Последние записи в моём блоге

Из моих наблюдений:

• На посылки внутри еврозоны (включая Великобританию) импортные пошлины не налагаются.
• На посылки с заявленной стоимостью ниже $50 импортные пошлины не взимаются.
• Посылки, для которых не заявлена стоимость на экспортной декларации и которые тяжелее (предположительно) 1 кг, просвечиваются сканером. При обнаружении там электроники конечный адресат получает письмо от PostNL, в котором его просят оценить стоимость посылки.
• Налог считается так:
• €17 – сбор за обработку посылки. Платится в любом случае.
• 30% – импортная пошлина на электронику, вычисляемая от стоимости посылки.

То есть, если заявленная стоимость посылки $60, то вам выставят счёт €17+€13.8=€30.8, что оставляет более половины стоимости посылки. Поэтому:

• Просите продавца указывать стоимость не более $50.
• При получении письма от PostNL можно сфабриковать счёт-фактуру или выписку из PayPal.
• Если вы уже поставлены перед фактом, то всегда есть возможность отказаться от посылки, которая будет отправлена назад. При этом можно договориться о повторной доставке, что может оказаться дешевле, чем заплатить пошлину.

Nowadays a lot of compact devices (like media players or TVs) have Torrent client on board, why should anyone bother about the exotic way of running it? Well, in my case the main reason was that I was migrating uTorrent from my laptop to standalone server to allow 24h non-stop feeding. So, let's put everything in one bottle:

• It was important for me to have less fuzz with migration of about 100 torrents from my laptop. Perhaps that would also be possible for uTorrent for Linux, but I also get used to UI interface & settings.
• Running uTorrent on server gives me the possibility for non-stop feeding and downloading on demand.
• Running uTorrent on Linux also have a potential bonus of configuring QoS in case torrent traffic gets annoying. Yes I know about build-in bandwidth settings, however the typical task is usually "I want uTorrent to consume all bandwidth unless there is something else hungry for it". In this case all traffic for internal network should go via server that unfortunately, adds one more point of failure in the chain.

What uTorrent client to choose? Well, I personally have stopped on v1.8.5, because:

• I do not need magnet URLs or life streaming features in v3.x. The last one is by the way in most cases failing for me (perhaps always fails for MKV container, is it not so suitable for partial playing).
• The sad trend shows the sad statistics: uTorrent executable size was slowly increasing by 100Kb in 2007-2011 (from 100K to 500K), but in 2011-2012 it doubled in size (from 500K to 1M). Perhaps it's still the smallest torrent client, but with every new release I doubt more and more.

К Дню Победы

На днях случайно узнал, что у известной мелодии про "Синий платочек" есть совсем другие слова. Слова про первые дни войны. Но мелодия вальса безусловно возвращает нас в мирные, размеренные времена. Слушаем…

Ещё одна интересная песенка школьных лет: Мама, Чао! Помните её безобидные слова?

Светит солнце, сияет жарко,
Мама чао, мама чао, мама чао, чао, чао!
Светит солнце, сияет жарко,
В гости к солнцу я иду.

А настоящие слова там такие:

Прощай, родная, грустить не надо,
О белла чао, белла чао, белла чао, чао, чао!
Я на рассвете уйду с отрядом
Гарибальдийских партизан.

Смотрим…

Buying a house is indeed very exciting story. The most exciting is no doubt the process of bidding, when you communicate the amounts which you will never see in your hands. But let's not jump too far.

Even before starting to think about whether you want to move, read the article From search to purchase in my wiki to get more familiar with how it happens. Don't be too scared: at the end of story the feeling of lying in your own sofa in your own garden or balcony if worth going through all difficulties and scaring decisions. And of course, property is generally better and more reliable investment then bank savings as:

• Provided that you have taken a mortgage for 4-5% and normal inflation is 2-3% then you have been credited for just 2% which is very cheap.
• Property trend to rise in price faster then inflation.
• Government provides you with tax return.

On the other hand buying a house always results some extra costs (about 10% of the property value), which you can't afford often in your life.
First of all try to compose the list of features that describe the house of your dreams. For sure the 1^st version of this list would be incomplete and ugly. Now search different sites offering houses for sale and visit few of them. Revisit your description list and try to specify them better and in more details with fresh examples in mind. Ask real estate agent stupid questions, which you may run into. This will help you to come up with better description of your house (my description is here) which you can even send to agents: some of them (I met only two out of ten) are happy to see this description to offer the best from their database. In general search over all agents and all other sources costs money but perhaps it will result the house of your dream − it's up to you to decide whether it's worth the money.

Create a check list of typical questions. I personally was interested in following:

• Is there running guarantee for the kitchen appliances (oven/fridge)? Usually the appliances have 3 years guarantee, but if owner has ordered all from one producer (e.g. Siemens), he may get the special guarantee for 5 years.
• How many working surfaces the kitchen has? Is there enough place for cookware? Is kitchen surface a stone?
• Is deep freezer located in kitchen? Modern deep freezer is usually 4-stars (see Temperature zones and ratings). Sometimes it is placed in cloak in the garden, which is not handy.
• Does oven have a self-cleaning function? Zanussi / Electrolux should have models with this function (but maybe for models after 2006/2007).
• Check the laminate (scratches / traces from furniture). Thickness of laminate on ground floor should be 8mm.
• Floor heating is considered to be more effective then radiators, but it should not be used if floor is not tiled (less effective).
• What is the energy label of the house? If the agent assures you it is A, don't trust him by word: this level of energy efficiency is difficult to achieve. Usually for 10-years old (or younger) houses it is B or C. For houses older than 10 years the presence of energy label certificate is obligatory for property transfer deed (see energielabel.nl → Is een energielabel verplicht?).
• If house is older than 10 years or younger than 3, everybody would suggest to make a structural report. Otherwise check that GIW guarantee is running (it lasts the first 10 years for walls / basement / roof, first 3 years for windows and 1 year for painting) and this insurance will be transferred to new owner.
• Check the side costs (heating, electricity, WOZ and other taxes). Sometimes they are provided by agency in a formular that house seller fills in, if not − ask to provide you. Note that at the notaries you will have to pay back the current house owner part of the taxes for the rest of the year, which he has paid at the beginning of the whole year.
• Is house facing the busy road? Highways will disturb you also at night but due to good isolation you will not hear them with closed windows. Road next to your window might wake you up at six in the morning and cause more troubles. Think about the ecology and safety of your family. The trade-off is always the time you need to get to your office by car, as you'll spend more time to get to highway.
• How far is the social block (sociale woning) located? Each agent will give you different information, but you may be lucky to meet the agent that leaves in this area and he knows, what area results most complains and problems. Objectively it is difficult to judge, as private houses can be rented and rental block may be very quiet and all blocks are mixed.

It is wise to search in parallel the mortgage advisor. Contacting the mortgage services of the bank (that serves your debit account) will not harm, but my feeling is that your bank is not willing to offer you other rates than "standard" defined by bank policy. On the other hand mortgage advisers have direct connections with several mortgage providers and they know how to trade. Each tenth of the percentage of the rate in my case is €20 less per month payment. Not much, but %0.3 is already good money. More over mortgage advisor will be more willing to answer all your questions, as his salary at the end of the day will depend on whether you are his client (in contrast to bank clerk). The advisor will take care of all financial questions (mortgage type, the period to fix the percentage, best way to invest your savings, advise the notary, plan future expenses, provide the house insurance and personal life insurance). I would personally recommend Jan Augustinus from Aandacht Hypotheken. I have chosen the annuity mortgage with the following conditions:

• Be able to sell a house at any moment and return the debt to the bank with no penalties.
• Be able to pay back 10% of house cost each year.
• Period: 25 years
• Percentage fixed for: 10 years

Under these conditions I was offered 4.65% per year. By the way, if you want t go beyond 106% of market value for mortgage, then you can do it by doing the renovation in your house. When choosing the mortgage type you may consider these options:

• If you are sure, you will cell the house and move from the country one day, then interest-only mortgage may look attractive. You will pay around €800 interest monthly (tax return included), which is less then renting the house.
• Even though the conditions allow you to return certain amount of house cost per year, it is not advisable. The reason is that bank gives you money on very low percentage. If you have spare money, don't bring them to bank: invest them into another property or shares. For example you can take a mortgage for whole house price but payback the mortgage only partially. When mortgage period end, you bring the accumulated assets to bank. However you loose money on higher interest payments.

Concerning the life insurance: by law you are obliged to insure a certain amount of the mortgage. This money will be paid back to your partner to somehow survive in worst scenario. The amount of mortgage to be insured in my case was €37.900 (mortgage − purchasePrice × 80%), which results €93 per year. In this respect the advisor will ask you about your pension plan, as in case of death wife is entitled to get 70% of your accumulated pension, and children – 14%, which will help them significantly. By the way, when you reach the pension age, your wife is entitled to 50%^*) of your pension that you've build throughout the period of your marriage, even if you are divorced by the time your are retired.

Special attention should be given to NHG. It costs 0.7% of the mortgage, but it's worth these money, as banks provide you with better mortgage rates and you save many thousands and the end of the day. If the house price is above the insured by NHG limit, try to make a deal with buyer and pay the difference with cash so that the purchase price on paper allows you to acquire it.

Finally you have searched and visited all potential houses and you have defined the top one and you are ready to make an offer. It is generally accepted rule that you have one valid offer at a certain point of time. That means you'd better avoid making offers for several houses (and agencies) in parallel. Agencies will pay back to you and guarantee that once your offer is considered by house owners, other new clients will have to wait until you finish your negotiation round with seller before they are served. In positive case (you and seller came to agreement) you can buy the house. Otherwise you withdraw your offer and exercise next house in your list. It may happen that you will return to 1st house in your list again, but at that moment the agency might have already had another client. In case if several clients are willing to make an offer agents open an auction and allow clients to bid. The procedure how to make offer is usually described on the last page of the brochure, but common is to write an email or fax. Your offer made by email is binding, however you can quit even after you put a signature on purchase contract (you have three days reconsideration period).

Congratulations, you have committed to buy the house! The contract which is offered by NVM-certified agency is standard (the description of all articles is available in English) and does not require a lot of attention. As far as I know it was introduced in 2003 to protect both seller and buyer. It can be further extended by additional articles on your request. I personally asked to formalize additionally two things (I think they are applicable in many cases):

• Buyer can cancel the contract if structural investigation reports problems, that need to be fixed/repaired in short term (within one year) and exceed €1000 in total.
• Include the list of items that seller agreed to leave in the house (in case you have immovable and movable properties combined in one price).
  

Few interesting details which I've learned from description of contract articles:

• The Soil Protection Act may force the owner of the ground to put it in order. That is why the attention is drawn to any oil tanker in the ground which purchaser should be aware of. This tanker have been used in old houses to provide the heating system with fuel. After the central heating has been introduced they are not used. However the purchaser is responsible to check everything before buying:
  

  The expression “was aware of” is wider than “knew about”. Even defects the purchaser did not know about but would have discovered if he had made sufficient effort are ones he could have “been aware of”. So the purchaser can’t just simply assume that everything is in order. It is expected that the purchaser will investigate or arrange an investigation as to whether the property meets his requirements. The phrase “what you don’t know won’t harm you” does not apply here. Where there’s any doubt, the purchaser must ask questions and/or carry out some investigation.

• Another interesting article is 6. For me it was new to learn that one can lease a kitchen or boiler. However the purchaser should either take over these obligations of get the house free of any. The same concerns renting.