K C

Hi,

Not sure if the subject is accurate here but I was looking for some
advice. We just got married 2 weeks ago, my wife's a US citizen,
living in the US. We're working on getting my paperwork for
immigration completed.

She owns a house and went in to get it refinanced as she got a great
deal on the financing..... turns out that since she's married and I'm
not a US resident there are issues and the bank will get back to her.
They said something about me needing to go to a US consulate in Canada
to sign some documents, plus other things that they weren't sure about
yet.

Does anyone know anything about this? All she wants to do is
refinance the house, she would have done it before we got married
(civil cermony in court) but since she travels for work etc, she
didn't get a chance to do it earlier. Can they stop her from
refinancing it as her husband is not a US resident???

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Kevin

Clare & Steven

Gawd, I didn't think that would be a problem. I also own a house and was going to put Steven on the paperwork after we got married. Also thinking about refinancing too...the rates are so good right now! I'll be watching this thread for answers too.
Thanks for bringing this up, Kevin.
Clare

K C

Clare & Steven <member@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > Gawd, I didn't think that would be a problem. I also own a house and
    > was going to put Steven on the paperwork after we got married. Also
    > thinking about refinancing too...the rates are so good right now! I'll
    > be watching this thread for answers too.
    >
    > Thanks for bringing this up, Kevin.
    >
    > Clare
    >

I don't really want to be on the paperwork.... I won't be living in
the US for atleast 10-12 months, doesn't really matter to me. We
just wanted the better rate on the mortgage!!... But I think it has
something to do with "communal state" law or something. The bank
wasn't even sure, they're going to determine what's needed and get
back to her.

Kevin

Rete

This must be a specific bank requirement as you are free to purchase property within the US even if you are not a resident. Tourists from England and Canada (according to the various newsgroups/forums) are buying up property in Florida for vacation homes without problems. You do not have to show residency status to buy property. Usually credit history or cold hard cash is sufficient. Have your wife shop around.

Rete

Pallyn

I refinanced without my husband being on the paperwork after I was married. Not even a problem, although they dd ask if he wanted to be on the loan. However, I recently sold a rental property that I had also purchased before getting married, and they made him sign off on the deed before settlement. We live in PA.

DCMark

I refinanced without having my wife on the paperwork. Her lack of credit would have been a detriment. Call another bank.

K C

DCMark <member@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > I refinanced without having my wife on the paperwork. Her lack of
    > credit would have been a detriment. Call another bank.

This is not on the loan really, ie. my name doesn't need to be on the
mortgage just the ownership for the house.

This is in Kentucky, I wonder if there are only a few states that
require this.

Thanks,

Kevin

Cdn Chick

We went thru the same thing when I moved down here (I'm from Canada - now in
Texas). We bought our house down here while I was still in Canada (I still
had my own house and a very well paying job!) .. The mortgage company would
not put me on the mortgage because I was not a "resident" and the title
company would not put me on the title for the same reason. However - NOW
that I'm a resident my name can (and will) be put on the title - but, for my
name to be on the mortgage, we would actually have to refinance it to do it.
So, if all's your looking for is to put your name on the title, it shouldn't
be a problem - but I'm not sure if that varies state to state!
Good luck!

"K C" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > DCMark <member@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > > I refinanced without having my wife on the paperwork. Her lack of
    > > credit would have been a detriment. Call another bank.
    > This is not on the loan really, ie. my name doesn't need to be on the
    > mortgage just the ownership for the house.
    > This is in Kentucky, I wonder if there are only a few states that
    > require this.
    > Thanks,
    > Kevin

K C

"Cdn Chick" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>.. .
    > We went thru the same thing when I moved down here (I'm from Canada - now in
    > Texas). We bought our house down here while I was still in Canada (I still
    > had my own house and a very well paying job!) .. The mortgage company would
    > not put me on the mortgage because I was not a "resident" and the title
    > company would not put me on the title for the same reason. However - NOW
    > that I'm a resident my name can (and will) be put on the title - but, for my
    > name to be on the mortgage, we would actually have to refinance it to do it.
    > So, if all's your looking for is to put your name on the title, it shouldn't
    > be a problem - but I'm not sure if that varies state to state!
    > Good luck!
    >

Actually what my wife is looking for is to refinance the house,
without my involvement at all. The bank wants her to put my name on
it too now that we'er married. But since I'm a non resident, living
in Canada it would be more difficult to do.... apparently I need to go
to the US Consulate in Toronto and sign some documents or something.
The bank is not sure, they will get back to her when what's required.

If she could go ahead without me that would be awesome, save a lot of
time and additional effort.

Thanks,

Kevin

Dekka's Angel

This is the reason the bank is balking.

IME, Virtually all banks will refinance the separately-owned property of a married person, in the separate owners' name (they usually just make the other spouse sign something acknowledging no ownership interest in the property). But I know of no bank that will refinance jointly owned marital property with a loan in only one person's spouse's name.

Putting you on the deed to the house is more than just a piece of paper. It is saying to the world that you also own the house with your wife. Given this, your rights in the house, if they are not otherwise liimited in the deed itself, are co-extensive with your wife's. Therein lies the problem.

What you propose is to have a situation where both you and your wife own a home being used as the security for a debt, but have only one of you be responsible for the debt. That's a no--can-do, where mortgage lending is concerned. The reason is that if she is the only person named on the mortgage/deed of trust, and she defaults for any reason (I'm not saying she will), the bank's remedy of foreclosure and/or money suit cannot affect *your* rights to the house, at least not withotu a lot of legal wheeling and dealing. Because it isn't *your* debt, and you have no contractual "privity" with the lender (i.e. there is nothing in writing saying "I owe this money too, so I give you permission to take my house".)

You as co-owner of the home have a right to possession of the house independent of your wife's rights if you are on the deed. This could defeat (or at least making extremely costly to pursue) the remedies of first resort available to the lender for a defaulted mortgage, because even if they got judgment against your wife in court, they couldn't foreclose the house and force *you* out of it without some type of agreement that binds you personally (which they don't have, as you describe it). And no lender wants to find itself in that situation on a mortgage loan. 99% of the time, the only meaningful guarantee that a mortgage lender won't take a bath making a mortgage loan is that it can take the house itself.

Make sense?

Having said that, there are lots of quirks about how these things are handled in law. They vary from state to state, and there are a couple of states where you would be deemed to have consented to the mortgage such that a bank has less risk and is therefore more likely to grant a loan.

A good place to go for general information about home purchases and home lending is your local consumer credit or homebuyers' program - usually they are run by non-profits just to help folks understand what options they have.

Good luck! Remember to read *EVERY LAST PAGE* of whatever you ultimately sign!!!

candy wy.

when my husband bought our house i signed one of these, basically you are signing away any rights in the house. luckily this was changed when we refinanced. i would advice anyone to think carefully before signing this.

K C

Dekka's Angel <member@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > Originally posted by K C
    >
    > > DCMark <member@british_expats.com> wrote in message
    > > news:<[email protected]>...
    >
    > > > I refinanced without having my wife on the paperwork. Her lack
    > > of
    >
    > > > credit would have been a detriment. Call another bank.
    >
    > >
    >
    > > This is not on the loan really, ie. my name doesn't need to be on the
    > > mortgage just the ownership for the house.
    >
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    > This is the reason the bank is balking.
    >
    >
    >
    > IME, Virtually all banks will refinance the separately-owned property of
    > a married person, in the separate owners' name (they usually just make
    > the other spouse sign something acknowledging no ownership interest in
    > the property). But I know of no bank that will refinance jointly owned
    > marital property with a loan in only one person's spouse's name.
    >
    >
    >
    > Putting you on the deed to the house is more than just a piece of
    > paper. It is saying to the world that you also own the house with your
    > wife. Given this, your rights in the house, if they are not otherwise
    > liimited in the deed itself, are co-extensive with your wife's.
    > Therein lies the problem.
    >
    >
    >
    > What you propose is to have a situation where both you and your wife own
    > a home being used as the security for a debt, but have only one of you
    > be responsible for the debt. That's a no--can-do, where mortgage
    > lending is concerned. The reason is that if she is the only person
    > named on the mortgage/deed of trust, and she defaults for any reason
    > (I'm not saying she will), the bank's remedy of foreclosure and/or money
    > suit cannot affect *your* rights to the house, at least not withotu a
    > lot of legal wheeling and dealing. Because it isn't *your* debt, and
    > you have no contractual "privity" with the lender (i.e. there is nothing
    > in writing saying "I owe this money too, so I give you permission to
    > take my house".)
    >
    >
    >
    > You as co-owner of the home have a right to possession of the house
    > independent of your wife's rights if you are on the deed. This could
    > defeat (or at least making extremely costly to pursue) the remedies of
    > first resort available to the lender for a defaulted mortgage, because
    > even if they got judgment against your wife in court, they couldn't
    > foreclose the house and force *you* out of it without some type of
    > agreement that binds you personally (which they don't have, as you
    > describe it). And no lender wants to find itself in that situation on a
    > mortgage loan. 99% of the time, the only meaningful guarantee that a
    > mortgage lender won't take a bath making a mortgage loan is that it can
    > take the house itself.
    >
    >
    >
    > Make sense?
    >
    >
    >
    > Having said that, there are lots of quirks about how these things are
    > handled in law. They vary from state to state, and there are a
    > couple of states where you would be deemed to have consented to the
    > mortgage such that a bank has less risk and is therefore more likely
    > to grant a loan.
    >
    >
    >
    > A good place to go for general information about home purchases and home
    > lending is your local consumer credit or homebuyers' program - usually
    > they are run by non-profits just to help folks understand what options
    > they have.
    >
    >
    >
    > Good luck! Remember to read *EVERY LAST PAGE* of whatever you
    > ultimately sign!!!

Thanks for the indept explanation :-)

I'm not sure I understood all of what you said above... what we want
to do is have her refinance the house. I don't want to be on the
deed or mortgage or anything. After I move down there we can work on
putting me into things.

I guess the question is, do I *have* to be on the deed? Can't my wife
refinance without me being on the deed or the mortgage?

Thanks :-)

Kevin

imkimmy

Dekka's Angel-

This is exactly what happened in my case. Our old mortgage had my name only on the mortgage, but had my husband's and my name on the deed. And Stantton only signed the deed to the the property, nothing from the bank. Perhaps we have those quirks here in Virginia.

Just thought you might be interested in knowing this.

Kimberly

Dekka's Angel

Most lenders will refinance your wife's *separate* real property in her sole name with just your written affirmation that you have no ownership interest in her property (they all have a form for this). At least, that has been my experience.