Swiss Real Estate

We've been looking for our next home for several months now.

It all started as a bit of dream to finally get our French home.  Before arriving in Basel, we were already on the hunt for that perfect home (whilst laughing at the ridiculous nature (design/price) of the Swiss real-estate).

We were determined that all the reasons to live in France were good:
- good health care;
- good school and preschool system (and affordable);
- comparatively affordable housing (i.e. in-demand areas approximately 1/2 the price of the Swiss counterpart);
- possible lower taxes;
- earning CHF while spending in Euros (current economic factors);
- French way of living;
- French food & drink

Well, the things we didn't take into consideration were:
- taxes in an additional country;
- it's not easy to live in a country you're not earning in (tax wise & legal implications);
- social isolation of a village in France vs. excellent expat factor in a multi-national place like Basel;
- Basel is CONVENIENT;
- Once you're in the Swiss system, it flows smoothly.  Dividing yourself over countries essentially puts you at a loss in so many aspects important to us except maybe financially.

So then we toyed with the idea of purchasing in Switzerland. Cough cough ~ it's outrageous:
 - People price property how they want (not value since the economy is so stable) and wait and wait, and wait and wait. They don't care how long it takes to sell.  It has no bearing on value or state of (ill) repair;
- Downpayment can be prohibitively expensive (20% or more);
 - purchase is more of a long term life style choice rather than an investment;
- and the design of most places is.... well foreign to anything I know to be right and practical and good.

For example:
- 2 washrooms should not be placed right next to each other unless they service completely different areas.  The way we've often seen it laid out, you can pick a toilet when the time comes as they are right next to each other.  "Eeny-meeny-miny-mo" style. It seems that plumbing would be the only practical reason to put them near each other.  Then there is some other funny stuff:
- having bedrooms off the dining or living room seems... impractical much like having a bedroom off the kitchen... And if we're going to do an ensuite w/c, for pities sake, put the door to the w/c in the bedroom, not in the hall outside the room.  Otherwise, by definition, it is NOT an ensuite!
- front door into living room...
- bathroom with balcony...
I digress.

And like I mentioned before, people price how they want - if they feel sentimental about a kitchen they've had while raising their children 2 generations prior, so be it.  It's still going to cost you!  And it doesn't mean you get a good deal on the house, renovate and eventually recoup your investment.  Unless you're really lucky.

And since design is so random here that the chances are, you WILL need to renovate after paying full price for a shall I say... a shabby? house.

Once you've purchased and renovated your house to your liking you now have the privilege of paying real taxes on the imaginary rental income you would earn if you would rent the entire property out (even if you're living in it, paying your first mortgage* and have zero tenants to share your burden).

Lastly, since we're not Swiss we'd have to sell our property within a year if we left the country.  This is not necessarily easy if you want to recoup the purchase price (and remember, you're not likely to make a profit) especially selling "quickly" in a chilled-out market.

So, Switzerland, we've been deterred from ownership.  For now.

In conclusion, we're like everyone else looking and looking for that perfectly balanced rental.  A funny market in it's own right.  Like many rental markets there are quirks. You have to note though, that no matter how modern and cool an apartment is, design is still everything.  The new places are just as liable as an old place to be ugly or poorly laid out or simply poorly designed in its entirety.  Such a strange waste!  Note: there are some nicer gems - we simply can't afford it (or they're geographically inconvenient).

We have found a couple of places we like (weighing drawbacks against each other) and will probably make a decision soon.  Perhaps once we've been here for a while, after we get the lay of the land (Basel Land to be precise) we will consider purchase.   We'll see!

*Housing can be so expensive that in order to pay a reasonable monthly mortgage it's common to have a second mortgage and a "third pillar" an RRSP type investment.  It works, it's just different than we're used to.  Your mortgage is amortized over 25 years**.  You pay reasonable, regular payments and any surplus you have goes into the tax sheltered third pillar.  When you hit retirement age, you've paid your 1st mortgage and you can probably pay off your 2nd mortgage with the 3rd pillar investment.  So essentially, you are doubling-up your mortgage payments monthly and 50% is held in a tax sheltered investment.

**A good thing: When you negotiate your mortgage period (25 years) it stays at 25 years.  Interest rates can change or be renegotiated over time, but your amortization horizon won't change.  This means you don't pay as much interest as when constantly re-negotiating the amortization period of your mortgage as it's done in North America.  Thanks again Banks.

Simply Alexander

Things I love about Alexander:
- locks himself in the play pen when he wants to play alone
- pretends to drink from a toy cup. He blows air into it as if he's dusting it first.
- helps me with laundry: taking things out of the machine as I put them in. Or taking them off the rack after I've hung them.
- lies in heaps of clothing, blankets or pillows or simply rests his head on the floor to be adorable!
-unilaterally decides something is garbage and puts it in the bin i.e. socks from the drying rack (above).
- plays hide-and-go-seek really well. That's right! Not peek-a-boo! (well that too).
- likes to race towards us (in his foot-propelled car) and crash into a hug.
- talks to me
- listens to me (sometimes)
- he smiles a lot!
- when he sneaks up and tickles my foot, my leg or my side.


Things I don't love, but deal with as lovingly as possible:
- where does all that booger come from?
- helps clean the floor: eating crumbs, sock lint and dust what-have-its from the floor
- reaches up and arches his back when he doesn't want to be held as it makes him slippery.
- he slaps, scratches and bites
- throws a violent and vicious tantrum! Who said terrible two's? I think Alex is advanced by a year. Either that or I 'ain't seen nothing yet'
- when he rolls around on the change table at any given stage of being cleaned.

Fun in the snow!

We had a nice day hiking and tobogganing today. Monika, E, Alex and I took a gondola up Kandersteg in southern Switzerland. Early in the tobogganing adventure the combination of walking slowly along a diagonal slope and the lack of weight on the tobbogn (Alex) meant Alex took a tip onto his side. Fortunately, he was mostly startled and not hurt. Thank goodness! Anyway, he was really cool when we tobogganed down the hill at (controlled) higher speeds. We had an easy hike (while pulling Alex along) to a cabin by an iced-over lake called Oeschinensee. There, we stopped for a nice cosy lunch.

After lunch we walked on the lake avoiding the abandoned ice-fishing holes. Meanwhile, Alex completely passed out for almost an hour in the toboggan!!! We mummified his head to keep his face warm.

We trekked back - mostly uphill, to our starting point where we enjoyed some end-of-day-sunshine, with tea and chocolate before leaving.

It was excellent to get out on such a beautiful, mild and sunny day. I thought, "The sky can't be this blue, even with a polarizer!!!" By the time we were leaving Alex's feet were a bit cold but he was a happy chatter box in the warm car in traffic on the way home.

Crazy Basel

We've arrived in Basel.  As usual things are down to the wire.  Barely enough time to arrive and we're already on the go.  We arrived in Basel to our temporary accommodations and completed tons of paperwork.  Then we headed to Zürich.

We spent New Years in Zürich with Fred and Vivi.  We had a very nice time eating, catching-up and exploring the city together in the rain.  On New Year's Eve day we explored Zürich and went out for a delicious lunch.  We decided to pick-up some Champagne, wine, cheese and bread for dinner in the hotel room (while putting Alex to sleep) and then went to a hill-top spot (the University) to watch the fireworks at mid-night.  I was a bit stressed about bringing Alex out to a noisy party in the middle of the night and in the cold rain.  And as expected, he did wake up with a fire work burst but then his father held him and hushed him back to sleep.  We were able to watch the whole show and enjoy our Champagne midnight celebrations while Alex continued to sleep.  I guess this is what you do when you don't have baby sitting!!  On the 1st we took Fré and Vivi to the the biggest falls in Europe (volume).  Alex LOVED it!! Yes, he's a real water boy!! I think Fré and Vivi did too!  All in all, it was great to spend time with the two of them here on our side of the "pond".

We returned to Basel.  Since we've arrived it's rained every day at some point or another.  It's been pretty mild, and I don't really mind rain, so it hasn't stopped my explorations.  Today was the ultimate day for rain and stormy weather.

Our building has shutters and at 7am I thought it was a bit odd that I could hear non-stop shutter opening by neighbours. Usually I hear one then another open followed by the regular silence.  So after about 45 minutes later and with and E casually mentioning it was a windy day I connected the two.  Ahh... the penny finally dropped: the wind made the shutters shudder!

So Alex and I spent most of the day indoors while the weather was foul.  I decided to go for a walk with him at about 15:00 this afternoon when the weather seemed to clear.  There was a magnificent rainbow and some amazing and fast moving clouds in the opposite direction.

My pot of gold!

As I walked the weather was still moody and temperamental.  Umbrellas turning inside out everywhere made me give up on mine as I decided it was futile.  That and managing it and the stroller can be a challenge.  It was behaving like a sail more than an umbrella...

I found a nice bakery and got a 3 Kings cake for tomorrow (3 Kings day, or the Orthodox Christmas) aka Alexander's 1st birthday.  There were no cupcakes available and with meagre ingredients in our temporary home as of yet, no baking from Mom.  Anyway, I got the cake and when I came out of the bakery it was p-o-u-r-i-n-g.

I decided to return home.  It was about 16:20 and as I was arriving in our apartment complex.  Just then the sky darkened to night, thunder rumbled and lightning cracked... the wind picked up and the rain started to hurl.  Yes, HURL!!! It hurled everything it could at me and Alex.  Then it turned into HAIL!!  So here's me now holding my mushroom shaped umbrella trying to stay vertical when the stroller starts tipping over!! Yes, tipping over.  I put my body on the leeward side of the stroller to keep it standing while trying to keep upright myself.  I managed a peek at Alex to check if he was okay and he was still sleeping but now with a tightly scrunched-up face.  At this point I was stopped about 6 meters from our apartment entrance and someone yelled out from the daycare to offer shelter from the chaos.  A haven!!  But just at that moment the wind and hail subsided for a mere moment, so I ran to our door yelling out "Nein, DANKE!!!" As I found cover indoors.

Holy smokes.  That hasn't happened before!!

Tomorrow is Alexander's 1st birthday.  We will celebrate with 3 King's cake, put him in a crown and have him (try to) blow out a candle.  We are going to give him a set of building blocks - a lifetime of fun!  I'm hoping the cake won't be soggy, although it probably doesn't matters since Alex eats everything.  There is also a high likelihood he'll eat his blocks too.  Haha!!