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Indeed, working with the interior decorator helped us. We had a budget in mind, and she was able to follow it while recommending many new online stores we had never heard of. We were also able to include some of our old furniture in the design without any problem. We had a vision in mind even before we bought the place, and with the help of the interior decorator, it came to life.

We agree that turning a hobby into a professional career is not for everyone, but we are very happy about Nichole's journey and everything she has achieved so far. What we have seen in Finland in recent years is that many internationals struggle to find jobs, whether in their field or not, and are often advised to become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses. Many begin as light entrepreneurs (kevytyrittäjä) and then transition to establishing their own businesses with a Y-tunnus. However, there is much to learn along the way. Navigating Finnish bureaucracy, taxes, and finding customers takes time.

@@couple_of_expats It isn't just internationals. There have been trends for some time where traditional employment type jobs have been replaced with people having to become self-employed entrepreneurs sometimes doing pretty much the same actual jobs where the old employer has become a customer or a business partner. Companies have reduced their own workforce and outsourced jobs and some of the business risks to small entrepreneurs. Some people have even benefitted from the change. I don't say it's been bad for all. The concept of non-standard forms of employment is used to describe fixed-term paid work or so-called new forms of doing work, including work in the middle ground between entrepreneurship and paid work. But some micro entrepreneurs can also be very close to this category. For international people, who haven't had previous careers in Finland it is different, since they're just entering the local labor market, which doesn't have enough suitable opportunities for them. Building your own business is then clearly a possibility worth considering and can be a success for some. Taking business risks isn't for everyone. Some business models include smaller risks and less investments. Worth trying for more people.

Supply/demand US/Finland You have to ask?? The whole world isn’t trying to move to Finland based on misrepresentations of golden opportunities. 🤦‍♂️ And it’s not a housing crisis, it’s a population density crisis. There is plenty of room to house everybody at low cost in North America, but people demand short commutes and refuse to live (and find work) where they can afford to. It really, in fact, is a transportation crisis. If we could get people from outer environs of cities into the core efficiently, nobody would need to pay a zillion dollars to live downtown in order to have a life outside of work/commute. Econ 101 - the financial world is a pyramid, and if you’re not already in the upper tier, you’re VERY likely never going to be. Those are called capitalists, and the people with capital, who generally inherit it, will always outbid you. Because they want what you want and they have more to offer for it. And zoom go the prices. Even under communism, where (theoretically) nobody owns assets and the state dictates asset distribution so everyone is in a ‘commun’ fiscal position, people with better non-fiscal assets (contacts, leverage, etc.) will be better positioned than those just shlupping through their daily existence. It’s just a matter of what constitutes effective daily currency - gov’t money or back scratches. Sometimes the lessons of the universe are … um… universal. The ‘bright lights big city’ mystique is a falsehood perpetuated by mainstream media. I lived in the middle of a large city. Moved out. Make more money now. Pay less in expenses. *Planned* well. Too many people don’t plan and find themselves in the ‘here and now’ without a clue. Set a target, make a plan, follow through, and you’ll be far ahead of the masses. You might have to take some courses. You might have to network some industry people. You might have to go sit on a stump for a year or two. But at least you’ll have a plan and be *going* somewhere, not just reacting (too late) to the market and asking ill-informed questions. Find the neighbourhood that is most likely going to be improved next and embed yourself. Then, when everyone is whining about the cost of all the newly reno’d homes and the rate of home price inflation, you’ll be the one sitting back comfortably and giggling at the misguided. My house went from under $300k to over $800k in less than 5 years because I was ahead of the market. I couldn’t afford it now! Here’s the algorithm: gays find the hoods first and fix them up, being ‘the creative class’; heteros then move into the ‘lovely’ neighbourhood while prices are still middling; once the lesbians find the hood and buy the leftover super-crappy homes the jig is up and that hood is over. Gay realtors can be your best resources! 😮 TL/DR: they’re not better or worse, but they are lower. I notice you didn’t ask about income levels… which determine whether prices are ‘good’ or ‘bad’, as they dictate spending power. I fully expect that household revenues vs housing prices yields a ‘better’ result in Finland. They have a completely different social benefits structure (think health care expenses). So, apples and oranges, but the apples are better. And they have no Orange Man, so … much, MUCH better, all things considered. 😂 This was fun to write. NO offence intended if some of it seems a little terse or condescending; I’m just having fun with you. Not everyone has the same knowledge about how these things work. It’s a complex world, and I know for sure that you can talk circles around me in a whole bunch of other areas of life. I’ll bet you can even change a tire. I have to call for help. Tooly things are just not part of my aptitude or skill set. 🤷🏼‍♂️😊 Have a great day!

​​@@whatifschrodingersboxwasacofin Since information of homes for sale or for rental are online in both places, you could do your own research about it. The results will depend on what samples you choose to compare. Also what all costs you include in your calculations. Things like real estate tax systems are very different and if you include those in home prices, comparisons can change again.

Thanks, this is a good question. To be fair, we were never informed that this was something we could do ourselves. Once we placed the bid, won the bid, and started the paperwork on DIAS, the bank and the realtor pretty much took care of all the other important matters. Apart from signing the papers and paying the fees, we were not instructed to do anything else. But yes, the whole process for us went rather smoothly.

@@couple_of_expats It's understandable that when you use a realtor, or someone else selling their services, they prefer to take over the process and make it simple for them and customers. They don't encourage people to take care of things by themselves unless it's something they cannot handle as part of their services.

@@couple_of_expats A smooth process has been one of the key goals driving the many legal chances over recent years in the apartment and ownership registration system. Many years ago I was reading the justifications for these proposals, which have now been implemented. Good to see that people experience it as something positive even though it has added new fees and was clearly driven by the interest of realtors, banks and other professionals in this field. I was representing the interest of non professional homeowners and housing companies.

​@@just42tube Yeah, although we have no experience with how things were done in the past, navigating this whole process for the first time in 2024 was a pleasant experience. Additionally, being able to receive service and complete most paperwork in English was a great benefit. We didn't want to sign any papers unless we could fully understand them.

@@couple_of_expats What languages does your housing company use for official purposes and for other purposes. It used to be that housing companies themselves maintained registers of their shares, share owners and apartments as specified in Asunto-osakeyhtiölaki. If you read the previous versions of the act, you'll see the difference. It was the housing company's task to verify the documents made about the change of ownership of a group of shares and verify that required tax is paid and then update its own register.

Surely you realize there is no simple fixed cost for housing in any country. It all depends on the quality of housing and the exact location and the market price at the location. It's also a market price, meaning it will change as the market conditions change. You need to specify a location and what kind of housing you're looking for anyone to be able give you relevant answers.

@adventurepreet The total cost of housing in Finland can vary significantly depending on the location, type of housing, and other factors. It also depends if you want to buy or rent a property. To get a better understanding of the housing market in Finland, you could explore housing options available on Oikotie for example: asunnot.oikotie.fi

Yes, as in most countries, knowing the local language is very important. In Finland's case, if you do not know Finnish, finding a good job becomes very challenging. While students can still find some jobs using English only, it is still quite difficult.

Not if you speak the other official language, swedish, and work and live in places where Finnish is not so needed. If you intend to use just English, it will limit your employability significantly. But such jobs do exist when English is all you need. Integration to the greater society will however not be fully possible, since you cannot really become part of culture and life using foreign languages.

Hi, you can check here: www.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/finland/India/residencepermit/english/#Application-form

@@couple_of_expats thank you

Knowing Finnish helps but there's more to getting a job then just Finnish language skills. It's not a yes or no answer, there is a lot to take into consideration such as industry, skillset of individual, location in Finland and more. I have not heard of language skills affecting permanent residence permit, it's necessary for passing yki for Finnish citizenship.

Hi! You can see what programs are offered based on your interest here opintopolku.fi/konfo/en/

Do you include in the building time also time for making the required plans, getting a building permit from the municipality, hiring constructors, buying materials and getting them delivered to the building site, preparations at the lot, everything..? Or do you just want a factory build house, which gets delivered to your site as a set of modules.

If you are willing to pay more you can have a lot of builders and site managers at your site to speed up construction, if you just have the plans and materials ready. At the moment finding builders or contractors to your site shouldn't be very challenging.

If you're seriously asking, I suggest you contact companies, which sell turnkey ready homes with the promise of speedy delivery.

Thanks! Sorry, no idea about that. I assume you're asking about an omakotitalo? I know that people who are interested in new housing projects, such as a new rivitalo being built, could buy straight from the project developers while the project is still being built, but that's as far as my knowledge goes. But building your own home sounds really lovely, good luck with that!

@@couple_of_expats Actually I thought that the question was about building by themselves, which almost always means that they plan to buy or rent a building plot and handle the constructive project or even the construction themselves. Do you know the concept known in Finnish as hartiapankkirakentaminen? It is the cheapest way, but also for most people the most challenging one. It can be combined with founding a housing company, where the owners also manage the project and even construction on behalf of their housing company, which is the judicial entity owning the building. It doesn't have to be an omakotitalon, which has dual meanings. As a building type it means a single apartment building or a detached house. But the word is also used to mean a single apartment building with a plot.

I think the big step is especially because it's a sort of commitment to live in a place long term. But big step for everyone - agreed!

@@couple_of_expats In many places the housing market is fairly liquid, meaning selling at a reasonable price doesn't take very long. But sure it is likely to take longer than the termination of the lease. But if you make modifications to the home to tailor it to your needs and style, that kind of additional investment can be difficult to get back when you sell it and even delay selling. Too personal interiors can make potential buyers hesitate and devalue the home, unless you happen to have someone who likes it too. More bland homes are easier to sell. They are like blank canvases to future owners. I still suspect that the commitment is more emotional than actual resulting from owning a home and the additional steps it requires compared to changing rental homes. I have personal experience of both. I have bought and sold my home several times. I didn't find it as a longer term commitment until I had lived more than 20 years in one location.

Thank you! It really is.

Yes, at the end of the day banks have a long rulebook to follow. But it appears that Nordea is stricter, so at least as an immigrant we thought it's best to share with others (most of who may be immigrants as well) about our experience. And personally, I'm happy to take my business elsewhere.

@@couple_of_expats Have you thought about the history and background of Nordea? It has its head office in Finland but the roots and operation are Nordic wide. It's a result of mergers of banks from different countries. The Finnish side of history is also interesting. It can be strict and not the cheapest alternative, but it has other strengths which is why it has remained big. Roots dating back to 1820 Nordea family tree of around 300 banks includes some of the oldest banks in the Nordic region. These banks were pioneers in the establishment of a commercial banking industry. Sparekassen for Kjøbenhavn og Omegn Denmark 1820 Wermlandsbanken Sweden 1832 Christiania Kreditkasse Norway 1848 Föreningsbanken i Finland / Suomen Yhdyspankki Finland 1862

@@couple_of_expats Remember that people from another EU country can be immigrants in Finland. My understanding is that banks they are not allowed to discriminate between EU citizens on the basis of nationality. They can however set some limits to customers from countries where they don't have operations. The rules for giving loans to people who aren't EU citizens are even less clear to me. I suspect that your comment about stricter rules for immigrants was actually intended to mean immigrants from outside EU. Am I guessing right? Personal experience from a very long time ago: Getting my first mortgage was a bit strange banking experiment since the bank office didn't seem to know the banks own rules for handling my specific case. I got the banks internal instructions for such a situation from their local head office and with that material convinced my own local bank office to give me the mortgage. It was the first ASP mortgage loan in this local office and they where a bit ignorant of how ut should be handled. This was a longtime ago. But ever since then, I have been very aware that not everyone in a bank knows or can everything. Them local bank office manager or director gave me that lesson.

The most common mortgage loan rates are using Euribor 12 months as the base rate with some bank margin, which depends on how risk free and good customer you are for the bank. Usually the margin is in the range of 0.5 to 1.1 %. Euribor 12 months is today 3.567%

@@just42tube 3.5% that's terrific

@@houseman7315 Terrific in which way?

@@houseman7315 Euribor 12 months history by year Rate on first day of the year 1/2/2024 3.532 % 1/2/2023 3.316 % 1/3/2022 -0.499 % 1/4/2021 -0.502 % 1/2/2020 -0.248 % 1/2/2019 -0.121 % 1/2/2018 -0.186 % 1/2/2017 -0.083 % 1/4/2016 0.058 % 1/2/2015 0.323 %

@@just42tube Compared to the United States at the moment, where interest rates are more than double that.

You’re very welcome! 😊

It varies, but here is a website that addresses salaries in Finland that you can refer to www.edunation.co/blog/salary-in-finland/ Perhaps we could make a video on salaries in Finland. 😊

Thank you!

Hi! According to the Studyinfo website, universities of applied sciences and universities charge tuition fees for bachelor’s or master’s level students studying for a degree in languages other than Finnish or Swedish. Therefore, if you pursue a degree entirely in Finnish (not just a few courses but all of them), you should not be required to pay a tuition fee. However, it is always best to check with the university you are interested in studying at in case they have any special requirements. For more information, you can visit: opintopolku.fi/konfo/en/sivu/tuition-fees

You can look for open jobs in Finland for example here: www.workinfinland.com/en/open-jobs/

Hi! Black and white CVs are typically used when there is automated scanning process involved. To our current knowledge, that’s not usually used in Finland. You can always look into what the job posting says but we’re using eye catching CVs that have colour.