Jacques Walch: 'You're better off living in your assets'

Looking for a home to enjoy living in the Gooi area? Voorma and Walch Makelaars has a portfolio of the addresses that matter. MASTERS sought out owner and Registered Real Estate Appraiser Jacques E. Walch in Blaricum to gauge the state of affairs in real estate land. "Not normal! This weekend we again had the opportunity to sell the most beautiful estate in the Gooi, approximately 60 hectares. "Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer
Online editor: Mical Joseph
Image: John van Helvert

How is the business doing?

"Very well, I may say. For example, in the first six months of this year we sold seven villas from our portfolio Secret objects are secret with a total sum of 65 million euros. Just before you came we sold another villa for 6.2 million. Since you and I last spoke two and a half years ago, prices have risen by about 30 percent. And those of the top houses even more. When corona broke out, I asked myself: what is going to happen to the housing market? I have to tell you honestly that we did not renew three temporary employment contracts. With three less office workers, 28 instead of 31, we are now doing 44 percent more brokerage. So everyone has to work even harder and more efficiently within our office."

How do you explain that?

"First of all, we put a lot of energy into the Voorma and Walch Makelaars brand in the Gooi area, both in the cheap, middle and high market segment and in new construction. For the latter we have a separate branch, Voorma and Walch Nieuwbouw, led by Henk Honing, Mery van Leeuwen and Martijn Geerdink. They are currently working on a crazy new construction project in Huizen, apartments next to the harbor. And we have also started surveying a new construction project in Laren. Secondly, living has become so important because of corona. Many people have started working from home and therefore need more space. Moreover, you see a migration from the capital to the Gooi, 'The Garden of Amsterdam' as we call it, because people prefer a house with a garden, they want more lebensraum. Another factor is that Amsterdam is less fun when the theaters are not full and the terraces are empty. I see it in our son Olivier, who lives on the Amstel. 'Dad, Amsterdam is much less fun if you can't go boating, can't sit in a restaurant, can't go to the cinema, can't have a beer somewhere with a group of friends...' Another important point: you used to get interest on your savings, now you pay a 0.5 percent penalty if you have more than 150,000 euros in a deposit account. And most members of our firm certainly own that amount. Better to live in your assets than to have your money taken away by the bank. Instead of, say, 2.2 million, consumers are more easily willing to pay 3 million for a house. I'd rather live in my assets than put them in a deposit account and lose a chunk every month. Add to that the benefit of low interest rates. People are looking not so much at "what does a house cost?" but at "what does the house cost me? With low interest rates and the bank's penalty, they are quite willing to spend a fair amount on a villa, their 'home.'"

Since early 2020, Voorma and Walch Real Estate also has a branch in Ibiza. How did that come about?

"After having a second home elsewhere in southern Europe for ten years, I was ready for something different. That became Ibiza, Can Blaiet estate in San Rafael. Once when I was on vacation in Ibiza, I ran into an acquaintance at grand-café Cappuccino in Botafoch harbor, whose house in Laren I had once sold. The man said he was in the process of buying a house in Ibiza. "Shall I go with you?", I asked. I advised him and thought: if I now put together a team with a Spanish lawyer, a structural engineer and a local qualified real estate agent, I'll start in Ibiza, just for fun, from home. Countrymen looking for a trusted partner in the jungle in Ibiza and Mallorca can come to me. We started just before the corona crisis broke out. Meanwhile, I have already done a few transactions in the super top segment - 12 million for a villa in Ibiza at least I think is quite a lot of money. We have now decided to further professionalize the office in the summer of 2022."

Not a bad place to work, Ibiza.

"I also want to divide my duties a little differently between the Gooi and Ibiza. The ratio in the beginning was 95/5, I'm going to try to make that 70/30."

Have you started living differently since corona?

"I'm living even more consciously. This is also because of what I experienced with Jan des Bouvrie in the fall of 2020. On Monday morning, September 28, I went to work out at the gym. Right after that, I had to quickly drop by the office to drop off a bill of sale. Goes the phone: JdB. 'Sjakie,' - that's what he used to call me - 'can you stop by my office for a minute?' I said grabbing my calendar. 'Then you misunderstand me,' Jan said literally. 'I'd like you to come over now.' In sportswear, I walk into his house a moment later. Jan is sitting there with Monique and his children at the table. 'Well Sjakie, I'll tell you right away: I'm going to quit.' Quitting work, I thought... That day I spent a long time with him. I don't smoke, but then I lit up two cigars. Everyone who still wanted to see Jan, he invited that week. That man has been very important to me, what a passion for his profession! We discussed a few things, then the conversation moved on to women, deals and cars. He wanted to know what I thought was the most beautiful car of all. A Porsche 911, I replied. To which Jan exclaimed, "Yes, and not one of those spit-ugly Targa you have. Promise me you'll never buy one of those again. I couldn't, because I was very much in doubt whether to get another Targa or this time a Turbo. And I'm not a quick decision maker, lol. I am when it comes to real estate, but not when it comes to spending money. Just ask Dries Wajer: it took me a very long time to buy a boat, haha. 'A Turbo?", Jan responded fiercely. 'That's totally a vulgar thing. With one of those cake scoops on it! I'd rather have a Targa. At least that's just like art.' That same afternoon I went to Porsche Centrum Gelderland. I never decide quickly, but this time I made up my mind within fifteen minutes: the Targa, with all the bells and whistles you can think of. Way too expensive, but you can't take money with you on your last trip anyway. Above all, let me enjoy life. You also see that in society: people want to enjoy more. You can just get corona and end up in the ICU. People want to enjoy their assets, live in their assets. "Jacques Walch with son-in-law and co-broker Bart Lammerts in front of the swimming pool of a spacious farmhouse in Blaricum, which was sold for 6.2 million euros on the day of photography.

And that ability has only increased since corona, because you couldn't spend it.

"Most people went out to eat every week and then spent about 500 euros per month. If you don't do that for fifteen months, you are left with seven and a half thousand euros. That's all hoarded and people still want to spend it. I think we will have a spending pattern from here to Tokyo and back again in the second half of the year - unless, of course, another wave throws a spanner in the works. That is why I am also very happy to participate again in MASTERS EXPO from November 17 to 22, in collaboration with Monique des Bouvrie. This year's theme at our location will be "Inspiring Encounters. I think we are going to put a scale model of the Wajer 77. I don't have to sell anything there. I am going to invite all my members from the Gooi to meet. Nothing more. Meeting each other, that's what life is all about. Haven't done that for a year and a half."

You said housing prices have risen 30 percent in the past few years. How do you think that line extends into the long term?

"More and more people are coming in, but not much more land. And if you want to put up a house, there are always people who object. Often what they have in common is that they already live comfortably themselves. We are now working on ten to fourteen very luxurious apartments on the site of the former Rabobank in Laren. Those who object to that building plan all live in houses nearby that were also objected to when they were built. Most people are selfish: not in my backyard! You know what: we should have a Minister of Housing. Housing is so important! It is not only a primary necessity of life, but also incredibly important for the economy. Construction drives everything: the plumbers, the furniture makers, the realtors, the interior decorators... It starts with construction. We should create a Housing Delta Plan, driven not by the Secretary of State, an auxiliary, but by the Minister of Housing. Just look what we can still build in the green zone, like Bloemendalerpolder. There are a lot of people who just want to live in a nice house, aren't there?"

Shouldn't you become that Minister of Housing?

"No, I'm totally unqualified for that. Of course, this whole politics is a mess nowadays! It's like a kindergarten class. I don't want to go in the sandbox with you. In the schoolyard of the Blaricum Public Elementary School people are even more social than in the cabinet. Start looking at what binds you, not what divides you. First of all, set an electoral threshold of 5 percent to make the country governable again, otherwise in twenty-five years we will have one hundred and forty political parties and then you will come to nothing. And dare to compromise. Compromise is the basis of good living together. You just have to have ground rules with each other. Hear me, I look like a vicar..."

Is the sermon over or do you want to say something more about real estate?

"I would like to say a lot more about real estate, but I can't. The very nicest houses we have for sale, anything over 7.5 million - and that hurts me very much - I cannot and must not advertise them. The sellers don't want that. That is why we have the portfolio Secret objects are secret: villas in the silent sales, which are purely in the top and super top segment. And that number is only growing. As brokers, we do enjoy telling people about what we do. But I'm not allowed to say anything about the very best transactions. CEOs, artists, celebrities, footballers: they don't want publicity, especially not on Funda. Which is a pity, because we NVM brokers are all a bit of a braggart, of course. It's boxing with your hands tied behind your back."

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