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Comment by bradleyjg | Hacker News Reader

For my follow Americans thinking about commenting on this, keep in mind that mortgages vary quite a lot from country to country.

The mortgage system we have in the United States--characterized by: domination by the government (in the form of GSEs), long (30 year) fixed rate mortgages with no prepayment penalties, high leverage ratios (up to 19:1 or higher), and low spreads--is not the system used elsewhere. Other countries also tax mortgages and homes differently, and may have far more widespread rent regulations in place.

Rules of thumb and folksy wisdom that was developed in the context of the US system probably won't translate well to a very different one.

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Mortgages in Switzerland can still take on the literal meaning of the word(s), running for 50 or even 100 years with the debtor's pension fund placed as security.

FWIW the OP's cost of living figures in the video included in the linked article seem a little low or are assuming best case. Sure you can get health insurance cover at 250.- CHF a month but that will be at the highest franchise (i forget the English word) so if you do get sick it's going to cost you 2,500 CHF before the insurance kicks in.

1,200.- CHF a month seems low for Zürich, but also high for a single room with no kitchen. I'm paying a little more than that for 3.5 rooms with a kitchen, garage, cave, etc. No, I'm not in Zürich or Genève.

400.- CHF a month on food seems about right if you never eat out at all ever. And sure you can spend as little as 100.- CHF a month on travel, but you're in Switzerland - get out and see a bit of it, go snowboarding/skiing in the winter season.

> (i forget the English word) so if you do get sick it's going to cost you 2,500 CHF before the insurance kicks in

I think the word you're looking for is deductible

In NZ the word is excess e.g. The excess is $500 means the customer pays the first $500 of any claim. I assume deductable is a North American term.

Correct

For instance, Canada (which, despite its resource based economy, is generally seen as fairly similar to the US) has no mortgage interest deduction, doesn't permit mortgages for terms of longer than 5 years (amortization is generally for 25 years but you refinance as a matter of course at least every 5 years), and generally provinces are more tenant-friendly than the most tenant friendly US states (e.g. California) with things such as limiting rent increases based on government inflation figures. The tax rules around exempting capital gains from the sale of a primary residence are also different in Canada - more generous but also with more stringent requirements.

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