funny comment about switzerland

[tdma800]

I thought it was funny that they make $500,000 a year and still have to rent - mega lol



http://vreaa.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/t ... /#comments
Jeff Murdock | 9 December 2011 at 8:19 am | Reply “There is nothing wrong with being a renter city”
That is true. I know a couple in Lausanne, Switzerland, whose combined income is certainly over $500k. They rent. Many Swiss cities are renter cities.

[RENoob]

quote below taken from the website you posted
btw, isnt the facebook owner also a renter, i bet he makes more than $500k a year, what a sucker tripple mega lol

ZRH2YVR | 10 December 2011 at 8:11 pm |
The Swiss have a very well balanced real estate system. They live in a country with limited land and thus, the ownership and use of land is somewhat regulated and it is an asset to be consumed and not “invested in” or traded. This creates a very very stable market. You’ll see that the value of Swiss real estate has barely gone up in the past 20 years which is not so bad in a country where there has been almost no inflation. However, here are some items that keep their real estate in check.

1.) 80% of people rent. It is an asset to be consumed and it’s value is derived from the rent.
2.) Rent is a factor of property value/interest rates and is controlled and regulated.
3.) 100% of the maintenance risk lies with the tenants. Costs are allocated throughout the year in addition to the base regulated rent. In the event of a major item – it is split up between the tenants.
4.) If you actually own, you can deduct your interest – however- even if you have no mortgage (and thus no deduction) you also have an income inclusion which represents hpyothetical rental income to yourself. You have to impute rent at say 4% of the property value each year. This is added to your income and you pay income tax on it.
5.) Foreign ownership restrictions are everywhere. And Foreigners have restrictions on the real estate that they dispose and they only allowed to sell for a gain in restricted circumstances.

A few other Swiss things to note. The pensions are very very rich and well funded. Up to 30% of your income each year goes into the pension system. Thus – pension funds are massive and retired people are very very wealthy. Where does the pension money go? To own the real estate buildings that people rent – since this is guaranteed and almost riskless cash flow (cash flow is risk reduced because rents are hardwired to property value and the maintenance and repair costs flow to tenants).

Another item is that since all the properties are owned by pension funds and insurance companies, you will never be asked to move – - in fact – most Swiss never move. It is too expensive (when you leave – you must return the property in the original condition you received it – no such thing as normal wear and tear. Plus – your movers are not cheap either – over 100/hour plus equipment rental costs).

All this means that Real Estate fulfills its function of providing housing stock as a consumable. Cities are priced in a rational way and so is real estate. Owning v. renting is not really much different in terms of risk. Vancouver could learn a lot from this. I am a strong advocate of implementing some type of limited foreign ownership restriction. Where you are dealing with a limited resource – you need to have the resource used for the benefit of the operation of the city – and not some type of traded commodity.

[Amadeus]

I was last summer in Zurich.
Real estate is very expensive, if you just look at price.
I saw many apartments between 1.1-1.5 million swiss francs. (1 CHF = 1.2 CAD at that time).
I met a couple, she is a programmer, earns 120,000 a year, he's a bank manager, earns over 200,000 a year.
Minimum wage I heard is 50,000 CHF, unemployment rate is below 2%. Mortgage rates are below 1%.
Nice country, Switzerland

[vanpro]

Relative to incomes, wealth (long-time billionaire tax haven) and general economic performance, sounds dirt cheap compared to Vancouver....

[tdma800]

I was last summer in Zurich.
Real estate is very expensive, if you just look at price.
I saw many apartments between 1.1-1.5 million swiss francs. (1 CHF = 1.2 CAD at that time).
I met a couple, she is a programmer, earns 120,000 a year, he's a bank manager, earns over 200,000 a year.
Minimum wage I heard is 50,000 CHF, unemployment rate is below 2%. Mortgage rates are below 1%.
Nice country, Switzerland

However is there anything you can do there besides work and ski?

[vanpro]

I was last summer in Zurich.
Real estate is very expensive, if you just look at price.
I saw many apartments between 1.1-1.5 million swiss francs. (1 CHF = 1.2 CAD at that time).
I met a couple, she is a programmer, earns 120,000 a year, he's a bank manager, earns over 200,000 a year.
Minimum wage I heard is 50,000 CHF, unemployment rate is below 2%. Mortgage rates are below 1%.
Nice country, Switzerland

However is there anything you can do there besides work and ski?

Your're kidding, right?

Yes, Switzerland is a dump country w/ nothing to do, no Michelin star restaurants, truly word class hotels and Alpine resorts, the most exclusive private schools where only the richest billionaires and celebrity children attend, some of the best medical and dental care money can buy (i.e. again due to multi-millionaire and billionaire demand), low crime etc....

[tdma800]

no i'm not kidding. would you want to live there if you had a job making $200,000 a year? - i wouldn't.

[metalhead]

Says the dumb ass who has to ask if there is anything to do there.
I've been to Switzerland. I'd have no problem living there. Great place and centrally located to travel Europe easily.

[tdma800]

Says the dumb ass

Takes 1 to know 1

[rofina]

I was last summer in Zurich.
Real estate is very expensive, if you just look at price.
I saw many apartments between 1.1-1.5 million swiss francs. (1 CHF = 1.2 CAD at that time).
I met a couple, she is a programmer, earns 120,000 a year, he's a bank manager, earns over 200,000 a year.
Minimum wage I heard is 50,000 CHF, unemployment rate is below 2%. Mortgage rates are below 1%.
Nice country, Switzerland

However is there anything you can do there besides work and ski?

Your're kidding, right?

Yes, Switzerland is a dump country w/ nothing to do, no Michelin star restaurants, truly word class hotels and Alpine resorts, the most exclusive private schools where only the richest billionaires and celebrity children attend, some of the best medical and dental care money can buy (i.e. again due to multi-millionaire and billionaire demand), low crime etc....

Seriously?

Are you really going to dignify that dweeb with a response? You have to use grade school logic on people like this, ignore and hope he goes away.

[registered]

You have to use grade school logic on people like this, ignore and hope he goes away.

You should do everything in your power to encourage free and open expression of every thought. I learned much about what makes the Vancouver market unique from them.

[vanpro]

Seriously?

Are you really going to dignify that dweeb with a response? You have to use grade school logic on people like this, ignore and hope he goes away.

You're right - ignoring him is best response.

[tdma800]

http://community.justlanded.com/en/Swit ... witzerland

I have to agree with many of you. Switzerland is a boring country with many boring people. They are very selfish and very ignorant about other cultures. They think they live in the best country in the world and that is because they are a bunch of paysants livig with cows and they have not been out of their country to get to know other people with other cultures. In fact you see more cows in Switzerland than people. They hate everybody. I lived there for 4 years and I hated it. Lots of descrimination againts almost everybody who is not swiss. The poor africans are treated worst than animals. The swiss are very arrogant with very high rate of suicide . In fact I would have commtte suicid if I stayed there longer. In my opinion, Switzerland is very clean mental hospital for people with very serious mental problems. Do NOT go there if you are a normal person.
They claim they are the best democrcy in the world. Incorrect, the democracy there works or the Swiss ONLY an nobody else!!! JIM

[thinktom]

http://community.justlanded.com/en/Switzerland/forum/Why-is-it-so-hard/Boring-Switzerland

I have to agree with many of you. Switzerland is a boring country with many boring people. They are very selfish and very ignorant about other cultures. They think they live in the best country in the world and that is because they are a bunch of paysants livig with cows and they have not been out of their country to get to know other people with other cultures. In fact you see more cows in Switzerland than people. They hate everybody. I lived there for 4 years and I hated it. Lots of descrimination againts almost everybody who is not swiss. The poor africans are treated worst than animals. The swiss are very arrogant with very high rate of suicide . In fact I would have commtte suicid if I stayed there longer. In my opinion, Switzerland is very clean mental hospital for people with very serious mental problems. Do NOT go there if you are a normal person.
They claim they are the best democrcy in the world. Incorrect, the democracy there works or the Swiss ONLY an nobody else!!! JIM

Omg. We were in Switzerland last summer, stayed with some old friends for half of it. Fantastic place. Amazing community centers for families (w outdoor patio bars lol). Massive push on education and culture. The people were some of the friendliest we have ever met. The different languages everyone spoke were a pleasure to listen to and learn. Travelled across from Zurich, Interlaken, Lucerne, Basel...,

Incidently, our friends are architects in Basel and listening to their real estate stories was amazing. Owning a home in a decent neighbourhood is an investment that few ever let go.

[Austin]

You can only do this sort of thing in a homogenous nation where everyone has to server time in the army.

Multicultural / melting pots are too complex and have too many cultures which do not have the mutual trust and respect to make a system like this work.