louisasurreygirl

Hi there all,

Just looking at various options as to buying a house upon return to the UK, and I have noticed the possibility of obtaining an expatriate mortgage... It is available for UK citizens living overseas (and possibly even those who've just returned to the UK) who either want to buy in the UK for future residential purposes or as an investment... I therefore wondered whether anyone on here has obtained one or considered obtaining one - did it end up being a good choice etc.? I assume further down the line that once you are settled back in the UK you could then swap it for an ordinary "high street" mortgage?

Any info or personal experiences on this type of mortgage will be very gratefully received!
Thanks very much.

dingbat

I didn't qualify - not enough money to invest by the sounds of it. I tried a few places, one from a tip on here. He was all gung-ho until it came to the actual offer he had promised. It turned out we were refused left right and centre because there is a six month probation period on the jobs. I will not go with a sub-prime lender, as that is a recipe for disaster. High Street banks etc. won't touch us for three to six months of permanent employment after we return to the UK. We are looking at renting and are having an awful time finding a nice house near the school we got the kids in, as we have no UK references/credit history. And we have a dog.

Quokka

Had discussions with Halifax recently about this.
Their definition of an expat is someone emploeyed by a UK company living overeas. Not a migrant.

on a mission

HSBC do lend.

I have found most ex-pat lenders to be sub prime, and their cash is drying up...

unless you have under 75% LTV it will be a struggle.

onepearlyb

Did a search on this yesterday and found these expat mortgages to be more popular than I thought.
Here's a link to one which seems pritty good.
http://www.thederbyshire.co.uk/mortg...our_guide.aspx

We're thinking bout getting a buy to let mortgage and let out a property there while we're here for a few years then when we go back, we'll have somewhere to live - or sell on.

*pearly*

mclauchlan35

Hi All

Bank of Scotland had a off shore mortgage to up to 80% loan to value that could be used not sure if its still on the go maybe worth a look.


HTH

Danny

mclauchlan35

Here's the link


http://www.bankofscotlandintermediar...ages/offshore/



all the best Danny

USAGypsies

I am reading this thread and just wondering.... I have heard of quite a few Brits getting UK mortgages to purchases homes abroad (particularly here in Florida). Do you think it works the other way around too - a US Mortgage for a UK property? Of course I haven't even thougth about the $ to GBP downside/benefits... it's 1.07am - I can't even believe I'm writing on a thread at this time of night... oh that's right, it's because my toddler decided that she was not sleepy and was not going to bed tonight, so here I am trying to have 15 mins of quiet time now that she has finally passed out ha ha... and I'm exhausted.... and rambling Sorry everyone

dunroving

This is probably not the best time to be buying a UK property with a US mortgage. Consider the exchange rate is currently 2 to 1, whereas it has traditionally been lower than that for most of teh past 25 years, except 2003-2007 - see http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/EXUSUK.txt .

If you bought a 200k GBP house now it will cost you 400k USD regardless of what happens to the exchange rate in future (i.e., you will owe the mortgage company 400k USD). At almost any time over the past 25 years, that same 200k GBP would cost a much lower USD equivalent mortgage.

Consider this also: if you ever decide to sell it in future and pay off your USD motgage, you'd better hope the exchange rate is 2 to 1 or higher or you are up a creek without a paddle. Say in 5 years the exchange rate settles back to 1.50 to 1. That 200k GBP equity you bought into will now only give you 300k USD towards paying off the US mortgage company. Even if the house went up in value, you'd still be losing on your original equity (it would need to go up to 267 GBP just to break even).

Obviously, if you stay in the US long time, and use a UK mortgage, you're also affected by the exchange rate (b/c you'll be converting USD to GBP to make the payments). I'd got stuffed this way back in the late 80's. But at least in that situation you have the option of selling the house and actually being able to pay off your GBP mortgage.

So my short answer is "Don't do it!" - you're gambling a huge amount of money on the fluctuations of the USD and GBP. Any of those people you mentioned who bought Florida houses with UK mortgages prior to 2003 will be in trouble now, for the opposite reason (because if they sell them and convert into GBP at 2 to 1, they probably won't have enugh GBP to pay of the UK-based GBP mortgage).