Roland Hulme

People are SO negative on this forum sometimes!

My wife and I are looking at properties in New Jersey. The concensus is that I'll have to have held a job in America for one year before getting a mortgage, which might be what the OP was referring to with the three year thing.

A lot of people have said that New Jersey is expensive... You have to remember I come from Winchester, which is the most expensive place to live in the UK outside of London. For £160,000 you could get a tiny, tiny terraced two bed house with a garden the size of a a bath mat that's four miles outside the city centre. For the equivilent in America, you could get a garden, an extra bathroom, a gated community and a shared pool and your mortgage would be the same as the rent we pay in the UK.

It's no exageration - you really CAN get more for your money here, depending on the circumstances you're coming from. In America, I'd get paid more for the job I do (Winchester has miserable pay compared to cost of living) and property costs less.

cheekymonkey83

Thank you so much, Ronald! It's always nice to get positive feedback! I'm actually from Long Island, NY and have lots of family in NJ, so I'm quite familiar with the area. Yes, it is expensive, but I too think it's definatly worth it. What you get for your money is incredible. Ok, so he would have to work for one year in the USA in order to be eligible for a mortgage. He has excellent credit here in the UK, do you know if that would carry over? And also, there is no specific amount of time we would have to be married for him to buy a house there/worK? Because I also heard somewhere that I would have to financiallly support him one year, as he would have to wait that long in order to work. Sorry if this is trivial, I'm new to this and trying to obtain as much info as possible. Many Thanks

Roland Hulme

Hi there Cheeky Monkey!

As far as I gather, the credit rating in the UK would mean nothing in America. One of the reasons for having to work for a year for a US company is the ability to actually build up a credit rating - it would start off as 0.

I think there are a million permutations regarding his permission to work. My wife and I lived in England while we were waiting for the green card to get processed. We applied one month after getting married and three and a half years later, got my permanant green card and social security card, basically giving me full permission to work in the US from the day we return.

I have heard stories of people living in the US but not having permission to work there. It's worth discussing this with your immigration lawyer. One expat I know was told it would take months to get his green card, but because the process was ongoing, he applied for a Social Security card and was given one.

Hope that helps. So whereabout on Long Island are you from? My wife and I seriously considered moving back there, but I prefer New Jersey. It's just as close to NYC and a lot less expensive.

cheekymonkey83

Hello again!
I'm from the south shore, about 30-40 min outside the city. Absolutly beautiful, but getting to be very expensive. Still has nice big roads, the beach, detatched homes with big yards, ect.. So I guess you get what you pay for. I go to Short Hills, Montclair and North Caldwell a few times a year, which is very nice. Our plan was to get married there, come back and live here (in the UK) until he gets his green card (which we believe is around 3 years), save up some £'s.. and buy a house in the US, possibly in California or the Carolinas. He likes the heat! So we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row. Thus far, getting responses from people who have gone through it before seems to be the most straightforward way of getting info. So this seems to be the timetable:
1) get married (usa seems to be easiest)
2) wait for green card (aware this will take years)
3) work in usa for one year
4) then be eligible to buy a house there..
*** okay, i think that's generally how it goes!! easier said than done!

Roland Hulme

In the UCIS's defence, our green card took so long because it was 'complicated.'

We got married in the Bahamas, so they sent the green card there. Then We asked for it to be sent to London. It end up in Missouri for about a year. Then it went to Paris (?!?!?!) and eventually London.

In the mean time, we applied for the "fiance" visa, even though we were married. This was approved within six months... but our f**king awful lawyer NEVER TOLD US. By the time we found out, it had EXPIRED!!!

So in theory, it shouldn't take you three years to get your green card.

Is your other half already in the US? What visa will he enter on? be careful if it's a visa waiver. If he says he's coming to get married to a US citizen, they might get arsy, thinking he won't leave.

I lived in Babylon on the South Shore. My missus is from Huntington.

cheekymonkey83

you're kidding! i used to live in babylon village, right by the 231 parkway.. talk about a small world . we're going back to ny april 17th for a wedding i'm in, then he's coming back to england without me, since i haven't been able to get hired by a uk company. our plan was to get married in the fall, and then i come back to the uk with him and we can both work. we've been told that if he comes into the states as a visitor, it's legal for him to marry me, but if he tells the customs people that he might get denied. which i don't understand, if it's legal. we were told for him to bring proof he has ties to the uk (bank statments, letter from boss saying when returning to work, airline ticket back, ect..) so it doesn't look like he'll be staying in the us. It was also suggested to us to skip the fiancee visa and go straight to the spousal visa after we got married, to save money, so i could work asap in the uk. we're trying to do everything legally, but as you know the whole process is very confusing!!

Roland Hulme

After we were married, my wife travelled to NYC and got her visa to come to England (and get a job) the VERY SAME DAY.

So after you're married, there's nothing stopping you going straight back to England with your hubby if you want to.

As for jobs... My wife had spent 5 yrs as a waitress, but seemed to get on very well in the UK. First off, she was hired by an American to train their British staff in customer service (to stop being a moody, stroppy cow like most British waitresses/receptionists are.) Then she got hired by the local paper and writes the occasional articles.

They really respect the American attitude over here "I can do that."

Roland Hulme

I lived two minutes away fromt he train station in Babylon. It was great - if I fell into a drunken stupor on my LIRR trip back from the station, I would never miss my stop. When I lived in Huntington I used to start dozing, miss my change at Hicksville and wind up in Southampton!

ladyofthelake

Just to make it clear, you will be eligible to buy a house at any time, there are no restrictions on how long you have to have lived there before buying.
It is simply in your best interest to wait a year or two before buying purely to build up your credit rating so you get a better interest rate on the mortgage and save money. That's all.

Roland Hulme

So I guess the longer you work, the better your credit rating and the lower your interest rates?

Makes a lot of sense.

krizzy

We were in the USA 8 days found a house and moved in 4 weeks later...
We were told by our bank to rent for 6 months first but they still give us a loan at a good rate of interest...
You get told so many different things by so many people I think in the end its just down to plain old luck..we were told 3 years later by the bank that we should not of got a loan on an H1B...and that they had recalled in a loan from a lady from Canada for not being a LPR...no worries for us being LPR when we went for our second house...

Tracym

It is not nearly so simple as that. You can google "credit score" for all sorts of information on the details.

Getting credit and paying it on time matters a lot, of course.

First off, they have to be willing to give you a mortgage at all. I'm not sure what your immigration status will need to be, but I'd think it would be fine. Your wife would generally be on the mortgage also, so hopefully all of that is fine.

As far as getting a mortgage with no credit history, it will depend. They are tightening up on loans these days. If you had a good job and a fair amount of money to put down, it would probably be possible.

If you do not get a good interest rate, you could always refinance the loan a few years down the road too, once you have an established credit history.

ladyofthelake

And it's not always correct info. We've had 2 mortgages here whilst on an H-1b with no problems, the first one was within 3 months of arrival. The APR may not have been the greatest, but we were OK with it.

Maybe you got a citizens rate instead of a foreign citizens rate, and that's why you were told that.

krizzy

It was a good rate for the time....I don't find people are that good at explaining things...or they change their minds...the lady from the bank said at first no way could we get a loan within 8 days of landing...then 2 days later the same lady give us the loan...its a mad world...

Bob

I wouldn't say negative, it's personal experience, personal circumstances.

I come from Oxford, so I know expensive housing.

Cost of living in this country isn't cheaper, for a handful it might be, for many, it's about the same, or more expensive, there's just more hidden away over here.

Salary wise, it's about the same.