Sent you a message

Hi Martin

A good friend, Jean-Marie, is a mortgage broker in Geneva for Credit Agricole. He was previously based in Haute Savoie so knows the cross border issues well. He is French but fluent English speaker from education in the US.

PM me if you want his contact details.

Regards

Sam

Woodhouse Carpentry & Custom Furniture

www.wood-house.ch

Speak with Aymeric from Allianz Insurance (he's dedicated to glocals members). He's not a broker, but he was able to provide the lowest rate for several people I know. 

Aymeric Brossard <[email protected]>

hi, why not?

I earn in CHF, and taking EUR would mean exposing myself to potential future rise of euro (ie to previous levels) and hence steep hike in my monthly payments.

Or you mean take a french bank instead of a Swiss one?

(I am not an expert, those are honest questions :))

thank you

Hi,

sorry for late reply. What you mention are valid concerns, but there is other view on them.

Why I want CHF mortgage - I "lock" my situation, monthly payments will be predictable, no nasty, nor great surprises. Stability. With current exchange rate, which is still ridiculously low compared to... basically anytime.

EURO mortgage - swings up & down, nervosity. How much does a peace of mind costs? Mine quite a bit... I am not a nervous person, and do not enjoy being one. Locking a currency forward for 1 year has llittle meaning for somebody talking about 25-year mortgage.

If CHF will get stronger than EURO, long term, that is not a catastrophe for me, but a blessing (job security ignored for simplicity, since there is no real job security anyway). It means all my other earnings, which are much more than just some holiday apartment mortgage downpayments, are appreciating on global scale. And my fiancee's earnings are doing the same (we don't live in Bern or Zurich, euro strength has real effect on how much one can buy).

On the other hand, if CHF will get weaker, it's at least not such a massive clusterf**k for my finances, since this apartment will be a +-stable cash flow, and this one will become a really good investment (maybe :))

So that's my simplistic view. Maybe flawed one, but to me it makes sense. If you see a big hole in my logic, I am more than happy to learn it :)

Thank you all for feedback!