Notaries require an “Unwiderrufliches Zahlungsversprechen” to make an appointment to sign over the deed.
This you will probably get from exactly one bank after you’re done negotiating 
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And you will only get the “Unwiderrufliches Zahlungsversprechen” from a bank, after you signed the mortgage contract. We were clearly told that is NOT possible to sign the purchase contract with the notar without having a contract with a bank.
To add some nuance: The notary doesn’t check for payment as far as I know. But the seller should insist on the irrevocable payment promise, rather than pre-confirmation of the bank, only.
And yes, the bank can issue the payment promise before you commit contractually*. Might well be they are hesitant to do it, or ask for a fee if you walk away afterwards. But that wasn’t the question
*Technically, I did sign a frame contract with the bank before the issuance, but could have walk away before handover as the mortgage choice wasn’t finalized nor signed.
Not in Switzerland 
Other places, the payment goes to an account held in trust at the notary. Easy to check before the meeting
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Who told you this? The bank? I believe this is complete nonsense.
From a legal point of view it is perfectly possible to sign the purchase contract with the notary without having a signed mortgage contract with a bank.
There is even such a thing called a “financing contingency” (Finanzierungsklausel/Finanzierungsvorbehalt or clause suspensive de financement) in a purchase contract which allows you to get out of the contract should you not get the financing from the bank.Of course most sellers would never agree to put such a clause in the purchase contract. But that doesn’t mean it is not legal or not possible.
We are currently reviewing the draft of our purchase contract and have only financing confirmation from a few banks and this is enough to sign the contract. I specifically asked both real estate agent and a few notaries I contacted (before settling with one notary) about this and it is not a problem to sign the purchase contract without a signed mortgage contract with the bank. I even discussed the possibility to include a “financing contingency” in the purchase contract: the notaries told me it is possible, but they were rather reluctant and also told me most sellers would never agree (as it still gives you an exit out of the contract).
We have to pay an advance payment before signing the contract, this is usually 5-10% of the purchase price. If for whatever reason, we get out of the contract we are losing this advance payment. So the real question is whether to settle in advance with a bank before signing the contract and maybe get suboptimal rates, or settle with the bank after signing the contract with the risk that they might change their opinion and decide not to finance the house anymore (and we are losing the advance payment).
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I believe you should not ask/trust the banks on such things, but rather clarify these questions with a notary/lawyer.
Banks also have their own interest in mind and obviously they prefer that you close the deal rather than wait and shop around for better rates
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In our case, the payment flow was part of the purchase contract, the financing institution was also directly mentioned and the notary wanted the “unwiderufliches Zahlungsversprechen”. I don’t think this matters that much in practice tnough, if you’re not stretching yourself out too much to buy your house/appartment though.
We had the whole process completed on the bank side in like 1 week tops.
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You can’t then categorise it as “cash”.
He didn’t, did he? Maybe it’s just a language barrier (I don’t speak EN native).
I did sign a purchase contract without a signed mortgage and without a pre-approval letter, I was still dealing with the broker at signature time. The notary didn’t even mention it.
Sorry for my English. I would keep 50k and invest them. It will be not cash anymore, of course.
Investment with foxstone is 18-36 months.
apparently it depends. In Canton BE it wasnt the case for us. UBS did only send by email the confirmation they gave us at the moment we placed our offer to buy. So we didnt sign anything at this moment and a change would have been possible.
Mid term notes, e.g. Cembra or recently mentioned BCF.
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