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Ruben Werbrouck, Sales Consultant at ION, shares how genuine connections with buyers often grow into something more personal. It’s not only about buildings, but about the people behind the decision. 👇 English subtitles available below. #Suikerpark #Veurne #RealEstateSales #HumanConnections #PropertyMarket #UrbanLiving #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) Tips for property sellers. I think it’s not only about the real estate. It’s mainly about the people you come into contact with. I notice that my clients quite quickly become friends. For example, a buyer here in Veurne who is a fan of classic cars. Alfa Romeos. I am as well. And he has an Alfa Romeo Spider. I couldn’t resist asking if I could take a ride in it sometime. So eventually we did that. And that’s how you see that when you can really connect with people on a personal level, you notice that you share many passions in common.

On 19 April, Sander Plets, Project Development Director at @iondevelopdifferent , ran the @leuvenmarathon Half Marathon together with his son Andreas. One question shaped the day: who would cross the finish line first? 👇 English subtitles available below. #LeuvenMarathon #HalfMarathon #Running #TeamSpirit #FamilyChallenge #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) Here at the marathon in Leuven, I am going to beat my son Andreas. I am Andreas and I am going to do my best to make sure that does not happen. The question is who is going to win: Andreas or me? Andreas. I would go for your son. Thank you. Sorry, Sander. Andreas is not a trained guy like you, he is not as prepared as you, he has younger legs, but the preparation means that you will beat him easily. There you go, thank you. That is what we are going for. Andreas will run it twice. In the same time? I do want to give priority to youth. Sander, sorry. So Andreas will arrive earlier. Thank you. More votes for Andreas, but I am going all in to still finish first. Honestly, between us, who do you think is going to win? I’m afraid he will cross the finish line first. He has really done his best to train for this. Suffering, but really fun. Yes, yes, yes. Yes, nice course and great atmosphere. Definitely worth doing again. Are you okay? Well done. Also 1 hour 43. Goal achieved, so that is nice. He knew he was not going to beat me in the sprint, so on Bondgenotenlaan he kept running. You need to know when to accelerate.

A tax change can significantly impact your investment return. Gil Malysse, CFO at ION, explains how the 6% VAT scheme for demolition and reconstruction makes new-build apartments more attractive for investors in Belgium. 👇 English subtitles available below. #Kortrijk #RealEstate #PropertyInvestment #VAT #NewBuild #Belgium #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) Here in Kortrijk, you can save up to 55.000 euros on an apartment. With demolition and reconstruction, you only pay 6% instead of 21% VAT. And since the law changed last July, it has become even more interesting for investors because their return is also much higher. What are the rules for investors? One: you must rent out the property for at least fifteen years to someone who lives there. These can be successive tenants. Two: the net habitable surface area may not exceed 175 square metres. And three: another advantage, you can purchase either as a private individual or through your company. At ION, we offer many projects under this 6% rate.

Student housing does not always have to be modern. At ’t Onzent in Kortrijk, Thomas Kerckaert, Senior Sales Consultant at ION, explains how a neglected Art Nouveau villa was transformed into a unique place for students to live. 👇 English subtitles available below. #Kortrijk #’tOnzent #StudentHousing #HeritageBuildings #ArtNouveau #AdaptiveReuse #UrbanLiving #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) Have you ever lived in a student room in the villa of Pippi Longstocking? In Kortrijk, it is possible. In this villa, we developed 15 student rooms with ION. It is a very well-known villa by architect De Coene. De Coene designed several villas in Kortrijk. He always used that specific Art Nouveau style. The challenge was that it was a vacant building that was deteriorating. We decided to buy it and redevelop it into 15 student rooms. The students have all the facilities. They have a shared kitchen and living spaces. They are really living in a top property, like the villa of Pippi Longstocking, but that authentic character is still fully preserved.

Financing a real estate project is not just about numbers, but about understanding risk. Gil Malysse, CFO at ION, explains how banks assess profitability, risk and reporting before deciding how much they are willing to finance. 👇 English subtitles available below. #RealEstateFinance #ProjectFinance #RiskManagement #PropertyDevelopment #Finance #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) What do banks look at when financing a real estate project? First, they look at whether the project generates money. They look at the income and costs of the project and the future cash flows. Then they check the risks. What is the permit risk? What is the construction risk? What is the commercial risk? And what is the type of real estate? Is it residential real estate, a hotel or offices? If these parameters are favourable, the bank is willing to allow higher financing. Furthermore, banks also find it very important to have clear reporting on these risks and on the profitability of the project.

Sometimes the best way to understand a neighbourhood is to talk to the people who live there. At Suikerpark in Veurne, Ruben Werbrouck, Sales Consultant at ION, runs into one of his clients and asks what makes living here so enjoyable. 👇 English subtitles available below. #Suikerpark #Veurne #ApartmentLiving #UrbanLiving #NeighbourhoodLife #ResidentStories #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) He he he he. How are you? Best wishes. Yes, best wishes. What do you like about living in Suikerpark? It is very centrally located. You are really close to everything. The Colruyt is nearby. The city centre is just across the cycling bridge there. I immediately found a doctor nearby, so you are very centrally located. Yes, but it’s nice here, isn’t it? You have a beautiful view. You are nicely up high. You can look out over everything here. What is the reason you moved to an apartment? Because Filip no longer walks very well, and now everything is on one level. And you have a garage downstairs, and you get in your car and you are immediately on your way. It’s a big apartment, so we are happy. Glad to hear that.

Not every student room is the same, some feel more like a spacious studio. At KOTT in Kortrijk, Thomas Kerckaert, Senior Sales Consultant at ION, shows a rare mezzanine layout that combines space, height and functionality in one unit. 👉 Discover available student rooms here: https://yourent.pillar.estate/kott 👇 English subtitles available below. #Kortrijk #KOTT #StudentHousing #Mezzanine #StudentLife #UrbanLiving #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) This is a student room you almost never see. Come on, we do have to climb a bit. We call this a mezzanine room. This is very unique, because just look at the ceiling and how high it goes. And also look at the windows and how large they are. I am 1.85 metres tall, this is literally three times my height. How should you see it? You enter here. There will be a small step here. And here there will be a staircase that leads to the next level where you can place your bed. And here you will have a full living space, where you can put a sofa here and your desk over there, so really a lot of space. And here again your kitchen, and then your bathroom which is located behind this. This is really a studio. You have everything you want here.

𝐃𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐔𝐌 🎉 Forum in Beveren has reached its highest point. Just one week later, the project sold out completely. To mark the occasion, the team gathered on site for a traditional maypole ceremony: a symbol of progress and craftsmanship. A well-deserved break and treat followed, recognising the daily efforts of everyone involved. 🍟 Located in the centre of Beveren, Forum comprises 29 apartments designed with a focus on light, space and energy efficiency, within close reach of local amenities and green areas. With the structure now complete, the project moves into its next phase towards completion in spring 2027. A sincere thank you to everyone involved for the strong collaboration in bringing Forum to this point. Two milestones down — now we build on. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 • Developer: @iondevelopdifferent • Contractor: @verplancke_nv • Architect: @fvww_architecten • Stability: Dexco • Engineering: Peritec #Forum #Beveren #ResidentialDevelopment #ToppingOut #SoldOut #Construction #RealEstate #ION

Industrial sites often carry hidden stories beneath the landscape. Ruben Werbrouck, Sales Consultant at ION, explains how the former sugar factory basins at Suikerpark in Veurne have quietly transformed into a place where nature is already returning. 👇 English subtitles available below. #Veurne #Suikerpark #Biodiversity #UrbanTransformation #NatureInTheCity #UrbanLiving #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) Here in Suikerpark in Veurne we have several ponds. This used to be a sugar factory. All the farmers from the region brought their sugar beets here. They were completely covered with mud, so they first had to be washed before they could be processed into sugar. All that dirty water, that muddy water, was then pumped into these basins so that the mud could settle at the bottom and the water could be reused to wash new beets. But today it is really beautiful to see the biodiversity that has already emerged in the short time since it stopped being used as washing basins. When we walk here you see an enormous number of little birds. And just now you also saw a hare running here, which is really nice to see.

𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐇𝐄𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓 | 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 🎓 On Koningin Astridlaan in Hasselt, a historic doctor’s villa is being given a new future. Het Cabinet transforms this characterful site into a contemporary student residence with 51 rooms, while preserving the stately façade of the original building. Located just 200 metres from Hasselt Station and within cycling distance of all major campuses, the project offers students a central and well-connected living environment, with shared kitchens, on-site concierge and bicycle storage. 𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 Hasselt counts over 23.000 students, with further growth expected from 2027 onwards. The supply of modern, energy-efficient student rooms remains limited, while demand continues to grow structurally. This is reflected in some of the highest rental levels in Flanders. 💬 “We are carefully approaching this project, with respect for the character of the Koningin Astridlaan. We preserve the façade of the interwar villa and add a new building behind and next to it.” — Rik Verwaest, Senior Project Developer at ION. 👉 Discover Het Cabinet: hetcabinet.be #HetCabinet #Hasselt #StudentHousing #RealEstate #UrbanDevelopment #InvestmentOpportunity #ION

A construction site can look unfinished, but progress often moves faster than it seems. At De Speurder in Ghent, Thomas Kerckaert, Senior Sales Consultant at ION, and site manager Maxim walk through how 81 student rooms are quickly coming together, from prefab bathrooms to rooftop spaces. 👉 Discover available student rooms here: https://yourent.pillar.estate/de-speurder 👇 English subtitles available below. #Ghent #DeSpeurder #StudentHousing #Construction #CampusLiving #UrbanDevelopment #IONshorts #ION (English subtitles) Here in Ledeberg, we are building 81 new student rooms, and this is what the construction site looks like now. Down here there will be a supermarket. How has the construction site progressed here at De Speurder? At the moment, quite smoothly. The biggest difficulty was the limited space we had here. We are currently installing plasterboard, the bathrooms are already in place, the floors will be installed from next week, the screed is already fully finished, the plastering works are done, and the doors will be installed within two weeks. These are the prefab bathrooms. They are quite large, so what do we have to do? Each time during the structural phase, before we start the next floor, they already have to be in place. We place them with a crane directly into position, and afterwards we can finish the screed neatly around them. That also makes it much faster, I would think? The bathroom is almost fully finished. And here we have the main shared space. Wow, that is quite spacious. The kitchen will be here, the connections are ready for the kitchen island, and here will be the seating area. We are now standing on the future rooftop terrace. So here there will be a terrace area, and here a green roof, so that students can enjoy themselves while sitting outside. Would you have liked to live here as a student? I definitely would have liked to live here. I lived in a similar student room, of course not with such a nice terrace, so that is an extra advantage. There you go, great, thanks.

𝐋𝐄𝐔𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐍 | 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐍 🏃 Leuven is gearing up. This Sunday, thousands of runners will take over the city and a group of our own colleagues will be among them. For months, our ION Impact Runners have been getting up early, tracking their nutrition, and pushing through long training runs. Will they be setting a personal record this Sunday? As main partner of the Leuven Marathon, ION is proud to be part of a race that winds through a city where we have been active since day one. Along the course, runners will pass several of our developments, from the inner-city project Burenberg to student residences across the city. Pushing boundaries and performing under pressure has always been part of the ION culture. For our Impact Runners, this goes beyond the race itself. It is about resilience, grit, and team spirit. Because the finish line is just another deadline. We will all be cheering for you on Sunday! 👊 👉 Curious about the marathon and ION's involvement? Read the article on Leuven Actueel: link in bio. #LeuvenMarathon #Leuven #TeamION #ImpactRunners #Golazo #UrbanDevelopment #Leuven2030 #Sustainability #ION