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Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

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Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#61

Post by charlesdm »

marklit wrote: post #13
s3nnyy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here: I heard from people working in hotels that some expensive ones loose millions each year but wealthy people from Arab countries who own them don't care.

Their assets in Switzerland would be priced in CHF. It could be a good diversification from USD-priced assets they have at home. There was a single-day 30% pop in CHF a few years back.

That generally also has an immediate negative effect on higher end property prices, though.

The recent decline of sterling is great for foreigners interesten in acquiring London property -- London will always be London, brexit or no brexit. But it just got a lot more interesting for foreigners with businesses (or investments) abroad to relocate there.

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#62

Post by [deleted] »

s3nnyy wrote: post #40
iagooar wrote: post #39

Yeah Switzerland is great as long as you don't have children. Once you get a child, well, you're out of luck. Childcare in Switzerland is the craziest expense I've seen in my life, where having your kid looked after for 5 days a week will cost you 2-2,5k CHF / USD per month! And if you have a second child, they might give you 10% discount. So around 4,5k USD per month for 2 kids. It's madness! Besides that, you will…

OP here. I disagree with everything you said. > having your kid looked after for 5 days2-2,5k CHF / USD per month! Yes but only when your kid is 2-3 years old. After that kindergarten is free. Superb elementary school, high-school is free; and on top Uni-Zurich and ETH, the MIT of Europe, is also almost free (costs like 500$ a semester). > Besides that, you will need to leave your shared apartment and go looking for…

[deleted]

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#63

Post by amclennon »

leejo wrote: post #57
bradleyjg wrote: post #22

For my follow Americans thinking about commenting on this, keep in mind that mortgages vary quite a lot from country to country. The mortgage system we have in the United States--characterized by: domination by the government (in the form of GSEs), long (30 year) fixed rate mortgages with no prepayment penalties, high leverage ratios (up to 19:1 or higher), and low spreads--is not the system used elsewhere. Other cou…

Mortgages in Switzerland can still take on the literal meaning of the word(s), running for 50 or even 100 years with the debtor's pension fund placed as security. FWIW the OP's cost of living figures in the video included in the linked article seem a little low or are assuming best case. Sure you can get health insurance cover at 250.- CHF a month but that will be at the highest franchise (i forget the English word)…

> (i forget the English word) so if you do get sick it's going to cost you 2,500 CHF before the insurance kicks in

I think the word you're looking for is deductible

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#64

Post by robocat »

amclennon wrote: post #63
leejo wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mortgages in Switzerland can still take on the literal meaning of the word(s), running for 50 or even 100 years with the debtor's pension fund placed as security. FWIW the OP's cost of living figures in the video included in the linked article seem a little low or are assuming best case. Sure you can get health insurance cover at 250.- CHF a month but that will be at the highest franchise (i forget the English word)…

> (i forget the English word) so if you do get sick it's going to cost you 2,500 CHF before the insurance kicks in I think the word you're looking for is deductible

In NZ the word is excess e.g. The excess is $500 means the customer pays the first $500 of any claim. I assume deductable is a North American term.

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#65

Post by jldugger »

s3nnyy wrote: post #53
jldugger wrote: post #32

> A financially rational person would consider buying a house if the P/R ratio is 15 or lower. How does one go about calculating that? Or reading someone else's calculations? For real estate prices I can check out the Case-Shiller, for P/R I got nothing.

I linked to that source in the article: http://affordanything.com/2015/11/24/is-renting-better-than-...

Ah, I figured that underline was for emphasis. Sadly your source doesn't cite its own sources.

It's pretty rare to see a home both for sale and for rent, so you'd likely be comparing oranges for sale with apples for rent. A lot of the magic of Case-Shiller is in finding valid comparables over time, so I'm hoping someone has put together a similar time regional series for rents themselves. Maybe not -- it's not like there's a huge market for derivatives on rental properties.

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#66

Post by brianwawok »

robocat wrote: post #64
amclennon wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (i forget the English word) so if you do get sick it's going to cost you 2,500 CHF before the insurance kicks in I think the word you're looking for is deductible

In NZ the word is excess e.g. The excess is $500 means the customer pays the first $500 of any claim. I assume deductable is a North American term.

Correct

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#67

Post by ikeyany »

cgb223 wrote: post #9
marklit wrote: post #7

I would suspect a few of these wealthy foreigners buying property are trying to make sure there wealth is tied up in something their home state cannot take away ownership of. If it depreciates a bit, it's probably fine. 97% of something is better than nothing. I also suspect they have nice stock portfolios already as well.

Makes sense A lot of Chinese nationals are buying property in the states and Canada in order to accomplish the same thing I wonder how this kind of cash parking affects property values?

> I wonder how this kind of cash parking affects property values?

Go look at housing prices in every city on the west coast.

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#68

Post by gnaritas »

jacalata wrote: post #49
gnaritas wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call not giving special privileges to home owners over renters unfriendly, I'd call it neutral and fair.

They didn't say it was unfriendly, they said it was not friendly. So, neutral.

That's a distinction without a difference, they mean the same thing. Not friendly does not imply neutral, it implies not friendly. If I said don't walk through that neighborhood it's not friendly, you would not interpret that as saying it's neutral.

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#69

Post by minikomi »

cgb223 wrote: post #9
marklit wrote: post #7

I would suspect a few of these wealthy foreigners buying property are trying to make sure there wealth is tied up in something their home state cannot take away ownership of. If it depreciates a bit, it's probably fine. 97% of something is better than nothing. I also suspect they have nice stock portfolios already as well.

Makes sense A lot of Chinese nationals are buying property in the states and Canada in order to accomplish the same thing I wonder how this kind of cash parking affects property values?

Is it possible to create "real estate" which is basically geared towards this kind of thing?

Eg. a large vertical block of tiny, tiny rooms which are just good enough to be livable, but with extremely expensive components.. designed to be parked and traded and never lived in.

Re: Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks

#70

Post by unlmtd1 »

s3nnyy wrote: post #40
iagooar wrote: post #39

Yeah Switzerland is great as long as you don't have children. Once you get a child, well, you're out of luck. Childcare in Switzerland is the craziest expense I've seen in my life, where having your kid looked after for 5 days a week will cost you 2-2,5k CHF / USD per month! And if you have a second child, they might give you 10% discount. So around 4,5k USD per month for 2 kids. It's madness! Besides that, you will…

OP here. I disagree with everything you said. > having your kid looked after for 5 days2-2,5k CHF / USD per month! Yes but only when your kid is 2-3 years old. After that kindergarten is free. Superb elementary school, high-school is free; and on top Uni-Zurich and ETH, the MIT of Europe, is also almost free (costs like 500$ a semester). > Besides that, you will need to leave your shared apartment and go looking for…

Sorry to break it to you, sir/mam, but nothing is free.
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