April 20, 2006 at 08:10am by Jim
As more and more International visitors and other tourists from outside the U.S. are inquiring about Miami real estate/condo purchases, the need arises to produce a quality product for our valued Resident Aliens, Non-Resident Aliens and Foreign Nationals.
Some lenders avoid makng a loan to a Non-Resident, but there is a large mortgage market for folks who don’t meet the standard guidelines. Resident-Aliens and most Non-Resident Aliens are candidates for the entire product mix of certain lenders.
Foreign Nationals have many programs available; however, there are loan limitations. Foreign National borrowers should be prepared to pay a slightly higher interest rate (about 1%) to compensate for the higher perceived risk.
Industry wide, 80% of the appraised value will be loaned to almost any legal “visitor”, “tourist”, or “guest”. Persons who are “diplomatic” visitors are excluded.
For certain catagories i.e. Lawful Permanent Resident Aliens are considered for all programs that are available to United States citizens.
Countrywide (a personal favorite) has the view that they will grant loans to Foreign Nationals in addition to Permanent and Non-Permanent resident aliens.
Foreign Nationals are non-United States citizens, who are non permanent resident aliens, and do not have full or partial diplomatic immunity.
To start the loan application process, a Non-Resident must provide:
- a copy of their unexpired passport
- evidence of a valid residency type visa
- a Social Security number or a copy of “Certificate of Foreign Status” form W-8.
Visa catagories acceptable for mortgage consideration
B-1 and B-2 - Business Visitors and Tourists
E-1 and E-2 - Created for creating Treaties
G-1 to G-5 - For Employees of International Organizations
I - Foreign Media, Press, Radio, TV, Film
J-1 - Exchange Visitor
J-2 - Exchange Visitor Spouse or Child of J-1
K-1 - Fiancee of U.S. Citizen
R-1 - Religious Ministers, Priests, Church
Unacceptable Visa catagories
A-1 to A-3 - Diplomatic Full or Partial Immunity
F-1 - Temporary Visitor Academic Students
F-2 - Temporary Visitor Spouse or child of F-1
M-1 - Vocational Students Academic Students
This data should help clarify some issues around mortgage lending to Resident Aliens, Non-Resident Aliens, Foreign Nationals and International Tourists.
Facebook
RSS