we're a couple close to our mid-40-ies and living in Dublin with our kids, wishing to move to Switzerland. Nothing set in stone yet and we're really looking for some advice, please.
1. Jobs: data analyst in banking and embedded systems expert with PhD and 15+ years of experience. Would that be viable to find jobs considering current situation with Covid-19? Could anyone probably advise on the salary range (we did our research but there is a big difference in range).
2. Property: is it better to rent or to buy, say, in St.Louis or any other border place close enough to the work location? We would love to buy our own place and considering that the most jobs are at least partially remote these days, would that be a good option to start with? Or is it better to invest these money in Irish property (we don't own any yet) as a backup and rent in Switzerland for a while saving for a new deposit?
Thanks in advance, any opinions greatly appreciated.
You need to drop the home ownership mindset if you want to come here. It's not like Dublin where the chattering middle classes are desperate to let you know that they took out a EUR 2 m mortgage to buy some hole in the ground in D4. Best to rent for a few years to decide (i) if you like Switzerland and can see yourself staying here long term, and (ii) what kind of options are open to you given your income/budget. The vast majority of Swiss rent for life so being a perpetual renter (which would mark you out as a loser in the Anglo Saxon world) is not uncommon here.
On the comp front, salaries in large corporations here depend on whether or not you manage a team. If you can get a job as a team leader/manager you can get a job in a bank paying in the >150k range. If you are just an employee in a team you are probably looking in the 110-140k range (depends on skills/demand/supply/your negotiating skills).
No problem to ask... but for such generic questions, the job sites and the property sites will provide the answers.
Plenty of expats with families that landed jobs in Basel chose to buy houses in nearby French towns.. the downsides are French tax, fewer locals speaking English, kids go to French schools learn French and then struggle to get lucrative jobs in Basel (long term problem !)
No idea what a data analyst salary is but the rule of thumb should be a minimum 30% increase on your current salary to take in the Swiss cost of living.
Both countries have inflated bubble like property prices so if you don’t have a House to sell in Dublin or a sugar Daddy hard to come up with a Swiss deposit for somewhere to buy. The positives to renting in Switzerland is the the rental market is regulated unlike the Wild West scenario in Ireland.
Living standard and quality of life is higher than Dublin in my opinion when you consider housing,healthcare, transport, crime etc. Traffic in Dublin would drive you crackers, that alone would make me stay in Switzerland rather than head back to the old sod.
Of course education is another issue if you have kids.
We’ve saved a substantial deposit and are mortgage approved here in Ireland.
Prior to that Covid thing we had a plan to buy and rent out, so we could have our own place to come back to...it’s not so clear now but if we leave Ireland we’re probably going to loose our mortgage approval. Sure, renting first in Switzerland or close to it, the question is if we should still buy in Ireland before we leave or keep that money and use them to buy in Sw./border towns later.
You need a 20% deposit in Switzerland, have you looked at how much a Swiss property of the size and in the area you would want costs? Will your savings cover 20%?
In Ireland, if you rent it, do you need to change to a buy-to-let mortgage?
AnRy, there is a long process to get a job here unlike in Dublin where you may find a data analyst job in couple of weeks. So best thing is find a job and then relocate to Switz. Most of the jobs unless there is a specific requirements not to grant access from outside Switz are outsourced here in top big companies. Salary would easily range 120-150k depending on your skills and negotiating power. BTW I was living in D14/16
Of course it’s better to rent here for at least 2-3 years as in my experience of moving around a lot everywhere has a honeymoon period and the Swiss are not always the easiest especially when you come from Ireland the is very social and the Craic is up to ninety. I know plenty of Irish that love it here but plenty that couldn’t hack the Swiss ways and social attitudes so take ur time before taking the plunge and buying something u might regret later.