My husband Martin and I met in Brussels in 2012, after I actually stepped on his toes at my neighborhood farmer’s market. On the time, I used to be working as a safety supervisor at NATO headquarters, and he was on a enterprise journey from his residence within the Netherlands.Â
Three days later, we went on our first date. 5 weeks later, I moved to Washington, D.C., to take a submit on the Pentagon. Nearly a yr and a half later, we determined we might get married and he’d be a part of me in D.C.Â
As a Marine Corps reserve officer, I took benefit of my VA mortgage advantages, and we purchased a small residence in 2014. We introduced our new child daughter residence there in 2016.
However we all the time knew we wished to maneuver again to Europe finally.Â
Discovering ‘the one’ in Brussels
When the pandemic hit, it gave us time to pause and plan our long-awaited return to Europe.Â
We wished to be a brief drive away from my in-laws in my husband’s hometown of Rotterdam as they aged. We in the end selected Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the executive heart of the European Union. We calculated that we may stay there for lower than D.C. or the Netherlands, and it is solely 90 minutes from Rotterdam.
It helped that I already had a strong community of mates in Brussels, too.
Jessica calls Martin her “90-day fiancé.”
Courtesy of Jessica van Dop DeJesus
We offered our D.C. residence for $899,000 in 2021 — a 67.7% enhance in comparison with what we might paid for it. And after a yr renting in Brussels, we began searching for a spot to purchase. Our two principal necessities: It needed to be strolling distance to our daughter’s faculty and have an outside house large enough to eat outdoors.Â
Six months and 20 residences into our search, we lastly discovered “the one” in Saint Gilles, the neighborhood south of town heart the place I would lived earlier than.
I fell in love with the 14-foot ceilings, the Artwork Nouveau buildings, and the nice parks close by.
One among Jessica’s favourite issues to do in Brussels is go to the markets. There are cafés close by the place she likes to order a espresso or, “if I am feeling a bit festive,” a glass of wine.
Federico Campanale
We provided 547,500 euro, or $586,767, for the residence in Brussels, leveraging the money we had from the sale of our D.C. residence to place down a ten% down cost of $58,677 and securing a 20-year mortgage with a 3.59% rate of interest.
Have a look inside our residence
We stay in a street-level duplex in a constructing with solely three residences. It is barely smaller than our D.C. residence, nevertheless it’s been value it. Our neighborhood is equal to Logan Circle in Washington, D.C., the place a spot like ours may simply value double or extra. We have been ready so as to add our personal touches.Â
The entrance door leads into our eating room — considered one of my favourite components of the residence due to its excessive ceilings and huge house for our lengthy eating desk, the place we host many dinner events.Â
Jessica is a meals and journey content material creator, and cooks just about each day. She loves that she and her household can host dinner events within the eating room.
Federico Campanale
Subsequent to the eating room is our lounge, the place I made a “health nook” with my stationary bike and weights so I can work out whereas watching TV.Â
We added an American-style range and oven that matches my Thanksgiving turkey, in addition to a wine fridge to our galley kitchen. We put in terrazzo flooring as an homage to my childhood residence in Puerto Rico.Â
“In Europe normally ovens are very tiny, however not the case with me as a result of I really like an enormous Thanksgiving turkey,” Jessica says.
Federico Campanale
Towards the again of the primary ground, a small room doubles as an workplace and a sitting room. Massive sliding doorways result in our two-level terrace, one with a big desk we use within the hotter months.
Jessica and her household wish to eat outdoors on the terrace within the hotter months. Above and past the patio, she says, “now we have a good looking view of town corridor.”
Federico Campanale
The bedrooms, laundry room, storage, and loo are on the underside ground.
Lack of closets and space for storing is frequent in European residences. Luckily, the previous house owners made a storage system underneath the steps, which we use for additional garments, home goods, wines, and images tools.Â
“My daughter’s room nonetheless has the house’s authentic tile, which we love,” Jessica says.
Federico Campanale
We have now an average-sized bed room with a walk-in closet and a small visitor bed room with a full-sized mattress.Â
Our rest room is large for European requirements with a bathe and tub, and we plan to renovate it in 2025. Â
The bed room is “very fundamental,” Jessica says.
Federico Campanale
At present, our month-to-month housing prices in Brussels embody our mortgage ($2,931) and rental payment ($65) in addition to utilities similar to electrical energy ($73), gasoline ($70), water (about $50), and web and cable ($68).Â
Our life in Brussels
I miss being inside driving distance of my household in Western New York. The principle sacrifice of this transfer is being so removed from individuals I am near. However we’re pleased to be in Brussels.Â
Our neighborhood, Saint Gilles, has all the time been considered one of my favourite components of town, crammed with Portuguese, Brazilian, Japanese European, Italian, Latin American, and North African eating places and outlets. We even had a Latino-themed Christmas market with Colombian meals stands and stay salsa music sponsored by the city corridor final yr!Â
Our daughter, now seven, is a half-Dutch, half-Puerto Rican, third-culture child, so we wished her to develop up in a various group.
Jessica’s seven-year-old daughter already speaks English, Dutch, and Spanish, and can begin studying French in school subsequent yr, too.
Federico Campanale
Belgium shares borders with 4 international locations: the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and France. This shut proximity makes it simple to take a fast weekend journey to discover much more locations and cultures.
I am unable to say leaving the U.S. for Europe meant the tip of all our issues. However I really feel extra content material and comfortable right here. I do not fear as a lot about faculty shootings, for instance, or the potential lack of employer-sponsored healthcare. We are able to afford to stay, get childcare for our daughter, eat and cook dinner just like the foodie I’m, and journey repeatedly.Â
And we will embrace a slower tempo of life and a tradition that prizes mates and holidays not less than as a lot as work.Â
Jessica van Dop DeJesus is a contract journalist, a digital media strategist, and the founding father of The Eating Traveler, a multimedia digital platform masking meals and journey. Jessica was raised in Puerto Rico and commenced touring as a younger Marine over 25 years in the past. She presently serves because the Latinx facilitator for the Breaking Boundaries in Entrepreneurship program for Bunker Labs, offering mentorship to aspiring veteran entrepreneurs. Comply with her on Instagram, Fb, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.
Need to make more money outdoors of your day job? Join CNBC’s new on-line course Find out how to Earn Passive Earnings On-line to study frequent passive revenue streams, tricks to get began and real-life success tales. CNBC Make It readers can use particular low cost code CNBC40 to get 40% off by means of 8/15/24.
Plus, join CNBC Make It is e-newsletter to get ideas and tips for fulfillment at work, with cash and in life.
