cruickies

Hi everyone,

As some of you might remember, we are planning a move to Austin from the UK...just as soon as we can sell our house here in London...and that is taking MUCH longer that we first thought it would!

When we went out for a visit ito Austin in Oct we saw some homes that we liked and one of them is back on the market.

Since Oct the number of houses in our preferred neighbourhood 78750 has dwindled and fewer tick all our boxes. However, a house that we first saw in Oct is back on the Market and we are seriously considering buying it and renting it out until we can come over ourselves.

Has anyone got any experience in buying a house in the US while still in the UK? Any advice?

Is there anything that we as first time "renter out-ers" should be aware of...like special insurances, other costs, pitfalls?

Thanks in advance.

Ali

Elvira

Yes.

Do the sane thing.

Stay in London.

scrubbedexpat099

Loads of people buy property overseas, have a word with your current Mortgage company would be a start.

There must be loads of advertisers in all those buying a property abroad mags you get in WH Smiths.

c17age

Hey cruikies
Firstly do you have a US bank account? If you do get a mortgage over there. We found no one in the uk who would mortgage our place in Maine (not a major vacation area for brits you see). If you don't have an account and I believe you need a ssn to get one, good luck and post the details pls. we got a 'no docs' m'gage. It's basically a self cert. You'll pay a couple of points extra but its worth it.
If you do get your house, beware the insurance companies!!! If it's unoccupied for a while, they are very reluctant to insure it for ya. Your call on that. We were lucky as we got someone in straight away.
Hope it works out for you as conditions for buyers are pretty good out there at the mo, so do whateveryou can to sell yours. remember you'll make on the FX at the moment so don't be afraid to drop the price on yours to get rid.
Good luck
c17

cruickies

Many thanks, we do have a US bank account already (have done for 12 years) . Could you tell me who you did your mortgage through?

cruickies

Thanks, good advice. I have done a trawl on the internet but don't trust companies that I don't know, so will try some UK banks as well as our US bank.

Giantaxe

My advice (which I didn't follow myself way back when ) is rent not buy to begin with. Prices have fallen in Austin over the last six months, so there is little financial pressure to buy right now given the mess the US mortgage market is in. And inventory in the US tends to be very seasonal, typically with declines in the winter and then increaes in the spring. Unless you know exactly where you want to live and are getting a really good deal, I think it would be prudent to hold off buying.

penguinsix

Ditto...in a huge way.

There are so many factors about a neighborhood that look good on paper but when you arrive, you find that it doesn't quite match up. If at all possible see if you can rent in the neighborhood you want to buy in and then purchase a few months later.

fatbrit

Ditto, ditto. You don't need to rush for the US housing market -- it's only going in one direction. Rent for the first year and get to know the area.

dunroving

Ditto cubed ... plus, it is so hard to properly evaluate the house you are thnking of buying from 5,000 miles away. Get a 6 month rental and start looking when you get there. Plus, heck, half the fun of house-hunting is doing the open houses, viewings, etc. Don't deny yourself the pleasure!!!

rayburke

Good idea, we are also moving to Texas from the UK - Aberdeen... Any possibility of setting up bank accounts, PO box etc, would save us some pain

snowbunny

Austin prices in certain areas will hold steady for a while because we are growing so rapidly and there's a demand for housing close in to avoid commuting. While I do think that renting for a while is a good idea, I also wouldn't pass up a good house for a good price.

50 is a highly desirable area because it's relatively close in while also being close to major tech employers. You can check property valuations online. We haven't seen the foreclosures that are common elsewhere. The one thing to wait for would be an interest rate cut. The prices may go up a bit with lower rates.

meauxna

I don't know much about Austin, but this doesn't surprise me based on what I do know.
The "US housing market" is not any *one* thing.. we are still experiencing growth in Portland OR and prices aren't falling (or even going down much seasonally) here.

Giantaxe

Case Shiller is showing small declines for Portland since August (and a small year over year increase). Normally I would agree that the US housing market is not one big thing, but the credit mess is one big thing. Consequently, I am somewhat sceptical that any area will completely escape the ongoing mess, except perhaps Manhattan. Every area likes to think it's "special" and somehow immune to declines, but the reality tends to be different.

http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf...ase_122622.pdf

meauxna

OK, OK, I give.. that might've been a *little* too Chamber of Commerce!

But it's no Detroit, and the media does tend to report as if all markets are equal when they are not.