Comments on: Buying a second home in the United States as a Canadian

By: Christoph

Christoph — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:04:41 +0000

We can do primary residences or second homes in the state of Arizona…

By: savio

savio — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:50:36 +0000

You mentioned US lenders that would lend to Canadians, could you please advise who these lenders are.

thanks

By: Mead

Mead — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:26:30 +0000

I am a real estate agent in the metropolitan Phoenix (Arizona) area and have worked with Canadian clients. When you, as a non-U.S. resident, go to title, you have to have either: a U.S. Social Security Number, a notarized letter from the Canadian embassy, or you must bring with you to the signing a third-party “credible party” (cannot be a relative or anyone participating in the transaction, including the real estate agent) who will attest to you being who you say that you are. It’s kind of a pain and one would think the U.S. and Canada would have worked something out about this, but that’s the way it stands as of righ now.

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:56:10 +0000

We purchased a home last year in SC. We used RBC and made a 20% downpayment, just a few months after Fanny May and Freddy Mac crashed.

I just wanted to point out a huge difference that’s left out of the article above, which is a contrast between buying property in the two countries.

MORTGAGE RATES: There are no accurate posted rates. You cannot look up what your bank’s rate would be. The bank sets your individual rate based on your individual credit and circumstance.

CLOSING COSTS. There is a massive difference. Closing costs include a bunch of bank fees we don’t have. But more importantly, they include your first year’s insurance and property taxes rolled right in. This means you have to declare exactly what you intend to use the property for IMMEDIATELY.

We bought our place for friends and family to use as well as us – so it would be for personal use but only occupied part of the time. Suddenly, 35 days after closing (over Christmas when we would not travel away from our kids) , we got a letter from our insurance company stating that our insurance was cancelled because they had done a spot inspection (at 15 days in!) and when they looked in the windows, they saw no furniture, therefore we were not being forethcoming.

When I phoned them to explain that it has only been 35 days and that we had not been down there yet with is being Christmas, nevermind had a chance to get furniture, they said too bad and that we had to get insurance for a empty home – which is higher. So we had to buy a 3 month policy and then change it after 3 months. And our “credit” with the insurance company was damaged because we has supposedly not been honest with them, so our rate went up!

By: Elvis

Elvis — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:28:15 +0000

Hi, I’m in the process of setting up business and subsequently a home in Texas. Being a Canadian citizen and owning property throughout the states are there any additional steps that need to be taken to ensure smooth boarder passage each time I want to go down?
I don’t plan on spending much more than 3 months of the year there.
Thanks

By: kevin

kevin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:39:49 +0000

Hi, my wife and I would like to purchase vaction home in the Pheonix area. We were wondering if you could tell us if there’s any visa requirement for Canadians in order to aquire residential property in the US? We have the snowbird concept in mind here. Where to start? Any information, or links regarding this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

By: Christoph

Christoph — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:00:05 +0000

Kim, doing loan products for foreign nationals are pretty limited right now. There are some lenders who loan on second homes to foreign nationals in Arizona – and they require a minimum of 25% down. I am not doing business in Florida and don’t have an answer for you. You might want to contact Gerry Suarez.

http://activerain.com/blogs/gsuarez

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:08:33 +0000

Hello,
My situation is a little complicated. I am looking into buying a property in Newport, RI with my common law partner and her sister. She is a US citizen, but a landed Canadian resident. Her sister lives in Newport and will be living in the house. We would be staying in Toronto, but want to take advantage of low housing prices as an investment.
My “sister in law” will be applying for the mortgage and I will be a cosigner (if that is the best solution). I also have a corporation that I would like to put the downpayment through. Is this possible when I will be a partner in the purchase and not the sole owner. And, is this the best way financially to go about purchasing in the US with my current situation?

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:35:41 +0000

Hello,
I am a Canadian looking to buy a vacation condo in Florida. I am looking at buying with my fiance as well as my parents. We are all Canadian and have homes in Canada already. This would be a vacation home for all of us and we would hope to rent it out once in a while for help towards the mortage. It appears that we can not get a Canadian mortgage without using the equity in our homes, which we do not want to do. That would leave us to get an U.S. mortgage from my understanding. Where do we start with this? And what are all of the things that we need to consider?
Thanks so much for your help.

By: Murphy

Murphy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:37:57 +0000

I am a Canadian citizen and just sold my vacation home in the US. I have never worked or lived in the US except to vacation. A 10% withholding applied to the sale because I was a foreign national. Should I get a US tax ID #, what would be the advantage in getting it? I am required to file a US tax return? What about a Canadian return on the monies? Any help would be appreciated.