Buying a holiday home in Orlando Florida

AdrianC

SnooksNJ wrote: »

Boris Johnson had a perfect opportunity to go to his guy Obama when he was hit with US capitol gains tax on his London property and say this isn't fair. Which I agree with him. But he didn't and said something like I'm getting rid of this thing.

TBF, if a London-born Mayor of New York came to Cameron and said "I don't much like the way your tax laws affect me", would you expect that complaint to be given much weight?

SnooksNJ

AdrianC wrote: »

TBF, if a London-born Mayor of New York came to Cameron and said "I don't much like the way your tax laws affect me", would you expect that complaint to be given much weight?

I would hope Cameron would laugh de Blasio right out of 10 Downing Street period.
The US tax code on non residents needs to be looked at because we aren't all super wealthy living on yacht's in the Mediterranean.

buglawton

macman wrote: »

Above post is spot on. You have zero dollar income, only sterling. And not resident in the USA. So hardly surprising that they want a higher deposit. If the dollar strengthens or sterling falls you will be 100% exposed.
But if you are earning £50K now and growing, then you should surely be able to save at least £1K a month towards your deposit, so in just 12m time you can double your deposit?
PS: friends of friends of ours (US residents) bought in Orlando after years of renting. It was a new development on a gated community. The developers went bust with the estate still only a fraction completed. They now live amidst an abandoned building site and the property is worth a fraction of what they paid, should they be able to sell it at all. And it's certainly not going to attract the holiday rental market.

There are just so many real estate scams and scammy 'consultants' in this area. Let's just hope that the opening posts on this thread, which are full of click-to-scam keywords, are what they seem to be.

macman

SnooksNJ wrote: »

Since the OP is a green card holder aka a permanent US resident they have to file a US tax return by converting pounds sterling to dollars. That is proof of income for the bank.

Yes, but, as I pointed out, that income stream will be highly volatile, as it's 100% dependent on the exchange rate.

Snowedunder

Thinking about this and agreeing with many of the valid points raised by people above, here is a scenario that works well enough if you have the income and deposit.


Buy a uk home to let, does not have to be in London, but up and coming area where values are rising.
In a couple of years you should (might) be able to re-mortgage and have a much heaftier deposit, and if you feel that the property you want to buy in Orlando area is in-line with the figures you mention in your opening post, you would probably be able to purchase for cash.


I assume as a green card holder you have a US Bank Account - if not open one sooner rather than later and start saving in there too.


At your age, might I suggest there is no rush to own a retirement home anywhere, don't go tying yourself down with years of debt, remember you have only had your secure, well paid job for a matter of weeks, and you will need to build a really good credit score both here and in the US.


Not sure about UK mortgages but as far as I am aware a US Mortgage has several other requirements - one being that you have the first 3 to 6 months mortgage payments on deposit in a bank and sometimes this would have to be for a good period of time - 6 to 12 month.


You really will need to set up a good 'paper trail' of savings and earnings to realistically stand the best chance possible.


Another thing to consider is buying what is known as a 'short' property. Briefly this is a property in forclosure with a bank on which the sale price is less that what the original owners had owing on their mortgage. You would have to make an offer over the purchase price and the bank will accept the nearest offer to clear their losses but again this amount would need to be in cash siting in a bank account, but is a good way of acquiring a good investment.


As far as I am aware there is, at this moment in time no 'buy to let' scenario in Orlando.


Hope this helps.

cashbackproblems

I think you are deluded, you are still young and your priority should be to secure your future in the UK ie buying a property in London and getting on the ladder. By ploughing every penny you have in America you are delaying being able to afford property in London by a number of years by which time prices will have risen well and truly out of your league. I am same age as you with a similar salary (60k+bonus) and saving everything to buy my own place in the coming months. It is not a big salary for London.

I have looked at property abroad e.g. Bangkok and Dubai and there are so many other issues as mentioned like service charges, currency losses, fees, the UK has laws and safeties not available elsewhere. eg in Dubai you need permission to sell and then have to pay a fee for the privilege. In USA you have FATCA which means you are subject to a potential tax on your UK earnings - if your property starts earning you income. Plus Orlando is a seasonal/holiday town therefore subject to ups and downs, it is not like you are investing in a big city like London and Paris with home demand.

To answer your question no UK bank is going to lend you money, US banks will put you through loopholes just to open an account there. Plus no offense but you might not even get through immigration...