The "Buying a house in Switzerland" thread

[Jaro]

	Quote:	naza
	but in this case you will get a higher interest rate since risk is bigger for the bank

in my case there was no difference at all..

[anafalk]

	Quote:	naza
	but in this case you will get a higher interest rate since risk is bigger for the bank

yes, but the interests are very convenient this time in Switzerland. Even with 10% downpayment you can have a 0.8% with Libor!!! It's the perfect time to buy your house!

[naza]

	Quote:	Jaro
	in my case there was no difference at all..

cool! so which bank did you go for?

[Jaro]

	Quote:	naza
	cool! so which bank did you go for?

ZKB...they are also financing the building where I bought my flat...that might have helped things....the main issue is that the flat was well priced (not overpriced) of good Minergie quality and I negotiated a free parking space...so value was there + our income was a major factor.

[Cashboy]

	Quote:	bigblue2
	All I can add is that we had the 20% (well, over the 20%) and the banks where bending over backwards to get us to sign with them, and if you don't have the 20% then you should really be asking yourself can you really afford to buy and keep a house here, just look at the mess the uk got itself into.

House prices generally don't move up much in Switzerland so one would also hope they do not fall.
It appears to be cheaper to buy than rent at the moment; BUT if interest rates go up then there could be problems.

I actually do not understand the reason that Swiss do not buy their houses if they intend to stay in the house at least 10 years as opposed to renting.
I would guess it is because the Swiss people have it put in their heads that you should always rent.

There are huge changes in Europe taking place and I think a lot of these Swiss pensions they have may well not reach expectations and may even go bust.

[Pather]

	Quote:	anafalk
	yes, but the interests are very convenient this time in Switzerland. Even with 10% downpayment you can have a 0.8% with Libor!!! It's the perfect time to buy your house!

Okay, I would really like to see in writing that Libor accepts a 10% down payment. I think this is just a marketing ploy if it is correct

[Pather]

	Quote:	Jaro
	if your income is right you will not need anything near 20%. I had offers for 5, 8, 15 and 20% down. Process is super easy and actually pleasant comparing to some other countries I've lived in. It is so easy it makes you almost suspcious

What would be the 'right' income?

And what are the smaller banks, I have lived in Kanton Zurich, and have only seen the larger banks.

and I have spoken to a friend who is a Remax real estate dealer, he said that if you do not have at least 16%, then you will never get a mortgage

I am so curious, because i have seen the house of my dreams, built in 1890, and it was an Embroidery factory, so the windows are beautifullly large. The guy who renovated my flat has bought it, though after renovations (which is a complete over haul) the property is valued at 1.2 million, a few hundred thousand more than i can afford, my dream vanished.

[golly]

We are in the process of buying now. My experience with libor is that min 300,000 chf loan is required. The percentage down payment (usually 20%) of the house price is the bank requirement. Then you can choose your repayment options of which libor is the most attractive (~0.8%). Way cheaper than renting at current rates.
The bank is spakasse.

[Jaro]

	Quote:	Pather
	What would be the 'right' income? And what are the smaller banks, I have lived in Kanton Zurich, and have only seen the larger banks. and I have spoken to a friend who is a Remax real estate dealer, he said that if you do not have at least 16%, then you will never get a mortgage I am so curious, because i have seen the house of my dreams, built in 1890, and it was an Embroidery factory, so the windows are beautifullly large. The guy who renovated my flat has bought it, though after renovations (which is a complete over haul) the property is valued at 1.2 million, a few hundred thousand more than i can afford, my dream vanished.

I would not say ZKB is a small bank. It is smaller than the biggies which I refuse to do business with anyways. ZKB is also the only one that offers as a standard a 15% down option. I was surprised they offered me options of less.
What the right income is? well, mine and wife's was good and I'm not about to disclose that. I also did not go for a place I could afford but for a "reasonably" priced flat way under 1 million therefore not over-extending myself.

[Jaro]

most people forget that everything is negotiable with the right bank such as ZKB...the interest rate in particular. As my loan is being paid to the developer in 4 payments per agreed schedule I will for example rid the Libor for as long as possible than split into 2-3 components which can be libor, fixed, variable etc.

[Pather]

	Quote:	Jaro
	I would not say ZKB is a small bank. It is smaller than the biggies which I refuse to do business with anyways. ZKB is also the only one that offers as a standard a 15% down option. I was surprised they offered me options of less. What the right income is? well, mine and wife's was good and I'm not about to disclose that. I also did not go for a place I could afford but for a "reasonably" priced flat way under 1 million therefore not over-extending myself.

Well, in your previous post you wrote that if your income is right, you would get a 5-15% offer of a down payment. That could mean anything, I dont want you to disclose your income, but, just to back up your previous post , and lend a little light to a 5% downpayment offer.

And ZKB, does not offer at standard 15%, at least not the one here in my town, we tried them 5 years ago, Migros gave us a far better deal, even though we were banking with ZKB at the time.

[Jaro]

	Quote:	Pather
	Well, in your previous post you wrote that if your income is right, you would get a 5-15% offer of a down payment. That could mean anything, I dont want you to disclose your income, but, just to back up your previous post , and lend a little light to a 5% downpayment offer. And ZKB, does not offer at standard 15%, at least not the one here in my town, we tried them 5 years ago, Migros gave us a far better deal, even though we were banking with ZKB at the time.

let me clarify 15%-20% are clearly and openly offered options with no special conditions being offered. If you want less, yes you need to have a few factors in your favour such as sufficient income, property appraising correctly etc. Can't speak what was in place 5 years ago. I'm know this is being offered for over 2 years min.

[naza]

	Quote:	Jaro
	most people forget that everything is negotiable with the right bank .

totally agree with this statement... even UBS was making good offers recently... i guess rogue traders will make banks do that sometimes

[fatmanfilms]

	Quote:	naza
	totally agree with this statement... even UBS was making good offers recently... i guess rogue traders will make banks do that sometimes

You would expect the reverse as they need to write safer business.

[miniMia]

	Quote:	Jaro
	let me clarify 15%-20% are clearly and openly offered options with no special conditions being offered. If you want less, yes you need to have a few factors in your favour such as sufficient income, property appraising correctly etc. Can't speak what was in place 5 years ago. I'm know this is being offered for over 2 years min.

Ah... now we are talking.

In fact sometimes you have to put down MORE than 20%. It all depends on the bank's appraisal of the property and the price you are paying for it.

[Jaro]

	Quote:	miniMia
	Ah... now we are talking. In fact sometimes you have to put down MORE than 20%. It all depends on the bank's appraisal of the property and the price you are paying for it.

Well isn't that always the case? I'd not want to buy something that does not appraise. Income/expense ratio is a factor not to ignore. In our case both were favorable. Top notch profesionalism by ZKB including wanting to set us up with english speaking advisors even when we did not need it.

[miniMia]

	Quote:	Jaro
	Well isn't that always the case? I'd not want to buy something that does not appraise. Income/expense ratio is a factor not to ignore. In our case both were favorable. Top notch profesionalism by ZKB including wanting to set us up with english speaking advisors even when we did not need it.

Everything will appraise. I think you mean something else. Though I'm not sure what that is.

Income/expense is also always counted. As well as if you have assets. Sometimes they won't make you cash out these assets but they are still in play.

The point is that the bank will hardly ever take liability more than 80% of the what they value the house at no matter the price that you want to pay for it.

[drmom]

I have a question regarding the "theoretical rental income" tax added to home ownership. We bought our house the beginning of November and I don't think we received any documentation stating this amount.

Should we have gotten that info, or when does it need to be known? This is our first year here and so we have yet to do a tax return and are not familiar with the process!

[AbFab]

	Quote:	drmom
	I have a question regarding the "theoretical rental income" tax added to home ownership. We bought our house the beginning of November and I don't think we received any documentation stating this amount. Should we have gotten that info, or when does it need to be known? This is our first year here and so we have yet to do a tax return and are not familiar with the process!

It'll come, don't worry! You'll need it for the tax declaration and I think you'll find it turns up in time for that. If not give your Gemeinde a call...

[drmom]

	Quote:	AbFab
	It'll come, don't worry! You'll need it for the tax declaration and I think you'll find it turns up in time for that. If not give your Gemeinde a call...

Thanks, that's what I figured, but I just wanted to make sure!