Loan Options for American Looking to buy in England

Member since 2022 · 57 posts · 43 votes

Looking for creative financing for an international purchase. Has anyone every worked with an ex-pat trying to buy in England? Foreign banks will lend with a 25% down payment. After doing research it's a very high barrier to entry with traditional lending. There's other upfront costs including stamp duty, 2nd home tax, foreigner purchase tax (solicitor, tax professional, currency broker etc) and then of course the exchange rate. Looking to buy a vacation home and spend part of the year there then short term (or mid term let) in between. Anyone have any insight or contacts who can help at a lower barrier to entry?

0 Reply

10 views

6 Replies

Jump to latestLatest

Sort by

Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
Moderator
Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
3y
@Tiffany Cohen
From my experience in researching buying internationally, US was only country I found with less than 20% down and have 30 year terms.
7e investments53 Reviews
Website View Page
0 Reply
Tiffany Cohen
OP
Member since 2022 · 57 posts · 43 votes
3y
Yes I’m the UK it’s only a couple years and then you need to redo the loan. Which is fine. Their rates are finally going up about 1% to just over 3%. Their rates incredibly low but yes term much shorter. Looking for someone though who can help with less financial down payment as some of our money is tied up in another investment property.
0 Reply
Jennifer S.
Investor · London · Member since 2017 · 160 posts · 82 votes
3y

Hi Tiffany, interesting project. I haven't borrowed in the UK in a while so I'm asking a contact if he recommends any mortgage brokers. What is your buy thesis on this property? I'm seeing substantial price reductions on some types of properties/some areas in London, albeit from a high base. On the other hand I have a contact trying to go from 2 to 3 bedrooms in her area of London and sees nothing remotely adequate on the market. So a bit confusing at the moment. Happy to discuss UK market, let me know. Tax is hyper specific to an individuals circumstance but happy to share what I have learned over the years.
0 Reply
Mike LambertPro Member
Investor · The Americas and Europe · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
3y
@Tiffany Cohen

Unfortunately, you shouldn't be able to find anything better unless you find something creative indeed. These are excellent terms, especially in a fast changing world where borrowing huge amounts of money at low interest rates is a thing of the past.

@Chris Seveney

In Japan, you can get a 50-year mortgage at a sub-1% interest rate. You can't beat that in the US or anywhere else!

In Canada, we take 25- or 30-year loans but then the interest rate is set for shorter periods, typically 3 or 5 years at a time and is fixed or variable. While your 30-year fixed rate at 7.08% makes a lot real estate cash flow negative, we can still get a mortgage with a rate as low as 4.19% and we can have loans with 5% down.
0 Reply
Tiffany Cohen
OP
Member since 2022 · 57 posts · 43 votes
3y
Hi! Yes I’ve been down deep with a couple UK mortgage brokers there and a tax advisor. It is a challenging market prices are coming down a bit but the inventory is lacking. It’s been big in the news as of late. They also just raised the rate about a point I believe. Trying to break into the market as my family and I want to start spending more time there when we can. But funds are tied up in different projects so I’m trying to get creative with financing. Conventional borrowing as an expat will make it virtually impossible for us to buy something. Renting will also be throwing away large amounts of money annually so we’re trying to find creative and alternative solutions.
0 Reply

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.