Canadian starting an LLC for mortgage financing ??

[Alan Brierley]

Hello all,

First post. 

I'm a Canadian buy and hold guy with a small portfolio (7 properties) but am interested in the US market since the cash flow opportunities seem better.

It's been covered on this site before, but financing (other than hard money lenders) is difficult for Canadians to buy in the US (lots of reasons...).

However - would this strategy work?

1) I register an LLC

2) I buy one property via the LLC with all cash - and rent it for 1 to 2 years so there is a track record of paying taxes, show income from the tenant etc.

3) I then apply for mortgage financing or a home equity line of credit for a second property via the LLC based on the performance of the first property.

Would this get around the problem of being a Canadian and non US resident? 

The eventual goal is to build up a US buy and hold portfolio (I like diversifying outside of just one market) - and am hoping that once I get over the hurdle of getting a mortgage for the 2nd property I can start to access funding from US banks and credit unions etc to build the portfolio. 

Non-residents can start LLC in the USA - so that's not an issue.

Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.