Thanks for all the thoughts and comments. We are currently paying a very high rent in Thurgau and have been for a number of years. Owning will reduce that monthly payment significantly especially as we are not looking at properties over 800K.
Language is an issue as neither of us are fluent French speakers but my school French isn't bad. My husband's school German has gone from basic to a strong B level just from casual interaction in shops etc. I find that i am able to communicate and understand at least half of what the estate agents are saying on viewings. The rest is deciphered with a bit of German and their school English. Overall our attempts have been praised and encouraged. We feel confident that we will master the language quickly living in a French speaking area especially as we intend to take classes too.
So far having lived in Switzerland for nearly 8 years now we have been very blessed with neighbours. We landed in a tiny village with barely any German to find half the village spoke English! We are now in our 3rd rental in another tiny village and each time have had great neighbours and locals. We spend as much of our weekends as possible driving around Jura and walking around villages we are interested in, going into shops etc. So far, lots of smiles and bonjours, been doing this since October and had only one grumpy incident in a snow storm in Jura Bernois which was understandable as we were equally as grumpy!
The thing which confuses us in Jura are the sales dossiers which show house values as significantly lower than the asking prices. Friends who have bought in Thurgau and Zurich have not had this experience. Also shocked to see how run down and filthy a lot of places are even at the higher end of price range we are looking in.
Now I'm investigating Radon! Hadn't heard of it until reading a comment on this post.
Radon is part of life for huge regions, and not just in the Jura, or Switzerland. But yes... and there are many ways houses can be made safer.
One part of the Jura which is very nice is the area in Vaud above Yverdon, with magnificent views of Lake Neuchâtel and the all the Alps. And with fast access to Yverdon, and the fork to Lausanne or Bern, or Neuchâtel ...St Croix even has a lovely train to and from Yverdon.
Villages including Mauborget, Bullet, Les Rasses and St Croix itself.
Going back to the original question - has anyone bought a house in Jura? Yes. We have. In Jura. Not in Jura Bernois, not in the Jura mountains in southern CH or indeed in France, not in the region of Jura in France either but in Jura, the Canton, here in CH!! We have not been radiated by radon nor shaken by last weekend’s earthquake nor chilled by villagers’ wariness.
Having lived in this Canton for almost 10 years we are used to being quizzed as to where exactly we come from and cannot blame anyone for being confused when the average Swiss person would struggle to put a pin on the map. Recent examples are having the sales assistant in Ikea Pratteln literally shouting that she refused to repeat herself again because no, Ikea Switzerland do NOT deliver to Jura to France (I showed her their own delivery map and our cupboards were duly delivered to Jura CH) and as recently as a couple weeks ago being told after my booster jab in BS that I had to go to the BS Cantonal DR Dept to get my certificate updated as they dealt with renewing certificates where previous jabs were done abroad. «But I was vaccinated twice in CANTON Jura in Switzerland» «no Jura is in France and you have to get your French certificate converted first to a Swiss one - wait - hang on - how did you get a Swiss vaccination certificate.». Errr .. because Canton Jura just 30 km away from here... err...
Which possibly points to Jura being ultimate example of a well kept secret ... although quite who is keeping the secret is unclear as it is not the Jurassiens - who I have found without exception to be warm, inviting and interested.
Property prices are probably the lowest in Switzerland but taxation more than makes up for that. You can’t have it all it would seem yet us (adoptive) Jurassiens do feel we have at least a great part. It may baffle the rest of Switzerland as to who we are or where we actually are situated but a sense of self identity so strong that it persisted through many decades of knock backs to create Switzerland’s youngest Canton means this is not a Canton with a chip on their shoulder.
Oh and also - it is a Canton that is very generous with its voting rights. We had barely moved into our place when thick envelopes arrived with voting papers for Cantonal and local elections. They also have a sensible approach to nationalisation and it is handled by a professional dept at Cantonal level with no grilling by defensive locals at communal meetings.
Thanks ecb for your contribution. Great to hear from someone actually in the canton. I've had mixed responses when mentioning Jura to Swiss and expat friends, in both cases there is usually a long moment of silence while they try to work out exactly what I'm talking about! Can I ask what village/town you are in?
Delémont. As we both commute into Basel for work this location made more sense but my preference was for one of the large older properties in an outlying village and renovate - but the commute became too long. Instead we built and are right on the outskirts backing onto the agricultural/woodland zoned land.
Sounds lovely! The place we are considering needs a big renovation. Please PM me with recommendations for contractors if you have any. An idea of costs would really help us to decide whether or not to proceed.