Guide

Comparing rent against mortgage interest is the wrong calculation. Which costs really count, and how to tell when buying works out for you.

In the countryside you get more house for your money, but the gap shrinks once you count commuting, taxes and resale. How to compare properly.

Lake, taxes, S-Bahn: why the same apartment costs double depending on the municipality, and how to read macro and micro locations like a pro.

Every bank values the property before the mortgage anyway, for free. When your own appraisal is still worth it, and why location drives value harder than the new kitchen.

5 % interest even though mortgages are cheaper? Why the bank calculates that way and what it means for your purchase.

Where the equity may come from, what the pension fund can contribute and what an early withdrawal entails.

The three mortgage models compared: what they cost, which risks they carry and why the choice changes nothing about the affordability calculation.

The second mortgage has to go; the route there is your choice. Why indirect amortisation is often cheaper and where its limits lie.

Hardly anyone ever sees it, yet it costs money at purchase. What the mortgage note is, what it costs and when you can take over the existing one.

From 0 to over 3 % transfer tax: the rates of all 26 cantons, and why Bern has an exception for owner-occupiers.

In a bidding process, what counts is who already has the financing sorted. Which documents the bank wants, how long it takes and what the confirmation is worth.

Heating, damp, noise and paperwork: the points that can get seriously expensive after the purchase.

Paint, kitchen, bathroom: the first renovation almost always comes. What it costs, how much you should hold back and what taxes have to do with it.

Oil out, insulation in: with an older house, the energy renovation belongs in the purchase calculation. How to read the condition and what the federal government and the cantons pay.

Community of heirs, buying out siblings, deferred property gains tax: what really happens financially with an inherited house and which deadlines matter.