Buying property in US ahead of migration

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Specializes in Dialysis, Nephrology & Cosmetic Surgery.

Have any of the UK nurses who have moved to the US or are planning on doing so bought property ahead of their move there?

I was planning on selling my house - sometime over the next year and renting for a while, rather than my money from the sale sitting idle I thought I could buy a small property outright / with a small mortgage. Then the master plan was to put it in the hands of letting agency so it is not sitting empty.

Is it possible to have this sort of arrangement or is this another one of my hair brain schemes?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jane

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Specializes in med/surg.

Buying property in the US is not hard but the retrogression may mean you're jumping the gun a bit.

I don't know how far down the line you are but the wait at the moment is years not months.

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Specializes in Dialysis, Nephrology & Cosmetic Surgery.

I know I am looking at a few years wait the way things are at the moment but the housing sistuation here looks a bit uncertain and I think I would rather take my chances at selling sooner rather than later.

Looking at property prices in the area I am heading for (I hope) with the situation in the US at the moment looks like it is a buyers market so I was hoping to get in while I know I can afford in the event of an upturn in the market if/when it happens.

Buying property in the US is not hard but the retrogression may mean you're jumping the gun a bit.

I don't know how far down the line you are but the wait at the moment is years not months.

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Specializes in med/surg.

Trouble is you might buy somewhere but find you can't get a job in a hospital nearby. This is especially true if you're going through an agency.

I think renting here for what could end up being years may whittle down your assets, plus you'd be paying a mortgage and/or upkeep bills in the USA.

This soon mounts up - I talk from personal experience because we have a US home - retrogression was not thought to be an issue when we 1st started the process but now it's costing us nigh on $6000 p.a. in taxes alone to keep our home there - which we get to use for just 3 weeks of the year at the moment! Of course we could rent it out but it's our choice not to - well not to strangers anyhow - we have let friends use it.

It's incredibly frustrating as I have a job nearby & everything but it could easily be 2-5 years before we get a look in at a Visa & that's assuming the hospital doesn't pull out.

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We purchased a property in the US this was not our original plan but sold our house in the UK 2005 also i had a job offer in the same area etc but as the last poster said we did expect to be out there long ago, but on the plus side we had the house of our dreams built over there and have spent the last few trips furnishing etc the property prices over there in Arizona quadrupled since we 1st began this so am glad to get on the property ladder over there so to speak we also heard of some horror stories or rentals etc and we had a very bad experience over here with our last landlord, i have never regretted our decision but i would think long and hard about buying and then letting your home, we are fortunate enough to have excellent friends out there who are aslo neighbours and look after our home while were not there, ultimatly the decision is yours but certainly do your homework on the subject.

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Specializes in Dialysis, Nephrology & Cosmetic Surgery.

Thanks for sharing this with me. I certainly will be doing my homework and fortunatley I do have family in NY - not a million miles away from NC were I have been offerred a job - if all goes well?

I see that at the moment I could buy a property cash with the equity in my own house. I worry that if I hang on I may get stuck in a situation I cannot sell my property quickly enough when things start to move. Then if I do sell pretty handy if I leave the money in the bank it wouldn't bring the returns it would if invested in property.

I hadn't realised it would cost so much in taxes (as RN1 has informed me) so I will have to weigh up the pros and cons.

We purchased a property in the US this was not our original plan but sold our house in the UK 2005 also i had a job offer in the same area etc but as the last poster said we did expect to be out there long ago, but on the plus side we had the house of our dreams built over there and have spent the last few trips furnishing etc the property prices over there in Arizona quadrupled since we 1st began this so am glad to get on the property ladder over there so to speak we also heard of some horror stories or rentals etc and we had a very bad experience over here with our last landlord, i have never regretted our decision but i would think long and hard about buying and then letting your home, we are fortunate enough to have excellent friends out there who are aslo neighbours and look after our home while were not there, ultimatly the decision is yours but certainly do your homework on the subject.
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we were lucky and rented from a friend in the uk before we left, so didnt have any lease problems when we left, after 2 weeks of being in the states we started to look for our own place and moved into our own condo after 2 months, since selling that we have bought 2 more houses, one we live in and one we rent. if you buy over here then its classed as a second home for you and if you get a good company to look after it as a rental then its ok. we dont get enough rent to cover the mortgage and subsidise it, but as taxpayers we can claim it as a loss in our taxes.

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Specializes in renal,peritoneal dialysis, medicine.

theres no way i would buy a property ahead of immigration, who knows how you are going to feel 6 months to a year down the line (or four years down the line like us) when youve spent most of your time waiting and being disheartned all the time, as we have, im glad we havent got any ties to the usa as now we would be in a right mess....

hello by the way, i see you are a nephrology nurse like me.... well... not like me as i am bonkers... and you are probably completely sane

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

This is really difficult advise to give because there are plus and minus's in your idea. At the moment property values in the US are lower than they have been for many years there was a huge hike in prices in 2005 and then there has been a steady decline since that time. My house has devalued over $100,000 in just over one year. I know I live in an area which was ruined by investors who bought up the property and then flooded the market but I am lead to believe that prices will steady out and then start to rise in 2009/2010. So with this in mind and the election over here this year is probably a good time to buy a property in the US.

You have to consider what is best for you and your family and if you are prepared to rent for up to 5 years in the UK? If you are and there is nothing stopping you from buying and you get a good deal then go for it. But if you cannot see yourselves waiting 5 years ( I always belive in preparing myself for the worst length of time) then dont sell yet wait until the time is closer. I hated renting felt very unsettled but in reality it is a cheaper way of having a nice place to live. I felt much more settled over here when I bought even if it is not valued at the smae price as when we bought it, it is mine and I love it.

Good luck with your desicion I am sure you will make a good one. Remember when you buy in the states there are a fair few hidden costs that we dont have in the UK. Closing costs are a shock sometimes LOL.

I got my seller to cover them for me and they amounted to $10000.

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I think everyone has given great advice for me I could not buy untill I got a feel for the place- as location I feel can make or break it for me - but everyone is different like others we rented for our first year I to found it unsettling but the up side was wegot to look around and find where we wanted to live- as for the property market well its up and down all over the word general rule of thumb if you stay any where for at least five years you will at least break even- my advice for what it is worth I would sell in the uk and catch the good market open $ bank account covert whilst the $ is so weak and rent a small place in the uk so you do not have to do repairs etc whilst waiting- and then start watching the us market if it starts to head upthen buy a small rentable property here in agood location so you will be on the market.

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Specializes in Stroke Rehab, Elderly, Rehab. Ortho.

Everyone has given you good advice - I would think realy carefully before doing anything. We bought about 6 months before we came out here and it was very stressful trying to sort everything out from accross the pond.. We were fortunate that this all happened before retrogression and when the market was good. We also had a friend who was into real estate and he bought our hosue and let us rent it off him until we moved.....worked out for us.....but again this was before the retrogression hit.

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