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Buying a house in America

Buying a house in America

Old Apr 15th 2005, 1:04 pm
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Default Buying a house in America

Hi Guys, Long time no post...

This is a call out to all Brits in USA who have bought a house since they moved over.

My wife and I moved over to USA in May 2003 and have recently started looking at buying a house. We have gone into the process, have found a nice house and have started applying for the mortgage... We are now coming across loads of problems and requirements (1040's for 2004/2003) that we don't have due to me only have been working over here since last September.

We're also having some great fun with the mortgage lenders. The fact that I am British and only moved over 22 months ago seems to be going over their heads. They spent two days trying to find me as an employee at the American branches of the companies I used to work for in England!?!

I am mainly wondering how the rest of you did this!

Is their a way of applying for a mortgage in the USA which is more tailored to expats?
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 1:32 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

THe best way I found to deal with stuff like that, insurance too, is to find out the area manager for various companies, call them up and explain the situation. Usually there will be somebody in the area that they know who will be more familiar with what to do. Doesn't always work, but it's worth a try.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 1:58 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by Duncan Roberts
THe best way I found to deal with stuff like that, insurance too, is to find out the area manager for various companies, call them up and explain the situation. Usually there will be somebody in the area that they know who will be more familiar with what to do. Doesn't always work, but it's worth a try.
Thanks Duncan. We have already tried that approach to a certain extent... Nobody seems to have ever actually had to arrange a mortgage for people without a credit score before and the process of arranging a mortgage for a foreign national seems to have never come up at all.

Despite all the information that the Mortgage lenders have about my background, they are still requesting documentation for times that I was not even in America. They did a background check on my Social Security Number and couldn't find me as having ever worked for the companies that I said I had.... Well, based on the fact that all of my previous employment was in England (prior to being issued my SSN). I'd say thats pretty obvious really.

I suppose they do say that moving house is the most stressful thing a person has to do...
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 2:06 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by CitySimon
Hi Guys, Long time no post...

This is a call out to all Brits in USA who have bought a house since they moved over.

My wife and I moved over to USA in May 2003 and have recently started looking at buying a house. We have gone into the process, have found a nice house and have started applying for the mortgage... We are now coming across loads of problems and requirements (1040's for 2004/2003) that we don't have due to me only have been working over here since last September.

We're also having some great fun with the mortgage lenders. The fact that I am British and only moved over 22 months ago seems to be going over their heads. They spent two days trying to find me as an employee at the American branches of the companies I used to work for in England!?!

I am mainly wondering how the rest of you did this!

Is their a way of applying for a mortgage in the USA which is more tailored to expats?
My spouse and I came over the US exactly one year before you and we bought a house in May 2004 so I empathsize with your frustrations.

Is your wife American or are you both British? If the wife is American and her credit history & score are good, things should run fairly smoothly.

Also, will you be buying the house jointly or will it be in your name alone? If you're planning to buy a house in your name alone, this could be the reason why mortgage providers are checking you so thoroughly.

Have you looked at your US credit report recently? It's usually advisable to pull it up before you start hunting for a house so you don't get any "nasty" surprises? What about your FICO score? Do you know your score?

BE member, Patrick, as I recall, was able to get his mortgage provider to get an "international" credit report which cost him something like $50.00.

In my case, at the time we applied for mortgages, I had been in the country about 22 months too but I was not given any grief about having lived and worked overseas prior to May 2002. On the other hand, my spouse is American.




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Old Apr 15th 2005, 2:08 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

You need to shop around for a different broker / lender. There's no excuse to be putting up with that crap. There are brokers out there who can even offer mortgages to people with no income, so your guys obviously know s**t about what they are doing. Don't count on closing the deal with them, or you'll be in for a whole world of frustration.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 2:22 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Cheers guys,

My wife is American with very little income and in debt due to her business so the mortgage is going to have to be in my name only.
this could be the reason why mortgage providers are checking you so thoroughly
I e-mailed Patrick this morning to see whether he has any insight into this situation.

We looked into getting an international credit check a while ago (it cost about $50-$100). They confirmed the basics, but couldn't get any information about our mortgage/credit card history (not sure why)... One phone call later to England and we had a full reprint of our credit card statements and letter from our former mortgage advisors confirming that we had been good customers.

The mortgage lenders haven't actually got these yet, since they only arrived from England yesterday (these could clear up a lot of problems).


Switching mortgage lenders is a definite possibility. I'm going to speak to them today to try and sort out what they need and what we can use instead.
If they are still causing problems we might need to go down that road.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 2:33 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

We moved here in July 2002 and bought our house in October 2003.

We are both British Citizens and were approved for a mortgage in January 2003 a mere 7 months after moving here (even though we still didn't have a US credit card). We got our mortgage with Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) because it seemed the easiest and most convenient. It was (and still is) the bank we use for our checking and savings accounts We were amazed at how easily and smoothly everything happened. We got a really good deal with them and our lawyer couldn't believe that we had a far better interest rate than most people. The fact that we only needed a 75% mortgage helped.

So maybe having a word with your bank manager would be worthwhile.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 3:04 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by mandpete
We moved here in July 2002 and bought our house in October 2003.

We are both British Citizens and were approved for a mortgage in January 2003 a mere 7 months after moving here (even though we still didn't have a US credit card). We got our mortgage with Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) because it seemed the easiest and most convenient. It was (and still is) the bank we use for our checking and savings accounts We were amazed at how easily and smoothly everything happened. We got a really good deal with them and our lawyer couldn't believe that we had a far better interest rate than most people. The fact that we only needed a 75% mortgage helped.

So maybe having a word with your bank manager would be worthwhile.
That is probably another reason we are having a problem... We are getting a 100% mortgage (due to only getting a job where I could actually save money at the start of March).

We initially tried to get a 6% sellers concession to cover closing costs (which caused its own problem, putting the mortgage at 106% and over the assessed value of the house).

I think that most of the problems we are experiencing will be resolved quite easily. I haven't spoken to our mortgage advisor about the additional requirements yet.

Personally, I just think it shouldn't be this complicated... When we purchased our house in England it went through with no problems at all (but, of course I had a valid credit score/history and savings to cover the costs).


Stressful but very exciting I'll keep you all informed. Thanks Guys.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 3:46 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by AdobePinon
You need to shop around for a different broker / lender. There's no excuse to be putting up with that crap. There are brokers out there who can even offer mortgages to people with no income, so your guys obviously know s**t about what they are doing. Don't count on closing the deal with them, or you'll be in for a whole world of frustration.
Very true! We are currently in escrow and we have no established credit i.e. credit cards and the like, and our lender is looking at "alternative credit" For example, we've paid our rent on time (it has to be a year) and cell phone, auto insurance, utilities (all paid sufficiently for a year) I was pretty amazed that we could get a loan, but the lender is very positive. She has done this before with another couple where the wife was Swedish husband American. From what I've read on here and other places a credit report from the UK is worthless. If they wanted information from there I'd give them the name of our UK mortgage lender and they could fax questions to them. But, our lender doesn't see this as an issue. We just look like first time home buyers in her eyes and in saying that we are going to get a FHA loan. I should add that our lender is reputible and she isn't blowing smoke where it doesn't belong.

I think the rule of thumb is look around at different lenders, as suggested. You might be surprised.

Last edited by AmerLisa; Apr 15th 2005 at 3:49 pm.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 5:10 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

We came over on a company transfer and used the US company's bank to get a mortgage from, also used them for our personal banking. They didnt require any background checks but relied on the fact they had a good relationship with the company hubby worked for. Also, it does help to have some sort of deposit, otherwise lenders get nervous....
Good luck with it all.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 5:21 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by Lizzi
it does help to have some sort of deposit, otherwise lenders get nervous....
Good luck with it all.
Hi Lizzi. The mortgage lenders are making us jump through so many hoops to get this mortgage.

Our situation must be making them really nervous then... 100% mortgage, FHA loan, no downpayment, sellers concessions... Great!

It's pretty obvious that everything they are putting in our way is purely designed to give themselves as much security as possible.


You're all invited to the house warming party by the way !!!

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Old Apr 15th 2005, 6:08 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by CitySimon
Hi Lizzi. The mortgage lenders are making us jump through so many hoops to get this mortgage.

Our situation must be making them really nervous then... 100% mortgage, FHA loan, no downpayment, sellers concessions... Great!

It's pretty obvious that everything they are putting in our way is purely designed to give themselves as much security as possible.


You're all invited to the house warming party by the way !!!

We're doing an FHA loan. However, with FHA you still have to come up with 3% down and closing costs.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 6:10 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Hi CitySimon:

IMHO, you are not bringing much to the table for the lender and are therefore a primary candidate for bait and switch shenanigans from a broker.

A year's job history or a small credit history are missing, and while you will almost certainly secure a mortgage (these are the easiest loans to get!), I do not think it will be on the best of terms. Have you considered waiting a while to secure your credit worthiness and taking a rental for a year? Of course, there is plenty to consider: the direction of house prices in your neighborhood and where you think interest rates will be.

Watch out for last minute rate or fee rises accompanied by the words: "You can always refinance in a year or so." This is the biggest red flag that the broker is going to screw you
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 6:25 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by AmerLisa
We're doing an FHA loan. However, with FHA you still have to come up with 3% down and closing costs.
I know, we have that covered.
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Old Apr 15th 2005, 6:51 pm
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Default Re: Buying a house in America

Originally Posted by fatbrit
Hi CitySimon:

IMHO, you are not bringing much to the table for the lender and are therefore a primary candidate for bait and switch shenanigans from a broker.
Don't I know it. Thats obviously the reason they are doing everything they can to confirm that they will get their money back.

A year's job history or a small credit history are missing, and while you will almost certainly secure a mortgage (these are the easiest loans to get!), I do not think it will be on the best of terms. Have you considered waiting a while to secure your credit worthiness and taking a rental for a year? Of course, there is plenty to consider: the direction of house prices in your neighborhood and where you think interest rates will be.
Everyone I have spoken to says that interest rates are going up and I have been renting for the last 2 years (but haven't been working during most of that time)...

Watch out for last minute rate or fee rises accompanied by the words: "You can always refinance in a year or so." This is the biggest red flag that the broker is going to screw you
I will definitely be watching out for anything like that. We already have a mortgage with 6.25% interest rate secured and have already received cost guarantees from the lenders.


I've spoken to our mortgage advisor since my last post and she has advised me that the information from England (credit card statements and letter from our previous mortgage lenders) cover a lot of the requirements from the mortgage lenders. But, I will definitely be watching out for any funny business from the mortgage lender. Thanks.
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