Formica and 70s tiles are all the retro rage now. The back kitchen is all blue and red formica, with pale green tiles - I keep threatening to replace it all, and all our young friends say nooooo, it's historical ah.

We have an apartment with lots of windows on the top floor, bar one which has attics etc. It is appallingly hot in summer - I say that as one who is very used to 40C days and yet finds summer in Geneva impossible. (The high humidity no doubt kicks in). This is despite the possibility of good cross breezes. And in this regard I would ignore the common attitude that 'there are hardly any hot days in Geneva so you don't have to worry about them'. Just not true - maybe in some distant past?

So over all I would not consider buying an apartment on a high floor with lots of windows unless installing ducted airconditioning was permitted and doable.

Material used in construction of the roof plays a big role regarding well being and heat sensitivity. It is very hot under wooden roofs, colleague of mine has apartment from mid-90es under the roof, it insulates well in winter but in summer it is freaking oven.

I, on another hand, used to live in roof apartment from 70es with solid concrete flat roof and never had a problem with summer heat, it was always very comfy, absorbs heat during the day and gives it away during the night.

Solid concrete constructions are kind of frowned upon in our "Minergie" age but in fact they are amazing at balancing temperatures between nights and days. Mass matters.

Concrete on it's own is a very bad insulator, it warms up & retains the heat for hours. There must have been insulation above the concrete.

Does the building have a garage with for more than 10 (5, 15, 20, 50?) spaces, and if so has the garage already had electric charging stations installed?

If so and if not, be aware that there could be a hefty renovation price tag in the future.

The homeowners in our Quartier are discussing this now. The house and flat owners each also own a share in the common underground garage.

Apparently installation of chargers for the whole garage, some 50 spaces, means bringing in serious almost industrial electric capacity, at at cost per owner of 3-10K. (The large difference reflects competing proposals.) Yes, it's cheap to install one charging station - but 50 is something altogether different.

The renovation fund for the garage built in the 80s isn't designed cover this one-time hit, so we are each digging deep into our pockets.

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Also, if there hasn't been major renovation work to your building in many years, check to see if the building renovation fund is sufficiently capitalized.

Ours required a reasonable contribution for many years, a couple K per year. But after the Quartier hit the 30 year mark projected costs increased significantly as things just wear out. We periodically have to toss several more thousands into the fund to top it up. And this for a Quartier of separate houses, where we each are responsible for our own maintanance, the only common areas the fund needs to cover is the exterior infrastructure. An apartment building will likely have greater shared costs.

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Finally, there is the issue of common decision making. Try to find out the history of how your fellow owners decide how to spend money. Example: We ended up with set of new mailboxes to the tune of 15K, because... majority rules.

Your post really confused me. I was reading and thinking when the hell did I post that Then I realized that the name was different, just the avatar was same

His is bigger than yours.

Yes you notice when you see both on the same page. I was looking without glasses on a mobile phone last night

A new build will usually depreciate faster than an older property. Not only that but any construction faults will normally become apparent within the first two years, whereas an older property will have had any construction faults rectified.

The charges include heating, common area maintenance and contribution to the renovation fund. The underground garage is huge. Two parking spots are assigned to this apartment. Interestingly, there are car washing facilities in the garage (came with the original setup in late 1970s) but no car-charging facilities installed yet. And yes, that will cost! If in the future, the co-owners decide so at the general assembly.

It's very funny how our perspectives can be completely different when seeing the same thing. In this case, I see potential, while husband sees WORK!

Think we will continue our search for now while keeping this one as a less ideal option.

I bid on a few 1970s and 1960s apartments in my area. Aside from low ceilings the apartments were wonderfully laid out and had great mid-century features. Potential with proper reno is always there.
Too bad neither of us speak German so our over-asking offers were always rejected. We d be happy to buy a 1970s flat if not for xenophobic Swiss.

Are there balconies? Some folks like to enlarge them after a while...