separately, we each started building something that shows which bid gives you a chance at the home. Neither of us knew the other was working on it.

We found each other thanks to someone else's LinkedIn post. That person wanted to connect business owners who were looking for a co-owner. After many conversations we decided to continue together, and since then we have been building Biedadviseur.nl as a team.

The founders: Niek and Dion

Niek does the calculations, Dion makes sure buyers find them.

Niek

Data scientist (MSc) · Eindhoven

Niek specialises in data science and worked on the model for ten months. The model calculates with officially registered sale prices: the prices buyers actually paid, instead of asking prices. For each home it weighs hundreds of characteristics, so your bidding advice is not a gut feeling. Every report works out at least five comparable sales. Which sources the model uses is explained in our method.

LinkedIn

Dion Smits

Online entrepreneur · marketing specialist

Dion is an online entrepreneur and marketing specialist. Since 2015 he has been building his own websites and businesses, and he has already sold one of them. As a marketing specialist he has helped businesses with findability, copy and communication for more than ten years, for over forty clients.

He knows the problem behind Biedadviseur.nl from his own experience. He takes care of marketing and communication, so buyers find the report and understand the advice without any knowledge of data.

LinkedIn

What matters to us

Making an offer is the biggest financial decision most people ever take, and in the Netherlands it often has to happen within two days. That is exactly when emotion takes over. Our goal is that afterwards you have no regrets about your bid. That can go two ways.

1. 01

   You don't get the home

   A shame. At the same time, you did not bid too high out of emotion: someone else paid more than the home is worth.

2. 02

   You do get the home

   And you know why you bid that amount: comparable homes in the neighbourhood sold for about the same.

A low-cost alternative to a Dutch buying agent

A buying agent spends most of their hours on viewings. Taking someone along to a viewing costs a lot of money, and we think you can do that yourself. So we do not come along: you go yourself, with our insights and points to check in hand. That is why it costs a fraction of the price. All the differences side by side are on buying agent or bidding advice.

Have your eye on a home? Then a single report is enough. Still searching? The Home Alert sends you the homes that meet your requirements every evening, with bidding advice for each one. In neither case do we charge a percentage of the purchase price.

What we do

Our work comes down to three things.

• We calculate with the expected sale price, not the asking price. In the Home Alert too, so you do not get homes that only fit your budget on paper.
• We show your chance at every bid amount. Not one number, a range. What you do with it is up to you.
• We put everything about the home in one report. Recent sales in the neighbourhood and the characteristics of the home.

We are not a buying agent: you do the viewing and you make the decision. What we provide is the evidence. Feel free to look at the sample report first, or the figures on overbidding in the Netherlands.