Buy with Crowdhouse | Purchasing options and tips

Crowdhouse is the online platform, that allows you to buy Swiss income properties efficiently and with as little effort as possible. In this episode of How to Real Estate, we take a look at what you as a buyer, need to understand and do to put yourself in the best possible position to successfully purchase an income property on Crowdhouse.

Opportunities with Crowdhouse

First of what you Can’t buy are: owner-occupied homes, single-family or semi-detached houses, villas, courtyards or individual flats. As a transactional platform, Crowdhouse concentrates exclusively on investment properties. By this we mean entire apartment buildings with several units, commercial and industrial properties as well as suitable building land.

Purchase Options

You can purchase properties on Crowdhouse either alone or with other investors. In sole ownership, Crowdhouse offers you select exclusive properties. These are properties that have been analysed, valued and had their condition checked, on site by our experts and for which the purchase price has been pre-negotiated in advance. On the other hand, our platform also allows the purchase of properties in sole ownership, which are offered directly by their owner or a commissioned broker. Properties in sole ownership are offered either at a fixed price or in a bidding process. Properties offered in a bidding process are marked with this symbol.

Co-ownership investment

In addition to sole ownership, Crowdhouse is also the largest Swiss provider for the brokerage of co-ownership investment properties. Within the co-ownership model, you acquire an income property together with other investors. All the properties we offer for co-ownership are analysed and valued by our experts beforehand and their condition is checked on site. The purchase price as well as the external financing are pre-negotiated and contractually secured in advance.

Legal requirements

If you would like to purchase a property on Crowdhouse, it is important to clarify in advance whether or not this is even legally possible. The purchase of Swiss residential real estate is regulated. This is mainly due to the so-called “Lex Koller”. Summarised this means: Swiss legislation only allows you to purchase residential property if one of the following three cases applies: Either, you have a Swiss passport or, you are an EU or EFTA citizen and have a B or C residence permit with the centre of your day to day life in Switzerland. Or: You are not an EU or EFTA citizen but have a C permit and the centre of your life is in Switzerland. If you do not fulfil any of these criteria, you only have the option of acquiring commercial or business properties. These are not affected by the restrictions of the Lex Koller.

Investment amount

Let’s take a look at the necessary budget and the minimum investment prices on Crowdhouse. The purchase of co-ownership shares is possible on Crowdhouse as of CHF 100’000. Properties in sole ownership are available from a price of CHF 1 million upwards, but often have purchase prices of several million francs. If you’re considering purchasing an investment property, it is important that you get an idea in advance of just how much of your investment capital, you would like to spend on it.

Investment horizon

The investment horizon also plays an essential role. With directly held real estate, a long investment horizon is decisive. Therefore, for the acquisition of an investment property, you ideally use capital that you do not have to fall back on in the short or medium term. If you really want to acquire an income property, the willingness to commit your capital for such long periods is crucial.

Account creation

Crowdhouse is a closed platform. The basic requirement to become active on our platform is the creation of an account. You can create a personal account at any time easily and without obligation. All we need is your name, an email address and a telephone number. You can then log in to our platform whenever you want.

Identify verification

To qualify as a buyer on our platform, you must verify your identity. This step is important in order to effectively complete the transaction of a property. To verify your identity, simply upload a valid form of identification – either a Swiss passport or ID or residence permit B or C. Once verification is complete, this will be indicated by an icon in your account.

Buyer profile

The choice of income properties is large and not every property will fit your criteria. Therefore, it is important that you determine – for yourself – what type of property you are looking for. Various parameters can play a role. Such as: the type of property, the location, the condition, your investment goals or your investment horizon. You can define these criteria and more in your personal buyer profile, within your user account. A detailed buyer profile is the best prerequisite for the efficient acquisition of a yielding property. The more precise your profile, the easier it is for Crowdhouse to find the right property for you.

Personal contact

In addition to the possibility of creating your own buyer profile independently, we recommend that you talk to one of our advisors. For this purpose, you will be contacted by our team by telephone in the foreseeable future after creating an account. Such a conversation is important and enormously helpful for both sides. It serves to evaluate your needs as a buyer and to define your buyer profile as precisely as possible, thus, laying the foundation for the most efficient transaction with minimum effort.

Crowdhouse newsletter

We inform prospective buyers when new properties are published on Crowdhouse, via e-mail. To ensure that you are also automatically informed about the latest properties, we recommend that you subscribe to our newsletter. You can always specify by yourself what kind of properties you would like to be informed about.

Funding statement

In the case of properties offered for sale in sole ownership, the bid is usually accepted by the buyer who can provide the proof of financing the quickest. Investment properties are usually acquired with the help of a mortgage. In order to have the best possible starting position in a transaction, it is therefore worthwhile to contact your mortgage bank in advance in order to be able to provide the corresponding proof of financing as quickly as possible.

Crowdhouse events

The acquisition of an investment property – whether in sole or co-ownership, is a big decision and involves many considerations. We’re sure you still have many unanswered questions in this regard. An easy way to discuss these questions and get to know us personally is at our regular information events. We hold corresponding events on various topics both on site and online. You can find all current events online at any time at www.crowdhouse.com/events.