A collection of valuable tips on where you should buy your Ticino home

Sometimes you will find surprising constructions and unusual building materials being used.

These stairs lead to a nice house, but accessibilty can be highlighted as a issue. Fortunately there is an elevator...

Use YouTube.com to look around in Ticino:

How to best get to Ticino?

From the north by car through either the Gotthard Tunnel or the San Bernardino Tunnel.
From the south by car via Milan, Italy.
By Air directly to Lugano (Agno) Airport with Swiss (if you book a couple of weeks in advance they will offer you attractive fares)
Fly to Milan Malpensa Airport. Then use the Malpensa Express bus service that runs every 2 hours up to 7 times per day between Lugano and Malpensa Airport. Although Malpensa has a trainstation there is no direct line to Lugano. In all cases you need to use ground transportation to get to the Milano Centrale or the Milano Porta Garibaldi trainstations. From there trains depart every hour to Lugano. This trainservice requires a reservation.
Fly to Bergamo Milan "Orio al Serio" Airport and rent a car there.

When you enter Ticino through the Gotthard Tunnel at the North this "24 by 7" worker will be greeting you!

Step 3: Searching for your new (holiday) home

This can be quite a challenge. A lot of properties are listed on the internet through various real estate brokers, but locating them through the search engines can be problematic especially if you use English terms. Furthermore it frequently happens that the best and nicest properties are not listed or have dedicated sites that are difficult to find. If a premium real estate owner can sell his or her property silently without expensive marketing campaigns or invasive home inspections, while maintaining their privacy and controlling confidentiality as well, they will. In any case you will need to spend some serious time in Ticino to look around, which can be a most enjoyable activity as it is very nice to tour Ticino and at the same time you are starting your "Settling In" process (Step 7)! Some tips:

It is not unusual in Switzerland for the same object to be offered by multiple real estate brokers. If you like a property talk to all of them.
If you do not speak Italian or German it will be problematic to negotiate effectively. It is recommended to contract a trusted independent "consultant" who is fluent in Italian and who can negotiate on your behalf. Contact us if you need any assistance in this area (see footer).
From our experience we recommend premium property buyers to NOT do the house hunt themselves. Revealing their identity could cost them a lot of money in a negotiation and they also miss out on seeing some of the best silent properties. Contact us if you need any assistance in this area (see footer).

Valuable tips on where you should buy

Obviously the personal requirement as well as the available budget will drive the purchase decision. Therefore some invaluable tips:

In a montainous environment you need to not only watch the location of a building versus the sun, but also if there is a risk that in wintertime, due to the location on a mountain, the sun does not reach the property at all.
You also need to check that there is proper drainage of the water coming from the mountain. There is (almost) always humidity coming from the mountain even in periods when there is no rain. The moisture needs to stay out of the building and sometimes you will find dehumidifiers being used in areas where there is not a lot of ventilation.
Taking advantage of the mountains, it is usually preferred to own a property that is sunny almost all day and that gets shade in the late afternoon. It can get quite warm in Ticino in the summer and it is really nice if your property is not exposed to sunlight the whole afternoon.
If you are considering a house directly on a lake, check flooding risks. You will be amazed by how much the water level in a lake can actually vary.
If the property has a swimming pool check how it is heated. Any new construction must be heated, by law, in an environmental friendly way that excludes use of fossil fuels. Existing private swimming pools may be heated by systems that burn oil, which do not have to be replaced when they need to be rennovated.
If you own a car, make sure you have a covered parking for it. Although not frequently hailstorms do happen and hailstones can be big enough to dent the metal of your vehicle.
Check accessibility of the property by public transportation. Some places can be really difficult to get to and you may not always have a car at your disposal.
Last, but certainly not least, check where the railroad tracks are. These are often along the lakeshores and trains can cause considerable noise. Regularly you will find residences right next to the tracks, like in the picture below taken in Lugano-Paradiso.

Underneath is a listing of Real Estate brokers. There are many of them and the list is not complete. To simplify your search you can start with consulting the Swiss Real Estate Portal: homegate.ch. Please also note the direct links below to some of the most recent building projects.

Real Estate Brokers (Lago di Lugano Area)

Real Estate Brokers (Lago Maggiore Area)

Interesting Real Estate For Sale

For access to a network of contacts providing a wealth of additional information tuned to your specific needs and onsite support guaranteed to provide you peace-of-mind, contact us: robert@luijten.ch

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained herein is correct and up-to-date. We can not accept any responsibility, legal or otherwise, for any inaccuracies, errors or omissions. The materials are provided for general information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to seek professional advice concerning specific matters before making any decision.