How to Evidence of my Home Assets, l-864 (merged topics)

[Ryan H 3,812]

~~~Post merged with existing thread~~~

 

14 hours ago, sinapp said:

Hi,

For what I understand, in my case sponsoring my overseas spouse, as my income is low, I need to use my 3 properties/assets which are including 3 apartments, one being where we live at this time...

1. Would it be OK to give the total value of the 3? With the 2 in which I am not living in, the value is about 40-50% over the poverty guideline...

2. Would be a copy of the deed of each apartment OK as documents? On some law websites, I have read that I would need to pay for a certified professional appraisal (which would be quite costly for 3 apartments I guess) but not on the travel.state.gov website where it is only written "documentation of assets establishing location, ownership, date of acquisition, and value"...

Your help would be greatly appreciated in these matters!

 

[pushbrk 12,897]

1 hour ago, Ryan H said:

~~~Post merged with existing thread~~~

 

 

Yes, appraisal is what is needed, but better to actually sell.  Become an A-Student of the actual I-864 "instructions" about using assets, including their definition of "liquid".  Starting a new topic isn't going to get you different answers.

[sinapp 0]

Sorry, if I felt to start a new topic, it was with the hope to receive a more specific response on exactly which type of document(s) type I must join to my l-864 in my situation as I didn't find the official instructions very clear at all:

 

Part 7. Use of Assets to Supplement Income

You may include the net value of your home as an asset. The net value of the home is the appraised value of the home, minus the sum of any and all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home. If you wish to include the net value of your home, then you must include documentation demonstrating that you own it, a recent appraisal by a licensed appraiser, and evidence of the amount of any and all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home...

... Item Numbers 1. - 4. Assets. To use your own assets, you must complete Part 7., Item Numbers 1. - 4. and submit corresponding evidence with this affidavit. Supporting evidence must be attached to establish location, ownership, date of acquisition, and value of any real estate holding. 

At the same time, I still don't have answer to my 1st point of my last post that has been merged to my first one...

 

Like I explained it before, I have 3 homes. One of the 3, I live in and I understand that if I want to count it in my Assets, I should get, as written in the first paragraph above, a recent appraisal by a licensed appraiser, for in that paragraph they wrote "your" home as an asset...

 

Also, according to the 2nd paragraph above, if I would like to count in my "real estate holding" my 2 other homes only (which are representing, like said before, 40% above the minimum required), I think that I'd had no problem to establish location, ownership, date of acquisition for they are showed on the deeds' copies that I would join to my l-864, but with the "value of any real estate holding" I don't understand that it should obligatorily done by a licensed appraiser and just wonder if I could not present it myself in a table for example on a own sheet of paper (?)...

 

I very appreciate your insight, as I am only trying to find out what would be my best options! Although I have already immigrated into 3 continents successfully during the course of my life, I well know this is never a "piece of cake" but to me it is like any business, it has to be done with the most knowledge possible to get successful and at the lowest cost possible 😉 

[pushbrk 12,897]

1 hour ago, sinapp said:

Sorry, if I felt to start a new topic, it was with the hope to receive a more specific response on exactly which type of document(s) type I must join to my l-864 in my situation as I didn't find the official instructions very clear at all:

 

Part 7. Use of Assets to Supplement Income

You may include the net value of your home as an asset. The net value of the home is the appraised value of the home, minus the sum of any and all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home. If you wish to include the net value of your home, then you must include documentation demonstrating that you own it, a recent appraisal by a licensed appraiser, and evidence of the amount of any and all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home...

... Item Numbers 1. - 4. Assets. To use your own assets, you must complete Part 7., Item Numbers 1. - 4. and submit corresponding evidence with this affidavit. Supporting evidence must be attached to establish location, ownership, date of acquisition, and value of any real estate holding. 

At the same time, I still don't have answer to my 1st point of my last post that has been merged to my first one...

 

Like I explained it before, I have 3 homes. One of the 3, I live in and I understand that if I want to count it in my Assets, I should get, as written in the first paragraph above, a recent appraisal by a licensed appraiser, for in that paragraph they wrote "your" home as an asset...

 

Also, according to the 2nd paragraph above, if I would like to count in my "real estate holding" my 2 other homes only (which are representing, like said before, 40% above the minimum required), I think that I'd had no problem to establish location, ownership, date of acquisition for they are showed on the deeds' copies that I would join to my l-864, but with the "value of any real estate holding" I don't understand that it should obligatorily done by a licensed appraiser and just wonder if I could not present it myself in a table for example on a own sheet of paper (?)...

 

I very appreciate your insight, as I am only trying to find out what would be my best options! Although I have already immigrated into 3 continents successfully during the course of my life, I well know this is never a "piece of cake" but to me it is like any business, it has to be done with the most knowledge possible to get successful and at the lowest cost possible 😉 

It appears you are still using "convenient interpretation" rather than literal.  You won't continue to live in the same condo once your spouse immigrates, so living there now doesn't change how the asset is declared, evidenced, or evaluated.

 

The evidence needed to establish location, ownership, ...... is the same for assets.  You establish the value of real estate one way and one way only, if it is foreign.  Some folks have used tax assessments for US based property but that's not likely to work with zero income, even with US property.  You really do need to "sell" and convert to liquid cash, in order to be confident.

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

2 hours ago, sinapp said:

Like I explained it before, I have 3 homes. One of the 3, I live in and I understand that if I want to count it in my Assets, I should get, as written in the first paragraph above, a recent appraisal by a licensed appraiser, for in that paragraph they wrote "your" home as an asset...

They will not consider your Colombia "home" as your home asset.  You have to be domiciled in the U.S., so your home asset must be in the U.S.

 

So you have 3 overseas real estate assets in Colombia that "might" be able to be used as assets, if you can prove they can quickly be converted to cash.

[sinapp 0]

Thanks,  so:

A. How can I prove that they can quickly be converted to cash then? They are in good areas of an important city and statistically, homes needs minimum 3 months to be sold here in Medellin, Colombia.

 

B. If I am selling one of my 3 RE assets, should I then wait until it is sold and have the money at the bank before I send my I-864?
I have no problem at all to sell one of my 3 home assets ASAP but not all of them, because if my spouse cannot get permanent residency in the U.S., you may understand that we will have to keep living overseas and buy property again which could certainly be at a big financial loss, specially in this time of covid crisis...

 

C. Finally, I still don't know if for documenting the value of my RE assets with my I-864, this has to be obligatorily a certificate from a licensed appraiser here in Colombia or it could more simply be a detailed description of each (with location, ownership, date of acquisition and sale's price) done by myself and accompanied by a copy of each property's deed?...

[sinapp 0]

Att. pushbrk: so, to make it 100% clear, please,  you say "You establish the value of real estate one way and one way only, if it is foreign", which way, which type of paper/document and written by whom exactly?... Thanks.

[pushbrk 12,897]

17 hours ago, sinapp said:

Att. pushbrk: so, to make it 100% clear, please,  you say "You establish the value of real estate one way and one way only, if it is foreign", which way, which type of paper/document and written by whom exactly?... Thanks.

An appraisal and evidence their IS NO mortgage, or an actual mortgage statement.

 

My advice isn't going to change.  The best course of action is to sell, so the assets you declare are cash instead of Real Estate.  Seems you don't want to hear that.

[sinapp 0]

Sorry, it is not that I don't want to hear you, but by saying evidence their IS NO mortgage, do you mean "evidence that there IS NO mortgage"? and if so, why do you insist with capital letters on NO mortgage?

Edited August 3, 2021 by sinapp
improving my question

[pushbrk 12,897]

17 hours ago, sinapp said:

Sorry, it is not that I don't want to hear you, but by saying evidence their IS NO mortgage, do you mean "evidence that there IS NO mortgage"? and if so, why do you insist with capital letters on NO mortgage?

For emphasis.  Note the word or.  You need no mortgage OR a statement of the mortgage, so equity can be established.  None of this is needed if you sell, and I strongly advise you to sell.

[sinapp 0]

Ok, and I may sell, although, like I mentioned before, this is a crisis here now in Colombia (as everywhere in the world) and it is not that an easy and quick thing to do to sell 3 apartments at once, so, I am asking you again now, if the document showing the value of any home asset can be done by myself or it absolutely must be done by a licensed professional appraiser, please?

 

And also again, should I wait till I will have sold my 1, 2 or 3 homes BEFORE sending affidavit of support I-864?...

Edited August 4, 2021 by sinapp
encountered mispells

[pushbrk 12,897]

17 hours ago, sinapp said:

Ok, and I may sell, although, like I mentioned before, this is a crisis here now in Colombia (as everywhere in the world) and it is not that an easy and quick thing to do to sell 3 apartments at once, so, I am asking you again now, if the document showing the value of any home asset can be done by myself or it absolutely must be done by a licensed professional appraiser, please?

 

And also again, should I wait till I will have sold my 1, 2 or 3 homes BEFORE sending affidavit of support I-864?...

Appraisals are done by professional appraisers.  If you decide to sell, sell before sending the affidavit of support, so you can show the cash in an account and document where it came from.  They need to see the money sitting there for a few months or see documents showing where it came from if it hasn't been there for a while.  This is to avoid the fraud of petitioner's borrowing money from potential joint sponsors that don't want to sign the I-864 contract.

 

[sinapp 0]

Ok, thanks! Just one last thing, please: since I have already paid both fees (from petitioner + applicant), how much time I have now until sending my I-864 before they may abandon my case? (After receiving approval of my I-130, I had one year to just login into my account online to avoid such outcome...)

[pushbrk 12,897]

9 hours ago, sinapp said:

Ok, thanks! Just one last thing, please: since I have already paid both fees (from petitioner + applicant), how much time I have now until sending my I-864 before they may abandon my case? (After receiving approval of my I-130, I had one year to just login into my account online to avoid such outcome...)

One year from each contact/upload/payment, etc.

[sinapp 0]

Just to make sure, you say that, since I only paid the fees (Step 3), I have still one year time to reunite all the needed financial info/proofs before I will upload/send my l-864 (Step 6) ?...