Watch your language Susie. Children read the forum as well.
My husband is a born American and moved to France for 12 years. When he came back it was incredibly hard to start to establish credit again. It was like he didn't exist. He had to ask his mom to help us out to buy our car and first home. It's not easy [msnsad]
Anderson, Amirah & Andrea Amarante
How difficult is it to get a mortgage straight away in the US? We will be moving from the UK to Florida with no credit history. Yes we will have funds available (£60,000) after we have bought the biz. But don't really want to tie that money up. I have read on this forum about the money you need in the first couple of years on deposits for utilities etc.. I'm not that interested in buying and then having to rent because we bought in the wrong place. In saying that, good point about throwing money away. This something we have thought about hence the request for renting websites.
I have heard that the rents can vary depending on the time of year?
Jimbo
If you look on www.realtor.com for a realtor who specialises in the area that you want to live Jimbo, they should be able to help you in the long term rental market. Rates for homes rented long term are different to those for short term. Many realtor companies act as agencies for long term rentals as well as selling homes.
You will, most likely, be able to get a mortgage, if you choose to buy instead of rent, but not on the same terms that Americans can get. You'll pay a higher interest rate and have to put a lot more money down as a deposit. Depending on where you decide to eventually buy you could easily have to use all of your £60K as deposit for the house purchase.
Carla
My opinion to Jimbo is to explore all those options with expert financial advice. Engage and independent financial adviser and get quotations for mortgages etc. Jimbo, I can understand you want to keep a reserve in the bank probably to live on and see you through until your business probably either takes off or makes sufficient money for you to live on.
However my opinion on it is this. You have around 60k, you will rent for around 12k. Effectively that means you will be using approximately one fifth of your capital. At the end of this time, you will have two options. One is to rent again. The other is to buy. If you buy after you have rented, you will have a far lesser deposit than before. If you rent again, you will further eat into your equity.
Weigh up the pros and cons very heavily on buying-v-renting.
Establishing credit is always hard. Even in your own country. If you are young, old, or even default in any way, you are going to have to establish credit again.
However, if I have any advice it would be this. Seek an independent IFA to handle this for you.
Just remember, what takes you months to spend in rent, has taken you YEARS to earn in equity in your home. It could take you years again just to get back what you lost. And with rises in property markets, you may find after renting you cannot afford to get on the ladder. SEEK EXPERT ADVICE.
Jimbo,
To get a head start, I can tell you where to look/call to get an American certified financial advisor. Send me a PM if you are interested [msnsmile2]
Anderson, Amirah & Andrea Amarante
Jimbo, just so that you have some figures to work with if you do consider buying not only your business but a home at the same time.
On a property worth around US$200,000 (hard to get anything really decent on the Gulf Coast for less than this) the closing costs will be around US$12,000. Therefore total purchase price will be US$212,000. As a British national you'll most likely have to find 30% of the purchase price which would be US$60,000. So in order to purchase a home you would need at least US$72,000 up front. At today's rate of £1 = $1.78 that would equate to around GB£40,500. When you come to do it, if the rate has dropped then you'll need more pounds to cover the dollars. If it goes down to £1 = $1.5 then you'd need GB£48,000 to end up with US$72,000.
Since you said that you would only have capital of GB£60,000 left after purchasing your business, if you also bought a home you would then have only GB£19,500 left of your spare capital or US$34,700 (at £1 = $1.78) to fund your startup in a new Country. There are so many other things that you will have to pay out for, for the business and living costs, that you will run out of money very quickly. Based on the experience of others I know who have gone the route that you are taking, you cannot assume that your business will generate enough income to keep you going for quite some time - you will be using a lot of your spare capital to do this with.
I think that it is more important, initially, that you ensure that your business succeeds, and have sufficient funds to help it to succeed, rather than worrying about buying a property, otherwise you may find that you end up coming back to the UK with little or no capital.
You also need to bare in mind that this is the first year for sometime where there has been any significant growth in the equity in a home in Florida. Prices have been relatively stagnant for some time. You also cannot assume that this growth will automatically continue. The housing market in Florida should never be compared with the UK housing market.
I hope that it all works out really well for you. Let us know how you get on.
Carla
Jimbo
Always negotiate with your realtor. Remember that they are getting commissions. A lot will consider a cash back. I'm sure they'd rather a lesser commission than lose the whole deal.
Ask this before you commit to anyone. Remember YOU are the one with the money you can take it to any realtor you like. If they aren't agreeable to this, take your money elsewhere to someone who will.
Also if you are buying new, try and look for a builder who contributes significantly to your closing costs. Some builders will pay practically the whole thing. Choose wisely.
Same goes for business purchases. Negotiate!! Us British are notoriously bad at this.
Get as much information from as many experts as possible.
WOW! You guys are fantastic. I'm trying to take it all in before I reply fully
Jimbo
OK here goes, my twopenneth!!. Once you are living here and your only income is from new business here, it is INCREDIBLY difficult to get credit of any sort. It takes about two years to build up a credit rating. We just got credit cards witha $300 limit on them ( wowie) and we have owned a villa here for seven years!! We bought our home we live in here two months before leaving the UK, putting 30% down and buying as a "vacation home". At the time my husband was still working in the UK. We have been here six months now and recently enquired about changing to a Florida residents mortgage. We were told that definitely no chance of a residents mortgage as incomers with an unproven business for two years. Until you live here, you have no idea what life is like for those on a non immigrant visa. You are a non person when you first get here and cannot do anything at all. I was better than some as I had owned a villa so had some credit against my ITIN though none against the all important social security number. Without a rating in the US, you are nothing. Jimbo, it aint easy, this, dont expect it to be.
BTW, rents are sky high on the west coast. Renting long term will cost an arm and a leg.
Julie
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