Mortgages

[panda1189 0]

Hi everyone

Im starting the investigation process of moving to the usa. Ive been with my girlfriend 3 years, live in Australia while she is in houston. See each other a few times a year. Will be looking at a fiance visa in the next 12 to 24 months.

I have my head around the visa process but im getting a bit stuck on the best way to organise a mortgage. Ideally we'd like to have things set up for a quickish move as she's still living at home.

I will be able to transfer my AMEX card but otherwise im a bit sketchy on how best to get a mortgage either before i leave or soon after any wedding/status change.

It is likely by the time of move i will have in excess of 75,000 saved so could offer a decent down payment. We think our budget would be 250k 300k.

Any tips or advice appreciated thank you

[NikLR 13,232]

~~removed duplicate thread in unrelated forum. Please only post once per topic. Spamming is against TOS. Thank you~~

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I would put 20% down just to save the additional monthly payment of PMI insurance. So you are looking at a mortgage that's 80% of your house budget. You will want some cash in reserve to pay for closing costs, washer/dryer, furniture, maybe fix-up if not a new house, etc. Plus you will need a car of your own in Houston. And you will not be able to work for at least four months.

As far as the mortgage, getting a loan will be based on credit score, which you won't have, and income, which you won't have immediately. If you want to get away from the parents, you may want to rent an apartment while you house shop and get settled in and find a job.

Getting pre-approved for a mortgage is a good thing. Then when you find the house you love, it won't slip away while you start looking to see what you can get approved for. You can make an offer and show you are already pre-approved for that amount. In Texas, if you make an offer and the buyer accepts, you have a contract and they can't go sell it to somebody that offers higher next week. A seller is more likely to accept your offer when they see you have already qualified and have no contingencies like need to sell your present home first.

When we bought our new home in Houston, I applied for the mortgage on my own because my new husband was an unemployed foreigner with no credit rating which would prolong the approval and also a higher interest rate. I got a preapproval document in about 15 minutes (by fax), so it can be super quick with a high credit rating and plenty of assets. Unfortunately for a young person still living at home, your fiancé may not qualify as quickly on her own. But for speed you may want to go that route if her salary alone will be enough to buy the house you want. You may also want to consider the spouse visa where as soon as you enter the U.S., you will be a permanent resident (greencard) and are eligible to work immediately. As a fiancé visa holder, you won't work immediately, or get a Texas driver license, or be a permanent resident for a number of months.

Here's a page that talks about mortgage things http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/mortgages.aspx you might want to study.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Nich-Nick

[Caryh 5,206]

This may be problematic for you. One of the first things they will be looking for is a SS number before you can get a loan. You cannot get an SS number until you get here. Second is your credit rating will not come with you to America. One of the things I ran into is an occasional refusal to give any credit to someone who doesn't have a 10 year green card from some firms. This rather shocked me to find out, as I was planning to get her on a joint car loan for both helping her establish credit here, and evidence for when the ROC was due. There were plenty of options where I could include her, but this no credit history cost us in higher interest rates. This also was an issue when I went to refinance our home. She had her two year green card by then, but the interest rate would have been 1% higher with her on the mortgage. I may have had a good credit rating, but the lack of a credit history with my wife was biting us in the butt.

So your path is going to be dependent on your future wife's credit score. She can get pre-approved for a mortgage that she can qualify for. Part of this will mean transferring the down payment funds in an account in the USA that she can access. Or possibly on an account in Australia if you can get her name added to it. If its a new account in the USA, they're going to want a good explanation of where that big chunk of money suddenly came from too. So you're going to need banking records showing where and how the money was obtained. And likely none of this is going to be acceptable until you two are actually married.

She should shop around for mortgage companies that will give her the best rates, plus the best flexibility with immigration via a K-1 coming into the mix and that down payment money not coming from her, but from her new spouse coming from another country who will have zero credit history. It is very likely you will not end up mortgage unless you're willing to pay a lot higher interest rate.

[panda1189 0]

Thanks for the initial advice. Her current rating is 780 but currently not great on the income side of things.

Have my head around the process and that sort of thing, some other threads make vague references to some credit unions/banks who help out and are understanding but the info just seems very variable.

I understand they have to be careful not to just dish out loans its just tough when trying to get started! The job market i have some "leads" in are putting me at about 55k-60k starting off, as you said with possibly a wait period if we go the k-1 route.

But hey if it were easier its be less of an adventure

[Caryh 5,206]

Thanks for the initial advice. Her current rating is 780 but currently not great on the income side of things.

Have my head around the process and that sort of thing, some other threads make vague references to some credit unions/banks who help out and are understanding but the info just seems very variable.

I understand they have to be careful not to just dish out loans its just tough when trying to get started! The job market i have some "leads" in are putting me at about 55k-60k starting off, as you said with possibly a wait period if we go the k-1 route.

But hey if it were easier its be less of an adventure

If you can establish a good income, you might have to bite the bullet and pay higher rates for a joint mortgage until you have a credit rating here. Unless you decide to wait and establish your credit rating first. It won't be that you can't get a mortgage, it will be that the interest rate will be much higher. If you do go that route, in a few years you might want to look at refinancing to get a better rate.