Canadian resident- How to buy a home in USA?

Well your credit history will be Canadian, that will be the main stumbling block I suspect. Best idea is to phone Bank of America as they seem to be the ones who are most keen on issuing Canadians mortgages.

Steven - I'm looking for a Florida property, and a lot of information from your posts has been very helpful; thank you. I don't plan on renting it out or selling as an investment property, so the tax issues should be pretty simple. One thing that isn't mentioned on here, which I'm surprised about is that most condo association's in Florida don't mandate reserve funds. So - if the pool goes, owners are special-assessed. (ie, possible big up-front payments.)

Anyway - my concern is around financing; most places I'm looking at in Fort Lauderdale are around $30,000, which many realtors said could be further negotiated on as the market is still extremely depressed and could possibly still get worse. (yikes) There have been posts on this link that Bank of America would look to do financing to Canadians, but that was quite some time ago. Putting 25-30% down would not be an issue for me, but perhaps due to the loan amount (small compared to my Canadian Mortgage,) a Canadian bank may look to finance as is low-risk compared to my annual earnings.

And now - for my question; do you know of any Canadian banks that would finance a US home purchase, or, whether or not BofA is still doing this for Canadians with large (25% ) downpayments? Would it be better to contact a mortgage broker in the US/Canada to shop around? I could also look to do a Home Equity Line of Credit, but think the interest rates on this would be higher than a mortgage.

As an FYI, I have a nice squeaky clean credit rating here and a nice big chunk of equity in my Toronto condo, but as you know - credit granting is still very tight.

Thanks,
Jeremy

It is unlikely that Cdn bank will finance, due to difficulties they would have in foreclosing, etc.

Local banks will deal with you. ask some of your potential neighbours. big doenpayment will help of course.

Hi. my wife and I live permanently in the Philippines right now, but we are still Canadian citizens. Would we also be able to stay as visitors in the US "for up to 6 months", like any other Canadian who lives across the border of the US, which is Canada? Thanks.

I used my Cdn residence to setup a equity line of credit with RBC. I'm in the process of purchasing a US property with this line of credit. I've confirmed with RBC that this is not issue, and they've done this for other clients.

That's fine. You are in essence paying cash for the second property. That is not a mortgage obvioulsly.

I followed through this whole thread and saw the question but not the answer.

If you use financing from Canada , like a line of credit, to purchase a US based investment property for cash, can you then claim the interest from the line of credit as an expense for US tax purposes ?

Or must the interest be on a US loan/mortgage ?

Thanks!

The interest does not have to be from a US bank to be deductible. It is a rental expense.

Hello;

I have a few questions. My husband and I (Canadian citizens living in Ontario) are currently looking to jointly purchase a home in SC with my brother and his wife. My brother is a Canadian citizen with a green card living and working in the U.S. His wife is an American citizen. We have secured our portion of the financing through our bank in Canada.

My questions are;

1.) What is the best way to approach the purchase?

2.) Can we (or should we) gift our portion of the investment to them and then draw up a co-ownership agreement? They are are obtaining financing in the U.S. for their portion. However, the home in question is currently in foreclosure and owned by GMAC. GMAC requires preapproval for the entire purchase amount to make an offer, and my brother requires our share to qualify.

3.) Is it possible to submit joint bids to make up the total amount?

4.) Are there other options in this situation?

5.) And finally, what are the tax implications on our portion of the purchase amount? We have read through the CRA site, but can only find mention of the requirements for gifting of funds if both parties are Canadian and living in Canada. I did read an earlier post from parents who wanted to gift their daughter money to buy a house that was living in San Fran, but she does not have a green card.

Any insight you can provide would be very welcome.

For buying home in USA can contact with property dealers and real estate agents, and if you are looking for single family home you can contact home for sale by owners, can contact directly with him. One an example of single home construction company is Maruti Development Ltd, providing single family home, home for sale by owner services.

The previous post is a spam.

-- Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:20 pm --

For buying home in USA can contact with property dealers and real estate agents, and if you are looking for single family home you can contact home for sale by owners, can contact directly with him. One an example of single home construction company is Maruti Development Ltd, providing single family home, home for sale by owner services.

-beware of peterjohn1, the user has spammed this board. In fact the website appears like a SCAM!

-- Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:27 pm --

Hi,
We are Canadians in Toronto, seeking to find a trusted and proven realtor or agent to work with - one who helps Canadian buy property in US for rental investment purposes.

I've heard good areas for rental investment are Austin, TX, Portland, OR, and Charlotte NC, as these have not depreciated much. Any suggestions or comments?

Any advise on who, or where to get started in finding a realtor who can best guide in finding rental properties for Canadians?

As we intend to continue to live remotely from the property, is getting a property management company best option. What must I know about such companies?

All important, it comes down to $. Finding lenders, and from the history previous posts connected to this thread, I've gathered that RBC (in Canada), and possibly BoA are helpful. Any others suggestions?

Thank you kindly for any feedback.
Newbie Kiosaki/Rich Dad Poor Dad student.

Desi