Marten (81) lived as God at the Dutch Elite in Brasschaat, now he sells his villa: « Much of the money hunted through it » (Brasschaat)

On the Donksesteenweg in Brasschaat there are a lot of luxurious villas on spacious plots, but none have such large windows as the Villa of Marten Rijkeboer (81). No surprise perhaps that the resident has Dutch roots. « I don’t even have any curtains. The ladies sometimes fall over, but I like to keep in touch with outside. The garden is really part of the living space. Those typical Flemish houses with their small windows are not for me. »

In 2003, Marten Rijkeboer bought the plot of almost 12,000 square meters with the former farm in the so -called ‘Golden Triangle’ of Brasschaat to have a spacious light villa built in 2008. “I didn’t want a lot of rooms, I especially wanted to enjoy the space, so we kept it very open. In the pigeon tower you look out, water and light are installed. For children or grandchildren you can make a real play paradise of it. The inhability of the front was once an office, but has already had a guesthouse has already been founded. exhibition space. ”

Fiscal refugee

Marten Rijkeboer is one of the Dutch who moved to Belgium as a tax refugee in the 1990s. “In the meantime, all those schemes have already changed, but during that period quite a few Dutch people went to Brasschaat, because you did not have to pay taxes in Belgium if you sold your shares of a company. I grew up near Groningen and had an import company in medicines expanded in Amsterdam after my studies in Amsterdam, on the advice of the father of my first girlfriend to do that company. Moving to Belgium.

He ended up among the rich Dutch people who had crossed the border with the same motives and did not look at a bottle of champagne more or less. Restaurant-Bistro De Kroon was then the epicenter of the Dutch elite who liked to let her money roll. « De Kroon was the meeting place, just like the golf club. In that period parties were organized of 100,000 euros, in which crocodiles and flamingos were torn, you can’t come up with it, » says Marten Rijkeboer. “At that time, Brasschaat had the highest concentration of Bentleys in the whole world. Do you know that number of the Witte-Wijnwijven from Brasschaat? That’s how it was. In 2017 a play was made about, Ronn Moss from The Bold and the Beautiful, played along with that. In addition to comical, it was also very recognizable. « 

Life is often easier if you have a little more on your account. But you can be sure that there is more laughter at a campsite than on a hunt of thirty meters in Saint-Tropez

Marten Rijkeboer

Villa owner

Marten Rijkeboer himself also saw the downside of the decadent life. « It was pretty superficial, many people thought they were very important, but good conversations about more serious themes hardly happened. I had trouble with that, in the long run I would rather watch television to hear something intelligents. All those marriages of rich couples went one by one. My own marriage was also stranded. »

“We also lived close to the crown these first years and she had nothing to do, so she could drink all day long. My oldest son went her follow -up, he also died of the effects of his drink problem. That is very sad. My wife has been included in the world -famous and very expensive clinic of Betty Ford in America, because there was also the interesting of that, for that, exhausted. Celebrities came, but she could never get rid of the drink.

Another anecdote: Years later he was approached by a man who turned out to be married to Martens First Great Love. « I told him: » You were ahead of me, damn it. « To which he replied that he was also divorced because she turned out not to have such a beautiful character, to put it carefully. At a certain moment I dotted with her and realize that he was right. »

Marten Rijkeboer also worked in the pharmaceutical sector for a number of years from Belgium. With his son he opened a pharmacy in Breda, where they also sold Viagra and other medicines online. Through an acquaintance, he set up an import company in medicines with a few business partners in Guinea. « That only turned out to be terribly difficult by making all theft and corruption that we were dealing with. Eventually my youngest son really had to flee the country because it became too dangerous. » The large African statues in his villa are dear souvenirs on his travels to the interior of Guinea.

Gold Diggers

In love, Marten Rijkeboer tried to become happy again after his divorce. “Only then I came to the circuit of the Gold Diggers Rightly so, women who aces on a rich man, « he says. » I have not found a normal relationship, but I have amused myself. Trips to Knokke and the Côte d’Azur, that was all part of it. It had to cost something, but I knew what I was starting. There was one lady I finally linked to a friend. That evening they met, she already went home with him. I was glad I was gone. Many older men who are together with a younger woman now have the problem that those women want to collect their investments, while there are also adult children who are entitled to part of the family capital. That also causes problems. « 

It says in the advertisement that I want to continue living here for a maximum of a few years, because I want the time to find something that is like me. But if I find something earlier, it can also go fast

Marten Rijkeboer

Villa owner

One of Marten Rijkeboers Exen wanted him to participate in The Sky is the Limit. “But if you are less familiar, you have to pay for that. Apart from that, she hoped to get some expensive jewels for the film recordings. I didn’t like that. In the end I noticed that I also like to be home alone. In a permanent relationship you have to make a lot of compromises, I love my freedom. Gerard de Jonge, a neighbor from here behind the corner, participates in the De Program De program Golden Bachelorwhich has been around in America for some time. He was in Italy with seventeen women. They also look at his bank account of course. In Brasschaat that program is followed well, I think. « 

In the meantime, Marten would no longer call himself rich, he says. “Not that I am too short, certainly not, but I have already hunted a lot through it. But I am selling my villa especially with a view to the future. I am 81, this is a big house that also costs money to maintain. That is why I can deprive my son a little worse by living smaller. It says in the advertisement that I want to last a few years to find it. to go. »

Marten Rijkeboer is quite satisfied with his life. “A few years ago I got with The hell of Brasschaat Another book written about that myth that makes money happy. That was partly fictional, but some people were less happy because they thought they recognized themselves in it. That was annoying, it must remain cozy, but in that book I wanted to raise that money is not the solution for everything. Beware, the rich people who live here have worked very hard in their lives. But a small percentage is rich by inheriting, the rest has fought for it. But there is the idea that you are unhappy if you are poor and happy when you are rich. That is too simplistic. Which does not alter the fact that life is often easier if you have a little more on your account. But you can be sure that there is more laughter at a campsite than on a hunt of thirty meters in Saint-Tropez. ”

His circle of friends is now a mix of Nederbelgen and Flemings. « Those Dutch immigrants of the time have been scattered: a part has moved to Spain or the Côte d’Azur, a part has returned to the Netherlands to live closer to the grandchildren and some has remained. But that community no longer hangs together as then and I also hear stories about decadent parties anymore. »

Marten Rijkeboer will enjoy himself. He likes to read, likes to delve into art and regularly lunch with friends. “That has ensured that I had to hand in my driver’s license for a while, because when I have lunch, I like to drink four glasses of wine. The judge did not agree with that. Nowadays I go by bike or let me take myself. And yet the judge wants to have my blood sampled every two months to determine how much I drink and whether I can still have a drink. I can also delve into the current.