Mortgages
 

Hi - new to these pages and was hoping to get some advice, info or hear any experiences people have had regarding getting a US mortgage.

Moved to the US in Dec-20 on a spouse visa. My wife lived in the US for the majority of her life apart from the last 3 years in the UK with myself. We both are now employed in the California and want to get an idea how long it would take for us to get a joint mortgage.

we are hoping to be able to buy in 18-24 months (should comfortably have the deposit we need by then), could probably afford what we’re looking for in 9-12months. We are assuming it will take a while before I would be eligible to get a mortgage, just trying to figure out how long. I have already established credit over here - American Express set me up with a new card and I can see from their app that I can access my score.

would there be any other factors as to how long it would take I.e not being a US citizen, do I need to have been paying taxes for a certain time, or anything else.

just trying to get an idea as we make longer term plans.

if anyone has a better idea or has experiences they could share, would be great to hear.

thanks

Re: Mortgages
 

You could get one now if you wanted to - it will just be a case that the Underwriting process may take a while and they'd ask for lots of evidence from your UK finances, extra confirmation of ID etc. I think once you have three tax returns (which is likely given your timeline), you'd be using your USA credit file alone. I received a mortgage offer after only 16 months in the USA, with by my wife and myself being on L Visa's - needed to get bank statements, proof of funds, birth certificates, letter from employer (to confirm my role & income), pay stubs, got stuck a bit while they verified the SSN.

Re: Mortgages
 

The American Express app provides Vantage Score 3.0.

This is not a credit score that any credit granter in the US uses, and it can be vastly (up to 100+) different from your actual credit scores. (Transunion, Experian & Equifax)

Download the Experian app and see if that can generate a score for you. This is a FICO 8 score and is one that is used by many lenders, but not mortgage companies. Mortgages use the legacy 2,4 & 5 FICO scores. Experian will provide your FICO 2 score along with your 8 for free once a month.

Re: Mortgages
 

My experience is probably somewhat out dated.
Same situation as yourself.
Arrived October 1998.
Secured a mortgage on a property in April 2000.
FHA mortgage, high interest rate 7% and a mandatory insurance. We put down 20 % iirc.
We refinanced into a Credit union mortgage 2 years later, 4% no insurance 15 year term.

This was 20 years ago, I'm sure the situation is vastly different nowadays.

Re: Mortgages
 

I recently obtained a mortgage with my partner, she is a US citizen but I'm not.

Our down payment was 22.33%, we secured an interest rate of 2.75% (we leveraged my father in laws bank/union, Commerce Trust Company based in KCMO, as he has a pretty significant wealth management portfolio with them). We have no PMI due to the down payment amount. My credit score was around 740 and my partners was 730ish I believe. I've been in the US since late 2016 and started working in early 2017, so I was able to provide finance/tax records since then and my partner provided the same.

Re: Mortgages
 

The rules for getting the loan depends on the type of mortgage - conventional, FHA, VA, etc. It's this way because they get bundled up and sold.

There is also a category of mortgage referred to as portfolio where they don't necessarily need to conform to all the rules as the lender is going to retain the loan.

This is what I did with a local credit union. From me they just wanted a signed letter that I am planning on residing in the USA for the duration of the loan. I was in the usa 7 months at the time. My wife however is a US citizen and had a long term relationship with them.