After 12 months of looking I have found a holiday house I want to buy, ticks 95% of the boxes and is well within my budget (less than 2 times my salary). So how do I proceed?

Is it normal to say to the estate agent, I will take the property subject to getting the finances in order? Or do I sort out the finances then put in an offer?

Also I see UBS requires a 40% deposit on holiday houses, which seems a lot is this normal? Anybody got any experience with other banks on this matter? And recommendations for banks to contact or avoid?

Any other advice greatfully recvied?

Also what sort of time scales does it take for the purcase to go though?

Thanks in advance

Mark

The best I can advise is to go and talk to UBS and some of other banks as soon as possible. Post Finance and your local cantonal bank are probably worth trying, as well as Credit Suisse. The more you go and talk to, the better idea you will have of what a realistic deal is, and you can probably negotiate from a stronger standpoint.

You should be able to make an offer to the estate agent subject to finance, but I wouldn't expect them to wait for too long whilst you sort it out...

Also make sure you sign the any real estate contract with "and or nominees" it gives you an easy way out if you get stuck with something and you know another buyer. Not all sellers will accept this but a bit of bs goes a long way "I am not sure if it will go in my name, family trust, my holding company". I spoke to UBS last week about a second property, in principal they will lend a 100% if they have enough security (from a first home ect) but their personal lenders don't really have much of a final say in it.

Thanks for you information guys. Am having trouble becuase it turns out the property lies in the weilerzone (ausserhalb der Bauzone). While I understand the translation of this, I am not sure on the impications are. Apart from some (maybe all) of the banks do not want to touch the place.

Another potential timebomb is " Landwirtschaftliche Vermessung (LV: nich im Grundbuch). Agian I understand what this means but not the implications.

Anybody got any experiance with this? Somebody mentioned it might be worth trying a local bank in the vally?

Thanks for your help.

Compare and compare some more. I can't see why a bank would ask for 40% based on the type of building, it should be irrelevant to them what you're using it for, it's either an acceptably priced building and location or not.

Play the banks off against each other, ZKB, Raiffeisen and even Migros for example. With the interest rates currently so very low, I'm sure that you can get a great deal. If you're not clear on the building zone verbage, either get a local attorney or a local architect who not only knows the local lay of the land, but knows the right people in the village/town building committee because they're the ones that can impose seemingly ridiculous restrictions on your building plans. They did that to me when we rebuilt a barn more than 10 years ago.

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