The assumption when buying a house is that it's a long term investment.

Let's say you get a 20k quote for a bathroom refit and then find there's an extra fee of 100k to sort out an asbestos problem. You'd be pretty unhappy about ignoring the potential asbestos issue or not taking it into account in the property value.

A friend who was Senior Manager in big insurance firm told me about 20 years ago he would not buy anything in the Alps at the time. We all thought he was a bit silly and dramatic, but now, with permafrost going- I think he was spot on.

Wow, that certainly does look rather lovely.
But falling stones and landslides? No, thank yer! Good for you for having done your research.

Thanks for another scary ASBESTOS story.

I bought a house from 1969 with some asbestos in a bathroom adhesive and in corrugated cement roof. Contractor quotes were the same as a usual roof replacement plus disposal fee for asbestos sheeting, which came to an extra few 100s.

Asbestos sheeting is not a big deal, particularly if external, as they don't need protective equipment etc.

However, if it requires mechanical removal it's a different story, they have to effectively use full personal protection and a cleanroom setup to avoid filling the rest of the house with asbestos dust.

One of the biggest challenges is asbestos containing adhesive used for tiles, which naturally is hard to remove without creating significant dust. I've removed tiles in my kitchen and bathroom (not with an asbestos problem), and went through packs of N95 masks in the process.

I am a mountain guy and sunny beaches don't appeal to me. I like the peace, solitude and breathtaking beauty of the mountains. Maybe I need to reconsider retiring in Southern Europe!

Permafrost will definitely impact the Alps, but they won't all crumble in my lifetime. So I could technically avoid areas with potential issues but my budget makes it a lot harder.


From my POV-
- Retiring in the Alps = Win
- Retiring in Southern Europe = Draw
- Moving back to UK = Failure

Here you can see what I mean about creeping stones. The house is bottom right-hand corner. Lot of trees seem to have been destroyed over time.




View from above




All this waiting to fall down one day, or maybe it will never fall. To get an idea of the scale, look at the humans. I don't know if I made the right decision but constantly worrying about the possibility of stone fall did not appeal to me


I wonder if the buyer bought it without knowing or were they willing to risk it?

For those who are still interested in buying property in the mountains:
https://www.agtenimmobilien.ch/kauf/...rn-von-bratsch