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Are all of us are artists, who knew? The Ecole club Migros is offering Acrylic pouring workshops in May and during the summer months. Find out about this relaxing and artistic workshop coming up! Do them alone or with your children ages 16 and up. Do you want to get started in abstract art? Acrylic Pouring allows you to express your creativity and detach yourself from everyday life in a fun way that is accessible to all. If you are curious to discover artistic techniques and methods, come and see the magic of Acrylic Pouring. The results are immediate and highly satisfying! The workshop teacher is perfectly bilingual in French and English. She leads you through an introduction to the method, taking into account everyone's creative desires and she adapts to the needs of the group. Beginners and experienced artists alike are welcomed. At the end of the second workshop, you get to take home your piece of unique art to proudly display! Material is provided and the workshops are open for people as of 16 years old. Children as of 12 can accompany their parents too and share the artistic experience. The workshops are held over 2 Saturdays between 09:00 and 12:00, with the next ones open for registration on the 26th of June and the 3rd of July , inscription fees are 135CHF. In July they are back on the 3rd and 17th of July. You can find all the information you need to sign up here. Not artisiticly inclined but curious about other workshops? The Ecole Club Migros has a big selection, you can see what else is on offer here .

Do you own property or are you considering buying something in the area? This series of articles is for you! The Nyon property digest is published once a month. Thank you to Harriet Kibbe for sharing her knowledge of the local real estate market with us and breaking down the information. In this monthly series, she highlights different topics giving some local property-related insights and tips. To start off, she dives into one of the most common reactions when people move or look to buy in our area: "Why is everything so expensive?" What I hear most from recently arrived expats is usually ‘I didn’t realise how expensive it was to live here!’ shortly followed by ‘but it is really beautiful’. Even after living here 15 years, and having partly grown up here, I catch myself muttering under my breath ‘so bloody expensive’ several times a day! Property in this part of Switzerland is no exception to this ‘it’s so expensive’ knee-jerk comment and the reason for that is very basic economics: the demand for property, and in particular single family units, far outweighs the supply thereof. There are, of course, several factors that combine to ensure that prices in the Geneva - Morges area remain high, higher than the rest of Switzerland, which I will attempt to sum up: Cap on new-builds through communal, cantonal and federal regulations (for many reasons: green space, landscape, demographics, favouring agriculture, local plans to maintain low levels of noise and other pollution, etc); Record low mortgage rates , incentivising medium to long term residents to buy; High rentals due to demand from short term residents, pushing people aiming to stay longer to save money by buying; The famous lump-sum taxation (particularly in Vaud) does attract wealthy homeowners, who also drive prices up on the higher end of the property market. There is so much to say but the reality is that we all enjoy the Swiss landscape, greenery and quality of life and construction... and so do the Swiss authorities who intend to maintain them. My advice to anyone looking to buy is to become good friends with a local estate agent and follow up regularly because there ARE houses for sale, you just need to be at the top of their list! If you want to contact Harriet you can reach her by email here .

The "bons solidaires" is a system of vouchers the Municipality of Nyon has introduced to support local businesses.  For every voucher purchased, there is a 15% discount on the value, whilst paying an additional 5% to the business. For example for a voucher worth CHF 100, you purchase it for CHF 85 and the business where you use it will receive CHF 105. What a great opportunity to go bargain hunting and support the local economy at the same time! You can purchase the vouchers at bons.nyon.ch and at the Nyon counter Tourism region (lacote-tourisme.ch, avenue Viollier 8). Different values are available: CHF 20, CHF 50, CHF 100 or CHF 200 and they are valid until December 31, 2021 at all businesses participating in the initiative. It should also be noted that they are transmissible, can be used on one or more occasions and from different brands using the unique QR code on the back. To date, nearly 100 businesses have already registered for this operation! Those who wish to register can do so at any time on bons.nyon.ch . The participating businesses are listed on this platform. Happy bargain hunting this Easter!

The year got off to a quick start We have been busy with the Living in Nyon website and thoroughly enjoying it! A little behind the scenes article to keep you updated and offer a view of what we get up to, for those of you who are curious (like I always am :-)). The first few months of the year were occupied (aside from writing articles) with several projects. We are an association now! The most important change is that Living in Nyon is officially an association! It's a website for the community and as an association it reflects this better. Living in Nyon now has it's own "identity". It allows for more fluid management of the site, as well as a clearer role in terms of our mission: "Facilitating the integration and the development of the international community of Nyon-La Côte. We aim to create a strong bridge between the local and international community by providing information and networking opportunities." Website updates You may have noticed slight changes made to the website and the organisation of articles. This is an ongoing process and the aim is t make the website easier to navigate and to find the articles you are looking for. You will also see all our social media icons at the top. Do follow us if you are not doing so yet on Twitter , Instagram and Facebook . There is additional information and pictures of our region on the varoîous channels with postings going out almost every day. This is still a work in progress! We rely on you, as our readers to keep us informed of what you want to read about and see on the site and this is a way of knowing what is of interest and what less so. Don't hesitate to contact us. Partners Living in Nyon cannot exist without its sponsors. We are fortunate enough to have really great companies and people behind them who are such a pleasure to work with! You see their logos displayed on the right-hand side of the site. They represent some of the local companies that each cater to our needs in different areas of our lives. Some speak to our imagination and make us dream. Like the Conservatoire of Nyon with concerts and music lessons on and offline, the local tourist board that always continues to offer activities and ideas to keep us busy or Schilliger with its beautiful garden centers and interior decoration. Then there are those that allow us to grow and thrive. Atelier9 provides the coworking and office spaces to elaborate our business strategies, the Ecole Club Migros Nyon offers courses in almost any field imaginable. B-inspired helps you position yourself clearly in your career and 2Mille Feuilles the Montessori school is a space for the smallest ones of our international community to develop their curiosity in the heart of nature. Finally, La Lignière offers their clinic and their medical and fitness center, they have us covered from all angles and TechSpark Academy teaches our children and teens the magic of coding to help them shape the world we are living in. You will see articles presenting them and developing different topics over the year so that you get to know the people and the spirit behind the businesses that are driving our local economy. Aside from our partners, there is a fantastic team that volunteers for Living in Nyon and works with great enthusiasm to contribute to the site. Keep an eye out for the article coming out soon. In it, you will meet all the people involved behind the scenes of Living in Nyon. Have a very happy Easter holiday!

The Nyon Triathlon adapts and opens registrations for its 32nd edition. Despite the uncertainties at the moment, the organizers of the Nyon triathlon are choosing to be optimistic and have launched the registrations for all their races. The event is scheduled for the weekend of August 7-8, 2021. They have taken into consideration the new conditions we have and in order to be able to offer all the races they have completely revised the program. Several measures have been put in place to ensure everyone's safety and to distribute participants as much as possible over the course of the weekend. In addition, in order to improve the comfort of participants and limit health risks, all adult races will have a "rolling start", ie 5 people every 15 seconds. Registrations are now available on their website with seven race formats offered. for the hardened triathlete or for the beginner wishing to discover the triathlon, as well as children and families. The program For its 32nd edition, the Nyon Triathlon will host the National League and the Youth League of Swiss Triathlon . The Aquathlon , which was launched in 2019, will still be on the race program with an optimized transition zone, as will the Discovery Triathlon (the latter will be organized both on Saturday at 12 noon and Sunday at 9 am). Regarding the Short Distance format, the races will be organized on Saturday (departures at 11 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.) and Sunday (departures at 8 a.m., 8:15 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.), as will the relay races. No changes on the other hand for the various other events with the Tri Kids and Team Family races. In addition, the Olympic Distance events, part of the Swiss Triathlon Triathlon Series, will this year designate the Swiss champions of the discipline by age group.

The photo below is of one of the many posters that were around the town reminding citizens to vote in the local Nyon elections. This poster says "Vote for the future of Nyon". The votes are now in and there are some changes in the town/city government as a result. Read about the details and the major shift that took place. Did you know, there is now a "Pirate" party in Nyon?!  Thank you to Robert Jenefsky for this article. Bob is the President of the Parti Indépendant Nyonnais. Links to members of all other political parties are here on the town's own website. On March 7th, municipal elections were held throughout the Canton of Vaud, followed by a run off election on March 28 for any remaining seats. Nyon’s election brought about a change in the majority of the city government (“Municipality” made up of 7 municipal councillors – one of whom is the mayor) as well as a 50-50 left-right split in the city council (parliament). All 100 members of the city council were elected by the proportional system on March 7th. More complicated was the election to the Municipality: on March 7: only those five candidates achieving the absolute majority of votes cast were elected. The remaining two seats were then adjudicated by relative majority in a run-off election held on March 28th. Nyon/City Town Council In the current (2016-2021) legislature ending June 30, the “centre-right” parties (PIN, VL, PLR and UDC) hold a clear majority (59 seats vs. 41 for the PS-Verts alliance). Greens picked up 11 seats On March 7, the Greens picked up 11 additional seats at the expense of the other parties (with the exception of the Green Liberal party), for a total of 27, making them the biggest fraction in the coming legislature. As a result, the city council will be split 50-50 between “left” and “centre-right” starting July 1. Municipality Back in 2016, an alliance of the 4 “centre-right” parties flipped the majority in the Municipality by electing four of their five candidates (current incumbents Claude Uldry (PIN), Roxane Faraut Linares and Maurice Gay (PLR) and Vincent Hacker (VL)). T The other three seats went to mayor Daniel Rossellat (independent but allied with the Greens and the Socialists) and the socialists, Fabienne Freymond Cantone and Stéphanie Schmutz. Going into the March 7 election this year, each alliance presented a single list for the Municipality. On the left were incumbents Daniel Rossellat and Stéphanie Schmutz, plus additionally for the Socialists Alexandre Démétriadès, (replacing the retiring Fabienne Freymond) and the two Green party candidates Elise Buckle, a relative newcomer to Nyon politics, and Pierre Wahlen. The centre-right ran the same lineup as in 2016: all four incumbents plus Sacha Soldini (UDC). In addition to the candidates of the “traditional” parties (all of whom are represented in the city council), several new groups and individuals also competed for seats in the Municipality: The Pirate Party, the Centre Party (created from the recent merger of the Christian-Democratic Party (PDC) and the Conservative Democratic Party (PBD)), plus two stand-alone candidates, one of whom announced her candidacy at the last minute. Of these, only the Pirate Party and the Centre Party also presented a list of candidates for the city council, and neither overcame the 5% quorum hurdle. Although the Pirate Party (whose platform focuses on data protection and transparency issues), has already participated in both national and local elections in Switzerland, this was its debut in Nyon. I NSERT AN IMAGE Because of the exceptionally large number of candidates, some observers expected that none of the candidates would achieve the absolute majority on March 7, which would have led to a general runoff on March 28, with the relative (rather than absolute) majority deciding. Instead, all 5 candidates on the Green-Socialist-Rossellat ticket were elected on March 7, leaving a mere 2 seats for the other candidates to be adjudicated on March 28. An intense time! With a total of 9 candidates competing for the two remaining seats, the three weeks separating the first round and the runoff were, to put it mildly, quite intense for all concerned, in particular given the (perhaps inevitable) collapse of the 4-party “centre-right” alliance. This photo shows Vincent Hacker and Claude Uldry submitting the paperwork for the runoff election to the Municipality (the gentleman on the left is Mr. Garrido, the city election clerk). Going into the runoff, the five “centre right” candidates ran on a total of three separate lists: incumbents Roxane Faraut Linares and Maurice Gay on the PLR list; Sacha Soldini on the UDC list; and incumbents Vincent Hacker (VL) and Claude Uldry (PIN) on the “Pour Nyon – Pour Vous” list. In addition, each of the other four candidates ran on an individual list, leaving voters with an embarrassment of riches to choose from. Participation on March 28 was 30.43%, about 10 percentage points lower than on March 7. The final result - Five interesting years to come The result: a clear majority to re-elect incumbents Roxane Faraut Linares (PLR) and Claude Uldry (PIN), the leading runners-up from March 7. Although the “left” now has a clear majority in the Municipality, it will need a majority of the city council – now evenly split – to approve its spending proposals (“préavis”). This should make for an “interesting” five years! Pundits (including myself, as president of the PIN) will spend the next weeks and months interpreting the results of the election!   City/Town Council Parties in Nyon Council 2016 – 2021 Legislature 2021- 2026 Legislature Socialist Party (PS) 25 23 (-2) Green Party (Les Vert.e.s) 16 27 (+11) Nyon Independent Party (PIN) 15 13 (-2) Green Liberal Party (PVL) 5 5 (-) Liberal-Radical Party (PLR) 26 23 (-3) Swiss People’s Party (UDC) 13 9 (-4) Total City Council 100 100 Municipality Municipal Councillors 2016 – 2021 Legislature 2021 – 2026 Legislature Socialist Party Fabienne Freymond Cantone Alexandre Démétriadès Socialist Party Stéphanie Schmutz Stéphanie Schmutz Green Party n/a Elise Buckle Green Party n/a Pierre Wahlen Nyon Independent Party Claude Uldry Claude Uldry Green Liberal Party Vincent Hacker n/a Liberal-Radical Party Roxane Faraut Linares Roxane Faraut Linares Liberal-Radical Party Maurice Gay n/a No party affiliation Daniel Rossellat (mayor) Daniel Rossellat (mayor)* *Mayoral candidates will be announced on April 6. Daniel Rossellat is expected to run unopposed.

Nyon has a new cool café/bike repair workshop!  Tête de Course combines a café a bike repair shop and a café where you can enjoy a snack while you wait for it to be fixed, all wrapped up in a cosy and modern ambiance. Their motto is simple: "Be it with managing projects or on a bicycle, together you go further." The founder Philipp Kneubuehler is passionate about sports and his passion has led him to dream up the "Tête de course concept. The café is open all day for you to pick up coffee, snacks or even a great brunch on Sundays between 9:00 and 14:00. Anything to help avoid the population of Nyon from hypoglycemia :-)! Keep up those blood sugar levels... The repair workshop is open from Monday to Saturday and they can even come and pick up your bike if necessary. Next time you pass by go in and have a look if you haven't already! There is more information on their website, you will find it here .

Negotiating a sale price, the realistic criteria of your search for a property and decision making when purchasing property. Here are a few things to remember! Thank you to Harriet Kibbe for a new topic handled on the subject of local real estate. In this monthly series, she highlights different topics giving some local property-related insights and tips. Here she covers some of the recurring questions many of us have. In recent conversations with potential buyers I have come across a few similar topics that I would like to share with you. And no, its not about heating systems, the risks of asbestos or japanese knotweed, I'll keep them for another day! Here are some of the most frequent conversations I am having at the moment: The listed asking price is what the buyers want, not necessarily the market price. Don’t be put off by the price of a property if it is only slightly higher than your maximum budget. If you love a property, always make an offer even if it’s well below the asking price. Making an offer is not legally binding, it may be a bit cheeky but you never know! In addition, it will help the estate agents think of you when another property pops up on the market and save you the hassle of going to them. Be prepared: have discussions with your bank of choice about a potential mortgage. What funds they would be able to lend based on your income and equity? This way when the right property comes up at the right price, you can act swiftly, which you will need to! Unless you have a very decent budget there will always be a main road, a train line, some overhead cables, or the highway. Figure out which of these you know you can’t tolerate. Everyone is different: the convenience of being close to the highway will be dampened by the amount of traffic at rush hour, will you get used to it? The beautiful view over the lake will also involve overlooking the train tracks, can you live with that? When you have found a house with what you think you can live with, go around to it at different times of day and night to check what kind of activity is going on. See if you can talk to the neighbours, they usually have no interest in whether you buy the house on sale or not, so they will give it to you straight. Also it obviously helps to know the neighbours before moving in… on both sides! Harriet has lived in the Geneva-Nyon area on and off since 1988, growing up as part of the transient international community, and has settled in Founex with her family and four children since 2011. Having moved several times she has always offered her help to newcomers and people from the international community in general to assist in their integration and understanding of the region. If you want to contact Harriet you can reach her by email  here .

Spring is in the air and is there any place that can bring that more to life than the Schilliger Garden Centre? To celebrate the season, they are holding a "little" spring festival on the 1st and 2nd of May for big and small alike! As a family business , and one strongly attached to the local community, they are committed to entertaining us and our children through this much-anticipated seasonal celebration. The Garden Centre will hold its Spring Festival all day between 09:00 and 18:00 in Gland. Admission is free and open to all. The store has been reorganized to respect the current hygiene and social distancing guidelines. While the festival will be on a smaller scale this year, its festive spirit remains in full force! You can join the spring celebrations free of charge, they are held on the 1st and 2nd of May all day between 09:00 and 18:00 in Gland. This year there will be several activities for children, one of which is a treasure hunt. Move through the store gathering clues to find the hidden word! Schilliger will also be hosting in-store demonstrations, as well as offering special discounts, and plenty of other activities for children. They can join a workshop to make their very own Spring creations made of flowers and/or herbs. The workshop fee is CHF15 and registration in advance is mandatory. You can find the contact forms here . There will also be a baby pumpkin plant distribution and the possibility to register for the giant pumpkin competition coming up in October! At this competition in autumn, you can bring your giant pumpkin and win some great prizes. There are also plenty of instructional videos prepared by Schilliger on how to best grow a giant pumpkin and increase your chances of winning! Find more information on their Facebook page here. All in all, these are some welcome spring festivities not to miss!

On the 20th of May the Vaud Chamber of commerce is holding a virtual Welcome Day between 17:30 and 18:30. International Link is a division of the chamber of commerce dedicated to the integration of the international and expatriate community of Vaud. This event is for those that have recently moved to Switzerland to get an overview of the particularities of the area, or those simply interested in updating their knowledge. You can read more about them in a previous Living in Nyon Three topics will be presented during the welcome day to give an overview of "Life in Switzerland" What to do & see in Vaud Presented by Amélie Vouardoux, in charge of Public Relations at Vaud Promotion. Vaud Promotion 's mission is to develop the attractiveness of the canton, highlight its talents and excellence. They bring together the most passionate, inspiring and innovative personalities from all sectors (economy, tourism, culture, sport, education and agriculture), all recognizable by their taste for success, a job well done ... and this little touch of madness specific to our land! Local culture & job market Presented by Mandy Bronsil (that's me!) Founder of B-inspired Partners. B-inspired Partners provides support to companies and individuals on talent development. How to make the most of your skills and how best to develop your career in the area. It's all done with a healthy blend of reality and life aspirations! The Swiss insurance system (3 pillars, health, tenant VS owner) Presented by Sigmund Friberg, Director at Helvetia International SA. Helvetia International SA is a financial and insurance competence center with its core business in property financing, retirement planning, tax optimization, insurances, and investment advisory. You can get more information and register for free to join the welcome day here .

Meet Marie-Helène Piotet. She is the director of the Nyon Conservatory. in this candid interview she talks music, management and passion!  The Ouest Vaudois Conservatory is a very present institution in our lives as locals. Whether its for the musical events it provides, or for the musical skills it teaches us and our children. It is spread out over 7 sites (Nyon, Rolle, Gland, Bussigny, Aubonne, Morges, St Sulpice), and Living in Nyon has a long-standing partnership with the institution. I had the opportunity to interview the Director of the Conservatoire de l'Ouest Vaudois (COV), Marie-Helène Piotet, to learn more about her personally as well as gather some behind-the-scenes insight so we can get to know them better. We met in the rain on the newly re-opened terrace of Ex-Machina for a very interesting discussion under the shelter of the parasols! Living in Nyon (LIN): Thank you Marie-Helène for your time.  You've been the director of the COV since 2016 and were active there for many years prior, starting out as a piano teacher. Could you tell us some more about yourself and your musical background? Marie-Helène Piotet (MHP): It's a pleasure to be here. I had parents who were themselves passionate about music, my father was a physician and worked at the Swiss embassy in the United States and my mother was a foreign language teacher. She became a piano teacher later on. They were both passionate about music and they always immersed me in the world of music, and specifically the piano. When we came back from living in the States, I took up piano lessons at the Lausanne Conservatory, followed by studies in Lausanne and at the Conservatory of Fribourg. LIN: You then started teaching piano at the Morges Conservatory. How did you go from that first role as a piano teacher to becoming the director of the COV later on? MHP: Indeed, I started as a teacher at a young age. During that period I also got married and had 3 children. My career took a back seat for a few years. When they were older I became more professionally active again and took on different responsibilities in the conservatory. I was working in the administrative department in the Nyon  Centre, I took on the responsibility of the piano and "keys" department management and then moved into the artistic department where we managed the events and the sets of the COV. All of this gave me a good overview of the inner workings and it allowed me to become the director as a result. LIN: That's a lot of hats you wore during your years at the COV and required flexibility! MHP: Yes and no. It's flexible but stable at the same time. Maybe that's a Swiss trait! It's really the combination of those two elements that gave me the capacity and the confidence to then manage it. I did also keep studying and completed my knowledge with a certification in Human Resources as well as one in Cultural Management that looks at the logistics and financial side of managing events in the cultural sector. As a curious person, I like to keep learning and adding to my knowledge. LIN: The capacity to learn is a hot topic at the moment, especially with so much continuous change going on. Could you tell me a little more about how under your direction, the COV has adapted to its times? MHP: We have implemented a lot of new things and we make an effort to stay tuned into what people want at the moment. For example one of the new courses offered is the "Parcours decouverte" . It allows students to try five or six different instruments during the school year. This gives them the opportunity to test them out and know which one suits them best. It's normal to not know what instrument suits your child best and these classes allow your children to find that match much quicker. There is also a " virtual open day " this year that allows people to set meetings and come and discover the conservatory and its teachers. Whereas in past years it was more of a group event, it was a pleasant discovery for all involved to have very personalised discussions with the teachers regarding the children's needs with this format. People can find information on what is interesting and simply sign up for meetings. We even launched computerised music composition courses! LIN: So lots of relevant and innovative options for students interested in music whether more classical or more modern approaches. What would you say is your "mark" on the COV? MHP: I would say it's the mission to allow people to experience music in a playful way and with structure at the same time. What I mean by that music is often a passion and a pleasure but if we really want to develop it, we need to practice and keep learning. At the Conservatory, we do this by allowing students to work together in groups on collective projects. This allows them not only to fine-tune their own style but to be aware of others and learn to discover and combine styles. I still have people coming up to me as adults that say they remember specific projects I had them work on when they were children! They say they will keep going to a certain type of concert due to those experiences and for me, that really is the best I can ask for. And I also really want the COV to "live" the feeling that music is for everybody. We are all different, people learn at different speeds and music is and should be accessible to everybody. LIN: That brings me to another point, there are scholarships available that provides less fortunate people access to musical studies as well. Could you give a little more information about that? MHP: Yes, the communes support these families that would like to provide a musical education to their children but cannot always afford the tuition fees. This can easily affect lower-income as much as mid-income families as we live in an expensive country. Mid-income families often are not applicable to government support as they do not fit the criteria, nevertheless, expenses do not always allow them to cover the tuition fees. In these cases, the government can provide support. LIN: international community question MHP: We have a lot of students who come to us and have only just moved to Switzerland with their studies. According to where they were before, their levels can vary a lot. We strive to live up to the expectations of both the children and the parents and do our best to satisfy everybody's needs. Most of our teachers speak English and are able to communicate with clients that may not speak French or simply prefer to communicate in English. Collaboration with international sites like Living in Nyon is important to me as both the local and the international community together form our clients. You can read our previous article on the Nyon Conservatory here . Thank you so much Marie Helène! It's been very interesting to learn more about you and the COV. We look forward to the next concerts too!

When buying a property locally, one of the first things to arrange is your financing. This article provides you with the essentials when taking out a mortgage. Thanks to Harriet Kibbe, our resident writer providing us with the ins and outs of the complex Nyon Real Estate scene! It's essential to have a clear picture of your financing when property hunting. This is important because when a well-priced property becomes available one must be able to move very quickly in putting in an offer and a deposit. To make sure I got all the right information I spoke to Jean-Marc Vaucher who works at Banque Valiant in Nyon about how mortgages work here and what every buyer needs to know: 1. You need 25% cash of the value of the property.  This is the so-called: ‘fonds propres’, It can be made up of 10% cash, 10% can be withdrawn from a pension fund (3ème pilier or other) or even just used as a warranty but kept in your pension fund, and finally 5%, approximately, which is forecast to cover notary fees (calculate these fees here ) and stamp duty. 2. Mortgages depend on the buyer’s gross annual income. This includes past bonuses, as well as any debt/revenue from abroad and the payment or receipt of pensions. You will have to provide tax returns of course, or, if you’ve just landed, you will be asked to sign a declaration that your assets and liability statement is true, on your honour. 3. The bank’s desktop valuation of the property often differs from the asking price. Sometimes to get the house you want, therefore, you will have to put in the difference yourself. 4. Fixed-rate mortgages can be taken out over 5, 10 and, rarely, 15 years. Beware of potentially hefty early repayment fees depending on when you sell since banks will charge you all the outstanding interest payments. 5. Interestingly, it's possible to split up one’s mortgage into sections, or ‘tranches’. You can have different amounts on different loan terms, some at fixed rates others at the Saron rate. Check out the options in more detail on the Comparis site here . This may be useful in forward planning, and depending on your circumstances you could arrange a tetris of mortgages to your advantage: to be discussed with a professional for sure! Mortgages are a complex issue and too much to cover in this overview, but consider this an introductory crash course to the topic! Harriet has lived in the Geneva-Nyon area on and off since 1988, growing up as part of the transient international community, and has settled in Founex with her family and four children since 2011. Having moved several times she has always offered her help to newcomers and people from the international community in general to assist in their integration and understanding of the region. Access Harriet's previous Living in Nyon articles here .If you want to contact Harriet you can reach her by email  here .