Shanebc

Hi All.

I am new to this so apologies if I have asked a question asked previously.

I am a Brit lady engaged to a US man. I currently live in the UK whilst he lives in the US. We would like to purchase a property in the US together. I have a good deposit following sale of my own property and we both have excellent credit. Can anybody offer any advice on how to go about this. He is a Merchant Mariner, currently at sea, so it has been left to me to sort out! Until such time as I can obtain a green card, he will live in the house (when not at sea) and I will live there during my trips out to visit. It is therefore not an investment property (for me anyway) but a potential permanent home for both of us.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks..... Shane

Guindalf

First step would be to find a good real estate agent in the area in which you're hoping to live. They will put you in touch with a local lender. Failing that, you could try lendingtree.com or even quickenloans.com.

Your future spouse will probably have more clout with the mortgage companies than you but you can try both in his name and jointly if you like. You WILL have to give these people a lot of personal information like SSNs and possibly more, so be prepared - and you will get bombarded with offers and other spam, but for the information you need, there's no avoiding it.

captainsensible

Your credit history in the UK, however good or bad, is largely irrelevant - I say 'largely' because there are certain circumstances where your UK credit history can move with you, such as if you have an AMEX card in the UK and apply for one in the USA, they can transfer your history but that by itself might not be enough to satisfy USA lenders (and very strict underwriting processes). Actually, this might not be true, and only your length of time as a customer will be transferred

You would be far better off by renting in the first instance, when you have moved to the USA, and building up your own credit history there. Your fiance can help in this, once you are married, by adding you to any credit cards he has, as an authorised user - this immediately bumps up your own score/history a bit but there is no substitute really for following the advice in the wiki about building up your own credit history yourself.

Sally Redux

It would be better to rent first anyway and get a good feel for the area.

Bob

This.

Far more expensive flogging a house in the US than in the UK if you get it wrong.

UK credit history is worthless, but if the OP is married to a USC who has credit history, could piggy back off of that.

Case of speak to any local broker.

Pulaski

Just like Sally and Bob said.

The round trip cost of buying and selling a house is about 10% of the eventual selling price, with the realtors' 6% being the largest part. E.g. you buy a house for $100,000, and sell it two years later for $120,000, the aggregate cost of buying and selling is going to be about $12,000, of which about $3,000 is up front, and $9,000 is on the back end when you sell.

So, you can see that unless there's a good chance you'll be owning a house for a minumum of 3 years, owning can be an expensive business.