After 10 years in Switzerland, I’m considering making some moves in preparation for FIRE. In a few years, I would possibly like to reduce my workload. Before that happens, I’d like to leverage my income and lock in a cheap mortgage.
To be clear, it’s not something that I would typically do, if it wasn’t for the cheap loan. I like the freedom that renting gives. Thinking about finding the perfect home in a seller’s market stresses me out.
I have a few questions that are bothering me:
If I meet the affordability criteria now, but reduce my workload later, can the bank check my affordability at any time? Or only once every 10 years?
Can I use my assets as guarantee in lieu of income? Would I need to deposit them at the bank (instead of eg IBKR?)?
How do I get the best conditions? Is what I see online the best you can get? Or can you negotiate a better rate?
Would you generally recommend a 10y fixed or SARON indefinite?
How do I find the best flats? I think I am primarily interested in new buildings, buying straight from the developer. But I think what ends up on Homegate is already filtered through 2nd hand, what the initial buyers discarded?
I just started the process of getting Swiss citizenship, during which I should not change residence outside of my Gemeinde. It could take 2 years. Will the bank require me to show some official document from the Gemeinde confirming my residence, or will it be enough to just send back some physical letters? (in case I buy my flat outside of my current residence)
During the next 10 years, I might want to travel for many months. Would it be an option to rent out the flat through a professional company (either short-term as AirBnb or medium-term). Does anyone have experience with that? Can such company collect your mail in your absence?
A bit of FOMO, for sure. But also if I reduce my workload to like 50%, my affordability will also drop 50%. So I will miss the chance of locking in a high mortgage. Instead of 1,200,000, only 600,000.
Also, if I rent a flat worth 1,200,000 at 3% rental yield, that’s 3,000 CHF per month. If however, I owe the bank 1,200,000 at 1%, that’s 1,000 CHF interest per month. That’s like 2,000 CHF difference. Even if I don’t need that flat, I can rent it out, and spend some time here or there. That’s why I would aim at buying the flat in Zurich, where there should always be demand from tourists / business people / locals.
I’ve looked through tons of ads and the way I found mine was … a real estate fair organized by the Cantonal Bank, and then asking everyone if they had something to fit my criteria (newbuild flat near the train station).
Well, what you wrote is kind of all over the place: you want to live there, you want to rent it, you don’t know where it should be located, you don’t know how to find one. And according to what I read, there are different criteria to choose a real estate to live yourself and to rent.
I think you’re completely misunderstanding what @Bojack wrote about, he’s trying to compare rental yield on a flat he’d rent to the alternative of owning it - perfectly legit comparison.
That’s what I’m afraid of. the need to put in many hours of effort and asking people around. In the end, how much better was your final price from what you were able to find online? Did you have to wait long until the building was built?
Don’t forget flats can appreciate. Which is the way most people make money off real estate - especially on 5:1 leverage - and not through spread hacking.
In the last rapid run up in the 90s, it fell back to just before the acceleration and took over a decade.
If the same pattern applies, we could see a 30% drop over the next decade or so.
A 30% drop would wipe out your equity and may require a large cash call on top.
In the worst case if you no longer meet criteria for mortgage (or at next renewal) you can be forced to pay off the loan completely or be forced to sell at a loss in the weak market.
I want to live there and make it my residence and my go to place if things went bad during FIRE and I needed to get a job. But I want to have the option to rent it out while it remains my residence and I am abroad.
Zürich city, preferably, so that there is enough demand for it, close to the airport, and there are jobs and services nearby. I want to make this purchase future-proof, so that I don’t have to sell it in a few years.
That’s why I ask. I mean, there are already like 50 new flats in Zurich itself on Homegate to choose from. I just don’t know if that’s the best there is. Or are these flats nor really available?
I think 1% is high for a flat. If it was new, and the furniture was sturdy and simple, how much is it realistically gonna cost to keep it in shape over 20 years? Spending 1,000 every month for maintenance? I rent a flat since 10 years. There might have been some minor repairs in that time, in total it was maybe 1,000 CHF over 10 years. Nothing looks like it needs replacing yet.
Actually, when you own a flat in a block, do they have a special repair fund, or is it already included in the Nebenkosten? Like, if they want to repaint the block after 20 years or sth. Will that cost a lot?
On what basis do you think it is high? How many agreements have you seen for flats in your areas? How many repair cost histories for flats have you looked at?
Do you expect your flat to last only 10 years?
If it was new, and the furniture was sturdy and simple, how much is it realistically gonna cost to keep it in shape over 20 years?
Or even 20 years? Think of the long term cost of ownership. Eventually the roof, heating system and pipework will need to be replaced.
Don’t you think you should know such basics before buying a flat?
This is Switzerland. Take a guess
I’m not trying to be awkward, but just prompt you to think about whether you’ve done the necessary homework to be thinking about spending a 7 figure number on an illiquid asset. and whether your inputs are based on solid hard facts gathered, or just ‘gut feelings’.
I can only really speak from personal experience regarding point 5.
In my opinion, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out locally for signs of upcoming construction projects — in Switzerland, you’ll often see the Bauprofile (building outlines) set up months or even years before actual marketing begins. Once you spot one, it really pays off to proactively contact the developer or the architect listed in the publicly available building permit. That’s how we found out about several new developments early.
In all the cases where we did this, there was a pre-marketing phase for people who had registered their interest in advance — and during that phase, the best apartments (in terms of layout, floor, orientation, etc.) were usually gone within minutes or hours. In contrast, what you later see on platforms like Homegate tends to be what didn’t sell initially — often less ideal units.
So if you’re focused on new builds, going directly to the source early can really make a difference.
But that’s not the only costs of owning. Need to add repairs, additional taxes due to eigenmietwert, opportunity cost of not being able to invest the downpayment in something else.
The runup from 1988 to 1990 was from 100 to 130, and then the drop from 130 back to 100, which is more like 25% than 30%. Currently we’ve seen a runup from 170 in 2020 to 200 in 2025. The reversal to 170 would be a 15% drop. A bigger drop would probably put the entire banking system at risk.
None. Do you have that experience? I’m interested to see what the costs are in a modern flat. The one I live in is from 2013 and I wouldn’t have anything to fix in here after 12 years. I’m not sure about the common areas. Not sure how much the building owner pays for that.
First thing I’d suggest is you do is go request the documentation for all the flats advertised in your area and get the copies of meetings and maintenance history etc.
Alright, I see. How does it work in case of a block of flats? After how many years will they need to replace the heating system and pipework? How will they collect money for it? Does that really add up to 1% per year?
Sure, that’s why I’m here, bro. Don’t hate on me
I would appreciate some first-hand experience from people who bought new flats in the 90s, how much did it cost you to maintain the building?
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