Our oldest child is deaf, and when she starts high school in 1.5 years she can choose from 5 schools nationally: Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, and Sandefjord. Since we would rather not send a 16 year old off to live alone, the whole family will be moving. I miss living by the ocean, and we have family in Bergen, so that is currently on top of our list. But Oslo would be easy, since I could keep my job.
The property market in Bergen is... quite entertaining. I don't think they have a very strict planning department in the city, because there are a lot of creating solutions. We are looking for a smallish house, preferably a fixer upper. Sitting on two houses will not be a very large drain on our finances, and it will give us time to make the new house livable before moving. So I think we will be buying within the next 12 months. I will be sharing finds here, and would highly appreciate any types of comments.
House #1: This one hit a lot of boxes, but was sold before we had time to look at it. Ocean view, fixer upper, not too large, possibilities for a kitchen garden, and outhouses for DH's hobbies. It sold today for 3,96 million NOK (~396 000 USD) without the boat house.
https://www.finn.no/realestate/homes/ad.html?finnkode=200982479House #2: This is just beautiful, and located right in the middle of the city. Downside: no place for parking. Nothing, not even curbside. And it might be a bit too pretty for us.
https://www.finn.no/realestate/homes/ad.html?finnkode=201144986House #3: This is too expensive and a bit small for us, but a good example of the weird houses available in central Bergen:
https://www.finn.no/realestate/homes/ad.html?finnkode=182491212House #4: This is my dream, but completely unrealistic as long as the kids live at home since the closest high school is across the fjord. A small farm in Hardanger (the fruit district just south east of Bergen). Tiny village with 220 inhabitants, a lot of cultural activities and historical sites, possibilities for renting out the cottage or mountain cottage to tourists, good hunting and fishing rights, making apple cider is legal in this fjord, and due to water rights the property has passive income of ~6000 USD/year. If we moved here, we could FIRE.
https://www.finn.no/realestate/homes/ad.html?finnkode=179707610 and the village web page:
https://www.herand.no/