Getting a Mortgage?

[pennyless 0]

Just a bit of background. My husband (of 16 years)is a USC but has only ever lived in the US as a juvenile so he has no US bank account (his parents closed it when they returned to the UK) and has obviously never had a mortgage in the US. We have had a mortgage in the UK for over 10 years and have a perfect credit score here. We will be renting initially when we move to the US with our four children so that we can look for our permanent home. However, we need to be able to buy a house as soon as possible for financial reasons. Essentially, if we cannot buy a home in the US then we would probably not be willing to risk emigrating from the UK because property would really be our investment in our future.

My question is, therefore, has anyone here got any experience of moving to the US and being able to take out a mortgage in, say, less than a year without having any real financial history in the US?

If so, could you share with me how you managed to achieve this?

At the moment we are investigating whether we can use a US arm of a connected UK or international lender so that we can either essentially segue our mortgage from here to there or, at the very least, be able to use our credit history here to have a starting point credit history in the US. Does anyone know of any banks / mortgage providers operating in the UK who have US arms?

I hope that was all clear.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

Best wishes

Laura

Have you inquired to an agent of your current bank in an attempt to find out if they could shed some light on steps you could take to pursue this course of action? I would think with perfect credit scores and if you have a deposit amount it would be worth something.

Some banks might give you the go ahead and some might not. To me it seems workable as banks are looking for business and a mortgages are good business.

What you could also do it look for US Banks that are located in CA and inquire if this is possible before going over, last thing you would want is to hear one story in Canada and another when u have moved to the US.

Here are some US banks that are in Canada:

Amex Bank of Canada

J.P. Morgan Bank Canada

Citibank Canada

MBNA Canada Bank

Bank Of America N.A.

Citibank, N.A.

Fifth Third Bank

HSBC Bank USA N.A

U.S. Bank N.A

Capital One Bank (Canada Branch)

JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.

Comerica Bank

[LauraDP 10]

Laura, I'm trying to research this business you are talking about regarding your husband missing a cut-off for citizenship.

I'm not sure what you are talking about. But if your husband moved to the UK as the child of someone in US government service at an Embassy or Consulate, I think he may be exempt from any restrictions, as there is some case law about that matter.

My husband is a UK/US dual national. He was born in the UK to a UK father and US mother. When he was 12, the family relocated to the US as my FIL was a diplomatic defence attache for the British Embassy. His "tour of duty" ended when my husband was 16. Although my in-laws then returned to the US for another stint at the Embassy, my husband did not as, by that point, he was married to me. Chris, therefore, has to have had five years of residence in the US in order to be able to transmit his USC status to our four children. He is, however, short by three months and it is a hard and fast rule. Chris is still a USC obviously but our children will be emigrating on the same basis that I am.

If anyone knows a way around the residency rule so that our children can become USCs then I am all ears (eyes!) but it seemed from our researches that that route was closed.

[LauraDP 10]

Have you inquired to an agent of your current bank in an attempt to find out if they could shed some light on steps you could take to pursue this course of action? I would think with perfect credit scores and if you have a deposit amount it would be worth something.

Some banks might give you the go ahead and some might not. To me it seems workable as banks are looking for business and a mortgages are good business.

What you could also do it look for US Banks that are located in CA and inquire if this is possible before going over, last thing you would want is to hear one story in Canada and another when u have moved to the US.

Here are some US banks that are in Canada:

Amex Bank of Canada

J.P. Morgan Bank Canada

Citibank Canada

MBNA Canada Bank

Bank Of America N.A.

Citibank, N.A.

Fifth Third Bank

HSBC Bank USA N.A

U.S. Bank N.A

Capital One Bank (Canada Branch)

JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.

Comerica Bank

Thanks for your reply, Pennyless, but there seems to be some confusion. We are not resident in Canada. We are in Scotland. We are in the process of moving our UK bank accounts to a bank that has a US arm so that they can, after 3 months, make an introduction for us to the US bank and we can open a checking account. It is once we have set up our US bank account that we can really tackle the thorny issue of being able to utilise our credit rating here in the UK for the US.

Best wishes

Laura

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

My husband is a UK/US dual national. He was born in the UK to a UK father and US mother. When he was 12, the family relocated to the US as my FIL was a diplomatic defence attache for the British Embassy. His "tour of duty" ended when my husband was 16. Although my in-laws then returned to the US for another stint at the Embassy, my husband did not as, by that point, he was married to me. Chris, therefore, has to have had five years of residence in the US in order to be able to transmit his USC status to our four children. He is, however, short by three months and it is a hard and fast rule. Chris is still a USC obviously but our children will be emigrating on the same basis that I am.

If anyone knows a way around the residency rule so that our children can become USCs then I am all ears (eyes!) but it seemed from our researches that that route was closed.

Ah, OK. No, the birth abroad makes the difference. Why is he keen to go to the US? Just chattin', now.

[LauraDP 10]

Ah, OK. No, the birth abroad makes the difference. Why is he keen to go to the US? Just chattin', now.

Chris has always wanted to return to live in the US. For him it feels like "home" and he has never really settled elsewhere, always with the "itchy feet". His parents only left the US for their employment situation (my FIL was with the Embassy) and then Chris went to University and met and married me before his parents returned to the US for a period. (They have subsequently retired back in the UK). We have thought of emigrating several times over the 20 years we have been together but something has always made it problematic. When we were younger it was lack of money and lack of experience work-wise and then it was that we were tied into establishing our professional qualifications and then the kids came along and it all got much more complicated and we felt much more compelled to try and put down roots here for their sakes. We have reached a point now, however, where moving to America is a "now or never" scenario. The circumstances are as right as they are ever going to be in terms of level of experience, our financial situation and the assets we hold and also our children are young enough to be able to make the transition into a different education system, for instance, a non-issue and should generally be able to make the adjustment better at this age than when they are older. It won't be disastrous if we cannot emigrate to the US in that we are all together here as a family and we have security and stability here but we would be thrilled - and especially so Chris - to move to the US and start a new life there. I suppose it all boils down to the fact that the US is where Chris' heart lies.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Chris has always wanted to return to live in the US. For him it feels like "home" and he has never really settled elsewhere, always with the "itchy feet". His parents only left the US for their employment situation (my FIL was with the Embassy) and then Chris went to University and met and married me before his parents returned to the US for a period. (They have subsequently retired back in the UK). We have thought of emigrating several times over the 20 years we have been together but something has always made it problematic. When we were younger it was lack of money and lack of experience work-wise and then it was that we were tied into establishing our professional qualifications and then the kids came along and it all got much more complicated and we felt much more compelled to try and put down roots here for their sakes. We have reached a point now, however, where moving to America is a "now or never" scenario. The circumstances are as right as they are ever going to be in terms of level of experience, our financial situation and the assets we hold and also our children are young enough to be able to make the transition into a different education system, for instance, a non-issue and should generally be able to make the adjustment better at this age than when they are older. It won't be disastrous if we cannot emigrate to the US in that we are all together here as a family and we have security and stability here but we would be thrilled - and especially so Chris - to move to the US and start a new life there. I suppose it all boils down to the fact that the US is where Chris' heart lies.

Ah, I see. He has "the wanderlust"

Well I hope it works out however you both want it to be. Truly I do.

We can't wait to get back to the UK, but that is what makes the world go around!

[N M 96]

Yes, very strange, as well as very frustrating.

Part of the problem I'm running into has to do with the condo association. Due to the real estate collapse, the association was unable to sell all the units at the price they wanted (the ones like mine were being sold for $270k, which is what the lady who currently lives in the one I'm buying bought it for). Anyhow, since they were unable to sell the at the price they wanted, and they didn't want to take a loss by selling them cheaper, they decided to rent the unsold unit out. This resulted in something like 40% of the people living there are renters, which means those doing the mortgages (Freddie and Frannie Mack) view the area as unstable, and thus won't give FHA mortgages for those wanting to buy in there.

What I'm trying to do now is go through Chase since my parents hold a mortgage with them and are offering to co-sign if it will help. I'm also going to try to get the current mortgage holder to just let me take over the payments for the place (but, of course, at the new price/rate I'm getting the place for). With the cost of the place, and the amount I'm paying as a down payment, my mortgage should be approximately $350 per month. Heck, I can pay that just by working a part-time job, so I don't know what the big deal is.

It's all very confusing and time consuming. Hopefully it will work out in the end because the place is extremely nice and in an ideal area.

It's not PART of your problem. It'll be the ENTIRE problem. Ignore your credit score, income etc, as that has absolutely nothing to do with you getting a mortgage for a condo in that particular development.

As you are finding, banks tend to have blanket policies regarding developments with less than 60% owner occupancy. The deal is that renters drive down prices. You may think you already have a steal on your hands - but what if the price plunges further after you buy? That's the banks' concern. Also what happens if you need to move, but can't sell due to the same restriction on lending in the development?

We put our condo on sale last year (45% owner occupancy in the development), and only found one bank that was willing to lend (BBVA Compass). So we pushed that bank like crazy to prospective buyers. Fortunately we ended up with a cash buyer, but we were fearing a nightmare trying to sell it.

Edited August 8, 2012 by N M

[ThailandToIndiana 11]

It's not PART of your problem. It'll be the ENTIRE problem. Ignore your credit score, income etc, as that has absolutely nothing to do with you getting a mortgage for a condo in that particular development.

As you are finding, banks tend to have blanket policies regarding developments with less than 60% owner occupancy. The deal is that renters drive down prices. You may think you already have a steal on your hands - but what if the price plunges further after you buy? That's the banks' concern. Also what happens if you need to move, but can't sell due to the same restriction on lending in the development?

We put our condo on sale last year (45% owner occupancy in the development), and only found one bank that was willing to lend (BBVA Compass). So we pushed that bank like crazy to prospective buyers. Fortunately we ended up with a cash buyer, but we were fearing a nightmare trying to sell it.

I'm not really concerned with the price dropping further. To go from $270k down to $95k is shocking enough. The real estate market will eventually rebound, but I'll be keeping the condo long-term anyway. Were I ever to have to move for any reason, I'd still hang onto it and just rent it out rather than sell it because it's next door to my parents and a 3 minute walk from my sister's place. Me taking a bath on the condo is highly unlikely. Still, I can understand the banks concern. I'll just have to keep looking and perhaps offer more of a down payment (30 to 40 percent).

Worse comes to worse, I know a guy who would privately hold the mortgage for me, but that would result in a higher interest rate...probably 5.5 or 6 percent.