Once you have found your dream house after several trips, numerous viewings, and days of negotiations and got it under contract you will most likely wish you could move in right away, furnish it, set it up nicely, rent it out, vacation in it … right?
Well … the closing date, the day the home actually transfers ownership, is still a couple of weeks away. But when financing the countdown starts with the date the contract was signed, so the countdown clock is ticking. What timeframe seems realistic and how can you use the time most efficiently? We summarized which steps should be taken ahead of time so that a smooth, stress free and timely closing becomes possible:
Pre-Approval
The better you prepare yourself for your loan, the better and more efficiently we can work for you. It would be best for you to have a “Pre-Approval” given to you at the beginning, as soon as you have made the decision to purchase and finance property. A “Pre-Approval” is a form letter which certifies the purchase price and loan amount you are able to qualify for. The best form of preparation would be to send a pre-approval to your real estate broker in advance of the visits. In addition this will give you leverage and can ease the negotiations with the seller tremendously. Along with the data for the pre-approval all other data needed for a subsequent credit application will be available to us as well.
Documentation
It is best if you begin with the organization of the required documents before your viewing tour. We would be happy to provide you with a list of the relevant documents and the corresponding form letters ahead of time – available in a variety of languages. If you are going to travel in order to look at properties and are staying for 2-3 weeks, the ideal case would be for you to have had all documents completed and with you so that processing can start right away once a property has been found. If you are flying for only a short trip (only for a few days) you can arrange for the procurement of the documents before your departure and file them later upon your return home.
The equity
In some cases the equity can take up most of the preparation time. The U.S. banks will have to prove the source of the money within the last 60 days. If you already have the money sitting in your account for at least 60 days you can provide proof easily – in this case bank statements of the past two months are perfect. If you have sold property in Europe or take out a loan there for the purchase of your U.S. home, you can provide proof by simply submitting the sales contract i.e. the credit contract and proven deposit. In this case it is not necessary of course to show proof of the money being in the account for 60 days, but you may have to show some of your own reserve funds for 60 days. If you have received money as a gift from a family member for example, have it spread out into different accounts, or are keeping it in a safe, you should transfer the funds into your account as soon as possible in order for you to be able to provide the desired bank statements after 60 days.
If this is not possible: There are several alternatives for providing proof which make financing possible. However; if you wish to get the absolute best interest possible you should prepare yourself accordingly. We would be glad to help you with that.
In general it is possible for Foreign Nationals to successfully complete the financing process within 30 days. The average processing time is approximately 45 days, which includes a few days calculated in for the procurement of the documents. In most cases the time from (purchase) contract signature until closing is relatively tight. The sooner you contact us and start to prepare yourself the quicker and easier the purchase of your property and your financing will become.
