Small (big) update: it seems we have a deal for the house and I just finalised the job offer, so I’m going to change it too… Will appreciate any comments to my questions posted in previous message :).
Don’t get stressed by the job change. This house buy might be the single most important financial decision in your life (no pressure here) Take your time, be sure that all the bases are covered, that the mortgage is right etc.
You are a highly employable guy with a good salary, and as you said, financially you will be at the same level. Remember that the bank actually want you to take the credit because they need to earn money (also the salary of the salesman who discusses credit terms with you) 
They will be more under pressure to finish the deal than you are.
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Now I know all the details and it seems it will be much better, but the big part will be offered as stock options. Not sure what would be the approach of the bank to such kind of “remuneration” during affordability calculations.
banks don’t count variable parts of the income. All they accept is the number of “Netto Einkommen” from the “Lohnausweis”. So no stock options or bonuses are counted towards the calculation.
If I were you, you should fix the mortgage before the job change.
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Many thanks for your answer. BTW - I read your (both scary and amazing) story on your blog - fingers crossed for your new challenge and variable salary part coins going to the moon 
. I hope the same for stock options offered by my new company However, because it’s not in crypto area, I don’t expect to retire based on that :).
For bonuses they take the average over the past 3 years and retain 60% of that value. Stock options on the other hand do not count.
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I second you on this, except if your Lohnkonto (bank account where your salary lands) is at the bank you are negotiating with → they would see that you have a new job by the end of July and will not be happy about it. Looking at your timing it should work for the forward sale in March, but might be an issue if you need to increase the mortgage for renovations in July, when you have your new job.
Maybe @baldur tell them you changed jobs after you signed the mortgages.
When we negotiated our mortgage we did hide that we were expecting a kid, to get better rates 
I confirm that a (fixed) salary decrease/job change is not welcome by bankers, they are entitled to re-evaluate your “Tragbarkeit” and eventually ask you to amortize - however if they want to keep you as client, they will find a solution and make the figures look better (eg re-evaluating the value of the property)
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Of course you can lie while signing a mortgage but that can be a dangerous game to enter. Indeed most mortgage institutes will include so called covenants to their mortgage contracts, a typical example of the latter being called “Material Adverse Change” stipulating that they are eligible for immediate repayment of the principal in case your situation changes for the worse which they will of course combine with the “Exclusive Banking Relationship” one so that they are aware of any incomes / expenses you have and be able to compute so called “Early Warning Indicators”. A drastic decrease of your income in the month following the outpayment of the principal would be an example of enforcement of that covenant especially if you are no longer able to meet affordability requirements.
Credit Risk monitoring in the mortgage business is not something banks neglect, of course they are happy to sign mortgages but writing off debt is not something they enjoy. I’ve been working on the credit risk monitoring topic over more than 10 years and what you describe can end up badly. I would double check the affordability calculation with your new data (with another bank for instance) just to be sure you are not taking any risks.
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Hello, thank you very much. I don’t feel good with hiding things etc. so next week I’ll probably just ask they opinion about this. I hope it will not break the deal, because I will have to be forced to stay at my current company :D.
Wishing you good luck @baldur
We are considering buying a house, however I couldn’t get information from (non-FIRE 
) friends: can anyone here share the annual costs for “Nebenkosten” (electricity, water, heating etc) for a house?
Of course the answer depends of many factors, but I’d like to know if the 1% rule of thumb (0.60% for Nebenkosten, 0.40% for Unterhalt) is realistic or not.
Say for a 1.5 M CHF house, are the Nebenkosten really 9000 bucks per year ? Anyone willing to share real life figures ? 
Thanks
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Our current house ca. 150 Sqm plus basement. Electricity including air heat pump central heating 2000 fr / yr , water 700 fr /yr.
I think 1% is a good rule of thumb as you need to prepare psychologically for a « sinking fund » for huge, one off repairs. For example we went to visit a house built in 1980 which had the original boiler and roof both of which were past the end of their expected life. A roof costs easily 50k and we know some friends who had to spend 100k to replace heating. Painting the inside of a house in CH can also cost 20k (we had friends quoted 40k).
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Thank you! The update from our side is that the bank is already aware about my job change and is fine with that (ufff!). We are closer and closer to sign the forward sale, but currently I have additional question. Notary has proposed the contract with the clause saying that on the day of signature, initial payment we are supposed to pay (10%) will be immediately transferred to owner’s account. Is it normal? I though that by default it should stay at notary’s account until the execution date of the contract?
I’ve never transferred money to the notary. Iirc the reservation payment was directly to the owner and then downpayment to the bank who released the remaining funds after they got the notary signed contract.
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seems weird; ask your bank.
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If you’re in Vaud, this is normal and the way it works in fact. The notaries work as intermediaries here. The account holder should be the Association de Notaires Vaudois, then each notary has a sub account.
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Hello again,
small update about our case. We have finally signed forward sale in April and in 2 weeks we should become owners :). Today I got the information from the notary about the costs (“frais d’actes, de registre foncier et droit de mutation”) - it is ~4.23 % of the sales price (only “droit de mutation” in Vaud is 3.3%…). I was planning for 5%, so it seems to be good news :), but I wonder how it looked like in case of other people buying the property in Vaud?
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I am a dreams destroyer, you are not becoming owner, you are becoming a bank’s debtor 
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Fortunately you are not, as I’m fully aware what we are doing and how it works here in Switzerland ;). Of course we have no idea how it will work in the long-term, but considering my risk profile/opinion about current state of the markets, I feel fine with that.
Additional info - we have been offered 1.11% fixed for 10-years. As we are taking over current owner mortgage in exchange to lowered purchasing price (for the amount of his penalties), we are not really in good position for negotiating, so I think this offer is not that bad. Of course a few months ago will be much better… Anyone getting other offers recently?
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Frankly, how much is the difference between 0.8% and 1.1% in CHF after taxes? I doubt more than 150-200 bucks a month, nothing I’d worry about too much.
(I know, I know, not very mustachian 
)
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