Buying an apartment post-Covid19 in a Mustachian way

1

Dear all,
The opportunity of buying a nice apartment in Basel came to my door and I am not sure how this community will feel on doing such a huge investment in the middle of this crisis. Also, I would like to know what’s the Mustachian way of buying a house in switzelrand without missing any important point.

Here below the details:

  • 4.5 room apartment (3 bedrooms) -107sqm + 15sqm terrace - 3rd Floor.
  • 5 min walking to Basel main train station
  • Price: 1.14 million CHF + 45k CHF garage
  • To be built in 2022 therefore new property
  • We hope to return to our country in the next 10 years.
  • Current rent in a similar location for one bedroom less is 1700chf/month all included.

Questions from my side:

  • is it a good time to buy a property in CH?
  • What’s the mortgage i% I should target? how long? any bank?
  • Is the property price in CH stable? Shall we expect price to drop due to the crisis?
  • Does it really make sense to save money vs renting adding the risk of a huge mortgage of 1M CHF?

Thank you to bring your ideas, tips and advices.
Very appreciated.

2

It depends. What would be the rent value for such an apartment in this area?

3

I woudl say 2600 chf / month

4

2.74% yield is not enough. It should be 3.75%-4.5% I guess. It looks too expensive for me, but I don’t know Basel’s market.

5

2.6k rent for one similar to the one you look for, and 1.7k for 1 less room ? Seems quite a big difference
@disaga87, I would pull up Excel and try to compare all rent vs purchase expenses & later resale if that is what you intend to do in 10 years
Also MP has some blog posts on the topic if you haven’t read them already How to buy my first home in Switzerland - guide | Intro

The only thing I’d say is don’t rush it, take your time, do the math, research prices in the area

6

So my excel sheet with CHF 2600 net (once all recurring charges have been removed), and a
low 1.2% interest rate, seems to give me between 2.19% and 2.89% ROI.

Not amazing. Personally I would not invest into that.

This is excluding appreciation. With an inflation of 0.8% a year, it already looks a lot better with close to close to 6% ROI. It is not sure that will happen, what if the market stay flat or go the other way?

7

Ooh, that’s a kind of yield i’ve not heard in a long time

What and where are you buying? Fixer uppers in the middle of nowhere?

8

Hi,
I said above, 5 min walking Basel main train station (so city center) and with big terrace. Also the construction will start now and will be a brand new apartment that’s why similar apartments in the area cost around 2600 chf / month.
It seems a bit expensive, you are right but I dont think the market will drop for a new flat in the city center. Also consider all the apartments they will build are totally sold out… Maybe I buy couple of aparments in my own country for the future :slight_smile:

9

Have you tried to negotiate the price already? I wonder how it would work in the current circumstances.

10

is it normal to negotiate with a inmobilien?

11

When it is not new, you can always negotiate. When a new building is in construction, you will only be able to negotiate the price if they can’t sell them fast enough. Sometimes you can negotiate better equipment in the appartment for the same price.

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12

I didn’t buy them because I can’t get 1’290’000 or 1’650’000. They were both fully renovated in 2019 and fully rented , respectively in a small city in Vaud and in a center of a town in the Geneva lake arc.

13

Constructor’s negotiation power is highest before they start building and after they finish.
A buyer’s best position (negotiating power) is during the construction process, if all units aren’t already sold of course.

14

For investment puropse, I see a unit of real estate very critical, according to JL Collins’ list reasons of why a house is a terrible investment. for everything else, i don’t have a clue :smiley:

15

This reminds me that 2 years after construction finished, they still haven’t sold all the apartments in one of the new buildings next to my place (center of Zurich), I really wonder what the story is there :slight_smile:

for those curious: https://www.landolt-areal.ch/ (ok I don’t remember if it’s been 2 years, actually looking at https://bcarch.ch/bauten/wohnueberbauung-landolt-areal-zuerich/#text might be ready since 2015)

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16

Haa, those ones close to Google… They look kinda nice but I don’t like the location so much. The road nearby is noisy and get substantial traffic. Also I imagine they try to sell them for more than 2M. I don’t think middle class can afford that.