Your interest-only mortgage is usually at a set (fixed or variable) rate over a fixed term. At the end of that term you are free to renegotiate, move it to another lender, change the term, whatever you want. Including paying some of it off.
We did this at the beginning of last year (the initial five year term being completed) - we’d borrowed a certain amount before we sold our previous property, thinking that we would need the money from that for improvements, which in the end we were able to pay for out of income, so after careful consideration we decided to reduce the mortgage by about a third.
You can’t easily make regular payments on an interest-only loan, and may be penalised if you want to do so before the end of its term, but if, for example, you only take it out for one-year terms then at each end-of-year renewal you’re free to pay off however much you like.
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We were very determined - a house with garden close to Lausanne with a budget of an average single-income family with kids.
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If you need flexibility, you can also get flexible loans that allow for repayments.
An opportunity you couldn’t miss, I get that! Good for you!
I think many people grow a bit desperate when they realise they have been looking for years for a suitable home and the reality is that if you have specific requirements you’re not willing to ditch (and of course a limited budget), there are simply not so many houses for sale to begin with. That’s why some owners behave as if they hold the holy grail not an apartment (or house) they too have bought from someone else (a company, usually) and didn’t build with their own hands or anything like this.
Like probably everyone else here, I know many Swiss people who have bought a house, but my closest Swiss friends have never even considered buying. I had to remind them they come from Swiss middle-class families (teachers, musicians etc) and they’ll inherit lots of things here. None of my friends own a car either - there’s always their mom’s or their dad’s car to borrow if they need one, so their views are of course quite a bit different than ours. They appreciate more the freedom of not having mortgages, loans etc.
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The biggest differennce in affordability that people don’t think about is inflation. Esp. with a fixed rate mortgage, increasing nominal wages inflate away the value of the debt. This has been a big boon in Switzerland in recent years due to the availability of cheap medium maturity loans (though there were some deflationary years recently). In the UK, high interest rates offset some of the wage inflation but nominal value of debt has been substantially eroded particularly if you invested in international (non-£) assets.
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I wouldn’t call it „hunger games“ - more like a beauty pageant.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to do that.
Ok, I once applied for a rental apartment where you had to put some motivational words in a form.
I wrote a short “motivation letter” (words) plus presentation i.e. CVs kind of thing once (as suggested by a nice agent)…sans family pictures though 
…and for a house I thought it was worthwhile; unfortunately I think they preferred the highest bidder. 
I figured we couldn’t really compete with the other ten or twelve bidders in that area. It really is something of a “lottery”.
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after two years of looking last year I singed the contract for my first flat. I moved into the flat a month ago, it was one of the reason why some people at the end decided against giving offer, since the owner then wasn’t sure when he will be able to move (it depended on finishing his new flat).
I at the I have choosen something that wasn’t on my list and I am currently really happy about it.
my monthly payment is less then it would be renting such flat. around 25% which is a lot in a long term and with rent prices going up still…
I took 3 years fixed rate.
I plan next year to write the will so that it is clear what should be done with the flat in case…(since I am not married and have no children). I look at it - investment for pension time when I plan to return back home (current thinking).
and yes, I got EU B permit. no problems with buying in BE canton.
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Congratulations! I hope you have a lot of fun settling in.
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yes I am. thanks!
first time am I in no rush to make everthing perfect at once. Need to think about tax returns for investement in it, so I have decided one step after another.
because I wanted to wait for “Grundbuchamt” some paper that should come in cca 3 months (according to the info from “notar”).
let’s stay positive. lot of plans this year, but mainly staying in CH so all will be good…
Yes, it is better that way, you live in it and learn what you want. In the current house I had many pre-conceived notions of what I wanted to change to be able to live in it. The reality was very different: a lot of stuff I thought would change hasn’t (more likely deferred a few years) and other stuff was done instead.
Indeed. I’d change very, very little in my apartment.
In fact, the only thing I did was have the network rewired (was all 4-wire ISDN) to CAT6e.
The kitchen, while a bid oldish is still very good (apart from the stove) and I have trouble imagining a much better layout. I could redo the kitchen but it would look mostly the same but I’d be out 50k…
There’s a plan to put Solar panels on the roof early next year - that’s gonna cost a bundle.
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