I would like to know if anyone on this forum has experience in buying a house in Switzerland. I think we understand the whole mortgage and bureaucracy side. Our problem is trying to find something decent in the first place. Mostly what is on the web portals is leftovers which no-one else wants to buy. Any advice?

I found my house on homegate. It was hardly leftovers - the project of six houses was sold in two weeks (that's 30'000 deposit taken for each house).

Do you want to buy new or old? Where are you looking? If you're looking in Zurich in a specific area then your choices become more limited. If you're looking at any one of the million new developments and are flexible, it's a nice marketplace.

Do take into consideration that typically once a house or apartment is bought, it could be a generation or longer before it becomes available again.

Are you looking for a house or apartment?

Well that's the second problem that new projects sell out quickly. Often by the time they appear on a portal then half the houses are already reserved. How are people finding out so quickly about new projects?

We are looking for a fairly new house or large apartment in the Furtal region, Diesldorf, Buchs, Niederhasli, Watt, Otelfingen, etc. We'd also consider Baden, Zug and Horgen.

Like any areas where good properties are in short demand you've got to do the leg work, see lots of crap, be nice to lots of people, stay in touch and be patient... the adage that lucky people are those who work hardest at it is pretty apt. Plus, be prepared to move fast and know what compromises you are prepared to make.

We saw loads of places, all overpriced and terrible. Then one day a contact we had built up called: someone had dropped out of a project. We were going on holiday 2 days later, but made sure we did our homework and got the sales agreement done, finally by fax from the hotel.

Good luck Daniel

Finding somewhere is the hardest part. It took us two years of intensive looking. What you see advertised is often problem properties - that said we found ours through the Tages Anzeiger.

See also this thread:
http://www.englishforum.ch/other-gen...t=buying+house