Buying Home in the U.S. by Foreigners

Recent law changes grant non-permanent resident aliens most of the same purchase and home-financing opportunities that American citizens have.

When buying a house, foreigners don't need to worry anymore about their good employment and credit records becoming lost in translation since many major U.S. lenders now use credit-reporting agencies that have reciprocal agreements with European countries and can use a simple currency conversion table to track your current income and assets.

However, a foreigner needs to come up with a down payment of 20 percent to 25 percent of the purchase price, depending on the rules of the lender, which is a little higher than what most Americans pay. Nevertheless, the home-buying process in the U.S. is relatively simple and less bureaucratic for a foreigner than it would be in most countries and there are hundreds of web sites where you can view American properties online from the comfort of your European home to facilitate your search.

Read more about what foreigner should know when buying a house in the U.S. …