The Experts In Real Estate And Mortgages

Well, the Canadians as well as other Foreign Nationals are back and buying homes here in Florida. I have met with several Canadians and showed them a lot of condos on the beach and the biggest questions have been:

1. What type of loans do we qualify for ?

2. What is happening with these high property taxes?

3. Should we use our own bank for the financing or a mortgage broker here in Florida?

1.) for the most part, Canadians buying 2^nd homes here are treated pretty much the same as Americans.

If they have good credit, income and can prove sufficient assets in a Canadian bank then they qualify for fannie mae loans and the interest rate for a 2^nd home. Down payments can be as low as 5–10%.

This means they can get 30 year fixed rate loans with great rates in the mid 6% range.

Foreign Nationals

If you cannot or do not want to supply all the paperwork required then you can qualify for a foreign national program.

Employment is verified by an accountants letter or income letter from an employer,

Assets are verified in foreign bank and converted to U.S. equivalent,

A credit letter from an international bank or 2 local credit letters from any creditors,

own payments (20-25%) are required and fixed rates are not available for any longer than 3 years and then they can lock in for the balance of 27 years.

You can use these programs to buy 2nd homes or rental properties. A visa is only required if it is a second home but not if it is an investment/rental property.

The above loan program is the foreign national programs and apply to people from any other country as well as Canadians

2. The property tax situation is improving since the values of properties has dropped tremendously in the last 3 years and this will also cause the assessed values of properties to decline as well. This means that the taxes will go down based on the new, lower values.

3. If you have access to a local mortgage broker in the city or state you are buying in you are much better off because instead of just having the rates and programs of 1 bank you have access to up to hundreds of lenders rates and programs. This allows you to shop rates and programs all in one place.

Contact a Local Florida Mortgage Broker

If you are thinking of buying a home in Florida feel free to request a free consultation with me to see what type of loan you qualify for. Not only am I a Realtor I am a mortgage broker and I specialize in low down payment loans and first time buyer options, and Foreign National loans.

Contact me here

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