Buying a flat in Saint-Louis while working in Basel

Real Estate
1

Hi everyone,

I’ve been living and working in Basel for 3 years (EU citizen, B permit), currently renting quite modern flat for 2100 CHF/month including a garage.

I’m considering buying a flat in Saint-Louis, France (budget ~250,000 EUR), possibly with a French mortgage. I’d still be working in Basel but commuting across the border.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has made this move or similar to German part – how was it? The mortgage conditions are reasonable ~3,5%
I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons of this move:

Pros (as I see them):

– Paying off a reasonably priced mortgage instead of high Swiss rent

– Lower health insurance premiums for cross-border commuters (around 200 CHF/month vs 400+ CHF now)

– Cheaper car insurance, taxes and overall car-related costs in France

– In my case, commuting from Saint-Louis by train would actually be shorter than from my current place (near the German border)

Cons:

– I don’t speak French, which might make things more difficult (paperwork, integration, emergencies, etc.)

– I’d lose official residency in Switzerland

Any insights, regrets, or tips would be hugely appreciated!

2

Don’t have many insights on the topic, the only thing I know is that your ability to work remotely, if you even had that to begin with, will be restricted. As far as I know you can only work up to 40% remotely.

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3

In your post there is no mention of income tax, cross border taxes for frontier workers etc . Have you calculated that?

Read below
Source

Agreement of April 11, 1983 (Taxation of Cross-Border Workers)

This agreement between France and Switzerland applies to compensation incomeof cross-border workers in eight cantons, Basel Stadt, Basel Land, Bern, Jura, Neuchatel, Solothurn, Vaud, Valais/Wallis. In deviation from the France-Switzerland Income Tax Treaty, it provides that compensation of French resident cross-border workers in relation to each of the covered cantons is taxed exclusively in France. In turn, France pays 4.5% of the aggregate gross cross-border workers’ salaries to the canton of employment. Under the agreement, the tax is levied directly on the employee, who makes payments in installments. The Swiss employer does not file any form or make any tax payment in France.

Cross-border workers are defined as (i) any person resident in one state, (ii) whopursues an activity as an employed person in the other state, (iii) with an employerestablished in that other state, and (iv) who returns, as a general rule, daily to a place of residence in the first state.

4

What I heard is the following: if you lose your job, you get French unemployment benefits, not Swiss ones. Worth checking and weighting in.

5

Thanks guys for your replies.

Regarding remote work I’m fine with limitation of 40% remote work as I work in hybrid mode.

Regarding the taxes I did the calculation with one of the salary calculators and it appears even better conditions for commuters than for someone registered in BS.

The risk of losing job I will take into account.

6

Interesting
I didn’t know tax in France is lower than Switzerland

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7

I’m curious since it’s not what I would have expected, wouldn’t french rate be like 40% marginal and 30% effective? The french progression is fairly steep.

Mind sharing the numbers you got?

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8

I wouldn’t want to expose myself to PFAS forever chemicals in Saint-Louis’ water supply. Using tap water has even been forbidden.