Welcome to House Hunters International--The Cheese Whiz and Soul Swisster Edition!
We learned yesterday from our relocation agent, Carola that we would have 5 properties to see in Nyon. The Cheeze Whis thought that based on our minimum criteria--4+ bedrooms, a yard, cats ok--five was a pretty good number. Remember that only .2% (yes, that is 'point two percent') of the houses are unoccupied!
Nyon (Pronounced "Ne-on") is a town about 25 minutes drive (12 minutes by train) outside of Geneva. It's not in the canton (Switzerland is divided into cantons--think states) of Geneve, it's in the canton of Vaud (pronounced "Vo") on the "Right Bank". [For more, see the Geneva geography lesson.] We chose Vaud and the Nyon region for a few reasons. First and foremost, the canton of Vaud is more homeschool-friendly that Geneve. In Geneve, you're able to homeschool, but the curriculum must be approved by the canton and generally must be their curriculum. In Vaud, you can use your own material. We'll still have a visit once a year from some authority making sure the kids are getting a well-rounded education that includes music, the arts, and sports, but that's not a concern at all. Note that in the German portion of Switzerland, homeschooling is illegal! ALL children must attend a public or private school or the parents can be put in jail! Not a happy thought for The Cheeze Whiz and Soul Swisster.
Another reason to choose Vaud is that there are already a number of expats living in and around the region. These include Noble and Transocean folks, but others as well. Thirdly, it's a reasonable commute. Probably a short ride to the train station, then a train to downtown Geneva and a bus or maybe a 20 minute walk to the office. My guess is probably 40 minutes depending on how you time it, but an easy 40 minutes. Lastly, the views--wait until you see them!
So Carola and her colleague Sandrine picked us up at the hotel and off we went. Traffic is probably not as bad as Houston, except for the motorbikes and scooters which weave in and out and give you heart attacks. But I guess we'll get used to that.
House 1: Located about 10 minutes up the hill from Nyon in a village called Duillier (Dool-ee-ay), the house is less than 5 years old. It's got a great outdoor area--pool, patio with fireplace (they call it a bar-b-que--they have no idea what they're talking about!) and mud. Lots of mud. We found out the mud is actually where they knocked down the house next door and the owners of the Duillier house bought the property and are turning it into a "garden" (yard), so it will have an extensive play area. Beautiful view as well. It's on the hill overlooking the lake and the alps. Inside, a large living room, dining room, office, good sized kitchen (for Europe), and 4 bedrooms. Plus every home has a finished basement with lots of usable space. This basement has a laundry room, a full bathroom, a room that could be used as a fifth bedroom, and a huge game room. It also had a completely finished attic where the last owner had a complete model train diorama. The trains were gone, but what a great space. Lots of built-in closets, which is a rarity. Spent quite a bit of time here asking the agent a bunch of basic questions about houses in Switzerland and he was very helpful. High quality house, with lots of upgrades/extras.
House 2: Located in another nearby village, this was a little bit older and frankly not in as good condition. The design is flipped. When you enter the house from the driveway, you walk into the floor where the bedrooms are. A master plus three others. All decent sized. Some good built-in closets. But weird to bring guests in here. Downstairs, there was a big gameroom, a great kitchen, a sun room running the length of the house, a laundry room, and another large room that could be either another bedroom or a school room. Interesting feature--a dumbwaiter! We guessed it must be for bringing groceries in from the car level and moving them down to the kitchen level. I can just see All American Boy and Twister Swisster trying to ride inside! Outside, the house has been built on a hill with three terraces and a pool on the bottom one. Each terrace had some beautiful landscaping, but it hasn't been maintained at all, even though there has been a gardener. Couldn't tell what state the pool was in because it was covered and unfortunately, the landscaping didn't leave much open room for the kids. But again, the view was great.
House 3. "The Estate" We drove up to this house and were met with a remote controlled gate across one of the two driveways. Actually, this was a house that had originally been separated into two and then reopened into one. This gave it a bit of an odd flow--two kitchens, two dining rooms, two laundry rooms, etc. One house had three bedrooms and the other two, but totally separated. One of the most interesting features was a large, Delft blue tile fireplace. Reminded me of Scrooge's fireplace in a "A Christmas Carol," where Scrooge sees Marley's face in each individual tile. But the most unique thing about this was the amount of property it had. Maybe 5 acres? Enough room that we could have lost the kids for days. It also had a swimming pool, but it wasn't working. Not to worry-only 6,000 francs to fix. Peanuts! The owner, who showed us the house (but didn't come right out and tell us he was the owner) was only about 30, and was anxious to rent the house so he could go on a two year world tour. Must be nice.
House 4. In Nyon proper, about a 5 minute walk from the train station. Wonderful modern house with a open downstairs floor plan. The location would have been great. This house had sliding doors around the exterior of the first floor that all opened out onto the pool. This house had a great outdoor fireplace/kitchen, a custom laundry room, and a sauna downstairs as well as an air-conditioned wine room with well over 500 bottles. This was a bit unusual because the rest of the house wasn't air-conditioned. (Air conditioning whole houses is illegal in Switzerland.) The master bedroom was right off the family room. Upstairs were four bedrooms and a bath, each only about 8x10. No view for this place--it was surrounded by a high hedge and a driveway wall.
House 5. In the village of Grenolier (Gren-o-lee-ay). This was probably 20 minutes outside of Nyon, so a bit of a drive, but there was a little train station about a 10 minute walk from the house that you could take into Nyon and catch the main train there. The house was unremarkable compared to the others. It also had a pool, but a very small yard. Since it was up on the hill, another good view. When we walked downstairs, we were confronted with a large thick door with sealing latches. It turns out this was a fallout shelter and many Swiss homes apparently have them, though this was the first one we had seen. In case of nuclear fallout, you'd lock yourself inside. It had an air circulation system and even an escape hatch to the outside in case the door was blocked by debris. Everyone uses them for storage now. In the end, this house was too far away from town.We finished the day exhausted but had seen at least one or two which could work, so not a bad day.
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