My wife and I are retired, though in our 50's. We'd love to buy an apartment for mainly holiday use until we no longer have horses (moving abroad with them is daunting!) and then we would use one much more often. We hope to be able to buy in the next year. We've made enquiries in the Interlaken area of two agents. Both were very reluctant to tell us the full story of the taxes involved in buying a property. One said that the property taxes were very low, another that there were many different small taxes (including one to maintain mountain water courses...) and we felt they were hoping we would buy without fully explaining the total costs. Wrong! Can someone give us an idea of what taxes are payable, please? I understand the equivalent of the British 'council tax' is based on earnings..? Also, I believe buying a holiday home would be difficult and we really don't want to add to the 'ghost villages' the Swiss rightly complain about, but as time marches on, we would make more and more use of the property. It's also strange how many Swiss are moving to the Scottish Highlands, where we live.. I wonder why...?