Property purchase - adviser recommendations - Geneva or Valais

Accomodation, House and Garden
1
Hello

My wife and I are thinking of buying a property and have various questions we need answers to before making a decision. Most likely the property will be in Geneva or Valais.

Does anyone have a recommendation for an adviser (we’re not even sure which kind of adviser (lawyer? Estate agent? Accountant? Etc)) we could speak to to understand our options?

Any recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks

GVA

2
It is nearly impossible to get unbiased advice - certainly not free unbiased advice. In my experience banks are only concerned they don't lose their money - and little else.

But here's my unbiased free advice:

select the area(s) you want to live and get to know as much as possible about property there. Check Homegate and others. Get on their email list to get first info of new ads.

Become an expert and spot the problem properties as well as gems. This took me about two years before I moved...

3
Not sure why you need an advisor

We had no clue what we were doing when we bought our place. We looked around for places we were interested in, once we had a few options of places to buy, we took all the details to our bank to see if we would be given a mortgage.

Once the mortgage was approved in principle, we made an offer, then the sellers estate agent sorted everything else for us. They talked to the lawyer, bank, property offices etc. We really did nothing.

4
I can understand that a newby buying property for the first time, or for the first time in Switzerland, one might well want professional advice - even for a fee. From what you write, it sounds as if you really struck it lucky, with all the parties working cooperatively, and no snags in the process.

OP, here's another thread with some perspectives, and caveats from Meloncollie.

https://www.englishforum.ch/housing-...ate-agent.html

5
When we were looking for a property, one very good friend of ours who is an insurance and investment specialist told us not to buy in the Valais- which he believes will be very seriously affected by crumbling/climate change.

6
Don’t seek advice from a Swiss Estate Agency. Their only interest is their commission. Avoid them like Covid.

7

This wholly useless and not what I asked for. No need to respond if you don’t have a recommendation for a specialist.

8
Wow!!

9

It worked pretty much the same for us when we bought here some years ago. We found a property we liked and could afford, I contacted the estate agent to arrange viewings, we made an offer which was accepted and then the estate agent sorted it all out for us. Only stipulation we made was the public notary would need to speak English and we had a very good one who went through the sales contract paragraph by paragraph for all parties to make sure we all understood it. We asked for a few changes which were done on the spot after the seller agreed to them before we signed the contract.

10
Sad that you can’t see good advice when it’s given... The advice shared by AbFab’s is exactly how we did our homework. Many places don’t even get advertised on Homegate - the agents send emails to prospective buyers before advertising on Homegate.

If you need some help with the mechanics of buying a house in CH, look no further than here. I learnt a lot about the way things work here (completely different to UK & NL) when trawling EF. We also got a lot of helpful advice from our bank.

Good luck with your search - and remember kindness and gratitude go a long way

11
Its a bit vague the question

1. You want advice on the properties on the market, areas to buy, valuations

2. You want advice on the mechanics of buying, the steps, the hoops

3. You want advice on the loan, lending, why financially its interesting

4. All of the above/none of the above

Start the process. Ask to meet some banks and see what they are saying, what advice they can offer you and whats possible with your situation. If nothing else its somehow educational and you'll get a free coffee.

Do some maths yourselves. How much you can spend initially and per month, and where does that put you.

Arranging some viewings and ask the agents some of your questions

And ask friends or colleagues, you know who have bought, some of your questions.

Collate all of that info, have a read on here and other websites and you'll be in a good way to have the unbiased advice you seek.

From personal experience this is how we did it. From knowing nothing/not much about buying last March to May time frame to finding a place, a mortgage and closing the deal on a property at the end of October