Conditonal Resident and buying a home

[Team_Healey 6]

Hello all! 

 

It has been a crazy ride once my husband and I moved to the USA!

We are in the process of buying a home, in fact stuck in the underwriting phase of the process for the passed 4 weeks, our closing has been moved up 3 times already. 

Here in lies the issue, our underwriter can not seem to understand my Husband's status as a conditional resident.

He has his green card valid for 2 years until we file our I-751 in June, a valid non-restricted social security card, and driver's license and has filed for Taxes in the USA. 

 

• The underwriter in the beginning of the process requested our EAD. Sent a LOE explaining we don't have one and do not need one as he is a conditional permanent resident. 

Waited for a week

• Requested his I-94 form, again sent a LOE explaining we do not have that form as we came into the country on a CR-1 Visa to get his Conditional Resident Green Card valid for 2 years. 

Waited another week! 

• Requested a stamp that we do not have at all yet, called the temp I-551 stamp that validates an expired green card for another year until you get your 10 year green card. Send an LOE explaining we are not yet at that part of our process as a conditional permanent resident as we must file 90 days before the expiry of our green card, which is not until June 10th. Explained this can not be done any earlier and the stamp can not be supplied by USCIS unless new green card never arrived in allotted time of 6 to 12 months after filing I-751 form. 

*much cursing, headaches and calls to our Loan Officer later...*

 

Find out Underwriter has stopped communications, won't give us an update and left us basically at the stage of where they asked for the stamp we can in no way get. 

 

Has anyone ever bought a home as a conditional resident before they filed their I-751 ROC form? I have searched the forum and have only found people buying a home while waiting on their new green card, and a few comments stating they bought a home on CR-1 without any problems. 

 

My husband is the only one on the loan application as a permanent resident for FHA guidelines, the Loan Officer said we had everything in order as far as documents went and we were approved with conditions until the underwriter suddenly kept adding more conditions that made no sense. We may end up losing about 2k (2 appraisal fees, earnest money, home inspection...) and worse yet losing the home because of this confusion. 

 

Any information or even those with the same experience is greatly appreciated! 

[JoannaV 173]

My husband was the only one on our mortgage/deed when we bought a house right after I moved here, so I can't comment on that specifically. Other than that I am sure that what you are trying to do is possible. Therefore, my advice would be to go in person to your loan officer and insist they get everything sorted out. That was what we had to do when something interfered with our closing. Even if your loan officer and underwriter are incompetent in some way there is going to be a bank employee somewhere in the nation who can sort it out, and if you are in the LO's office he will be motivated to find that person.

[Team_Healey 6]

5 minutes ago, JoannaV said:

My husband was the only one on our mortgage/deed when we bought a house right after I moved here, so I can't comment on that specifically. Other than that I am sure that what you are trying to do is possible. Therefore, my advice would be to go in person to your loan officer and insist they get everything sorted out. That was what we had to do when something interfered with our closing. Even if your loan officer and underwriter are incompetent in some way there is going to be a bank employee somewhere in the nation who can sort it out, and if you are in the LO's office he will be motivated to find that person.

Thank you for your response, 

 

Our LO is actually in Texas and we are in Oklahoma. We found them on a website for USDA loans and were eventually filtered into FHA guidelines as a permanent resident.

We have been in contact with him almost daily on the phone, he has stated from today we may actually look for another lender if the underwriter does not accept his write up to clear up the confusion.

It just seems that our lender may have been confused at some point of the process. I will keep this topic updated as the process goes on for anyone with the same problem as future reference. 

Thank you for your advice, I will keep contacting my LO for more status updates.

[cyclone27 710]

No issues my wife is on the deed but not on the mortgage. Clear sailing through the loan approval and closing in fact no need to show any ID apart from her drivers license.

[Team_Healey 6]

18 minutes ago, cyclone27 said:

No issues my wife is on the deed but not on the mortgage. Clear sailing through the loan approval and closing in fact no need to show any ID apart from her drivers license.

Wow! This must just be a stroke of bad luck on us then! I have read that Conditional Permanent Residents were able to get a mortgage on their own no issues. 

Our lender is Chase Bank and I was hoping that since it was a bigger bank they would be used to these types/kinds of applicants. 

Did you get your loan approval through a big branch like us or was there much more luck doing this process some other kind of way? Really curious as well as to why underwriter is asking for so much nonsense! haha

Edited April 7, 2017 by Team_Healey

[cyclone27 710]

Original mortgage was through a Community bank in MD though after a few months it was sold to a mortgage company in Alabama.

 

I think you had bad luck personally

[Team_Healey 6]

36 minutes ago, cyclone27 said:

Original mortgage was through a Community bank in MD though after a few months it was sold to a mortgage company in Alabama.

 

I think you had bad luck personally

I agree. It went well for the most part and somehow just tumbled from there. Our realtor is also hounding our LO as the sellers want a for sure closing date. (This happened today on a phone call from our realtor when he was trying to get an extension for the 3rd time). 

I will keep this topic posted as it may help someone else in the future! 

Thank you for your reply cyclone27!

[TBoneTX 43,058]

Perhaps it might help if you printed and sent portions of relevant information from the USCIS website, or found and printed information from an immigration lawyer's website.  The underwriter is obviously uneducated as to the process, and no one ever got fired for saying "no" when they were unsure about whether to proceed.

[bcking 3,157]

We purchased a house actually even before my wife got her visa. Her name is on the title.

 

However, we didn't include her on the mortgage because it would complicate things so I am technically the only one with the giant loan. Is that possible for you guys? We were still able to use my wife's money (for the down payment). Does your job make enough money to qualify on your own?

 

I would also concur with others who used a smaller mortgage company. Our mortgage did eventually get purchased by a big bank (Wells Fargo), but the personal attention at the smaller place was amazing. They also were able to give us a lot more options that the guy in the large bank just couldn't do it. It was night and day. The big bank offered a great rate but with a lot of fine print that in the end wouldn't have suited us as well.

[Team_Healey 6]

21 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Perhaps it might help if you printed and sent portions of relevant information from the USCIS website, or found and printed information from an immigration lawyer's website.  The underwriter is obviously uneducated as to the process, and no one ever got fired for saying "no" when they were unsure about whether to proceed.

Thank you TBoneTx for your reply,

 

I have attached some paperwork explaining immigration documents and what to look for about 2 weeks ago. Apparently, as of today our LO got back to us stating that the underwriter took our loan package to their Law Department to sort through everything. They have reached the verdict that we can not get a loan until we file the I-751 form. Our LO has asked us to talk with our realtor and the seller to ask them if they may be interested in renting to us until we can provide the documents for a clear to close and funding. *big sigh* 

Now we must wait for the seller and they may back out of this mess. I hope they continue to work with us but this may be the loss of a home for us! 

 

2 hours ago, bcking said:

We purchased a house actually even before my wife got her visa. Her name is on the title.

 

However, we didn't include her on the mortgage because it would complicate things so I am technically the only one with the giant loan. Is that possible for you guys? We were still able to use my wife's money (for the down payment). Does your job make enough money to qualify on your own?

 

I would also concur with others who used a smaller mortgage company. Our mortgage did eventually get purchased by a big bank (Wells Fargo), but the personal attention at the smaller place was amazing. They also were able to give us a lot more options that the guy in the large bank just couldn't do it. It was night and day. The big bank offered a great rate but with a lot of fine print that in the end wouldn't have suited us as well.

Thank you for your reply bcking,

 

Sadly in this case, I am a house wife with our 2 children who are not of school age yet. I feel like it would have been tons more easier if I was able to work as well but our home situation called for someone to take care of the kids until kinder age. 

As mentioned above we got a bit of bad news from the big lenders as they will not proceed until they get the extension letter from filing out I-751 form. Now it is a matter of waiting again, knowing that our LO is trying their best and our realtor has even more work to do. They kept us in the dark for 3 weeks until this decision was made in their department, not even updating our LO. This may really upset the seller, but I hope somehow our realtor can still help us with this home. 

The LO stated he will keep looking for investors that may fund us before we file. I have also been asking around for recommended local lenders and have e-mailed them some questions.

Just glad to finally hear something even though it was not necessarily what we wanted to hear! 

I will keep this topic updated again, to help anyone that may have the same issue. 

 

Thank you to everyone's replies!

[mallafri76 1,012]

On 4/7/2017 at 3:15 PM, cyclone27 said:

No issues my wife is on the deed but not on the mortgage. Clear sailing through the loan approval and closing in fact no need to show any ID apart from her drivers license.

You said you're wife is not on the mortgage, which is different from OP. If I understand OP correctly, they are both on the mortgage and using both their wages to secure the loan. So two very different situations, as your wife was not asking for a loan.

 

OP, I've heard about this issue before as technically, as a conditional resident, the ROC could be denied and your spouse be forced to leave the US and abandon house and mortgage. I think that's what they're scared of. Not sure who you're using for your loan but often, you'll have more luck with less traditional lenders and outside the bank system. 

[bcking 3,157]

9 minutes ago, mallafri76 said:

You said you're wife is not on the mortgage, which is different from OP. If I understand OP correctly, they are both on the mortgage and using both their wages to secure the loan. So two very different situations, as your wife was not asking for a loan.

 

OP, I've heard about this issue before as technically, as a conditional resident, the ROC could be denied and your spouse be forced to leave the US and abandon house and mortgage. I think that's what they're scared of. Not sure who you're using for your loan but often, you'll have more luck with less traditional lenders and outside the bank system. 

Well maybe it's just terminology but there isn't a mortgage until there is a loan. So I think the other poster, as well as myself, were just offering up an alternative if it was possible. The OP responded to me though and made it clear it wasn't possible.

 

I will echo again to look for a smaller company. I used Republic State Mortgage, which isn't a "mom and pop" shop but is definitely also not a big bank. They are in several states. They were wonderful.

 

Keep in mind though they can't do magic, so while they may be able to find a solution it may involve either some "insurance" for the period when the spouse is conditional (you pay more during that time), or just a higher interest rate all around. You won't get the "best" deal, since you aren't the "best candidate".

[Team_Healey 6]

3 minutes ago, mallafri76 said:

You said you're wife is not on the mortgage, which is different from OP. If I understand OP correctly, they are both on the mortgage and using both their wages to secure the loan. So two very different situations, as your wife was not asking for a loan.

 

OP, I've heard about this issue before as technically, as a conditional resident, the ROC could be denied and your spouse be forced to leave the US and abandon house and mortgage. I think that's what they're scared of. Not sure who you're using for your loan but often, you'll have more luck with less traditional lenders and outside the bank system. 

Thank for your reply mallafri76,

 

Totally agreed that the risk for a loan is definitely there! Sadly this lender (Chase Bank) dragged us 3 weeks with no communication through our LO to tell us this. We passed everything else and then this was literally the last thing the asked for the day before our second closing! We started to feel like we were dragged along for a hopeless ride.  

The bigger lenders make it a bit harder with their stricter guidelines for couples in our situation that need the space for our growing family. Not to mention buying a home could be considered a heavy piece of evidence for our relationship as we file the I-751. 

 

As for an update, our realtor has found a local lender that may be able to help us. This is the last shot at getting our home if the seller is still on board. Other options presented to us by our LO was to rent the sellers home and close the loan once we get our letter of extension after filing our I-751 for my husband. 

 

I will keep topic updated. Lesson I took is to definitely look into local lenders only when in this position. 

 

 

[Team_Healey 6]

8 minutes ago, bcking said:

Well maybe it's just terminology but there isn't a mortgage until there is a loan. So I think the other poster, as well as myself, were just offering up an alternative if it was possible. The OP responded to me though and made it clear it wasn't possible.

 

I will echo again to look for a smaller company. I used Republic State Mortgage, which isn't a "mom and pop" shop but is definitely also not a big bank. They are in several states. They were wonderful.

 

Keep in mind though they can't do magic, so while they may be able to find a solution it may involve either some "insurance" for the period when the spouse is conditional (you pay more during that time), or just a higher interest rate all around. You won't get the "best" deal, since you aren't the "best candidate".

Any and all suggestions are helpful! I have been feeling like almost nothing could happen at that point. 

Luckily as mentioned above, our realtor has contacted a local bank to be the lender, we spoke with the LO at their bank and filled out another application. The sellers realtor is trying to keep the sellers interest for us while this is being done. I feel horrible but we talked to the LO at the local bank and she said none of this was an issue to secure the loan. I am hoping in words again, so here goes nothing at this point! 

 

[bcking 3,157]

5 minutes ago, Team_Healey said:

Any and all suggestions are helpful! I have been feeling like almost nothing could happen at that point. 

Luckily as mentioned above, our realtor has contacted a local bank to be the lender, we spoke with the LO at their bank and filled out another application. The sellers realtor is trying to keep the sellers interest for us while this is being done. I feel horrible but we talked to the LO at the local bank and she said none of this was an issue to secure the loan. I am hoping in words again, so here goes nothing at this point! 

 

Good luck! I'm sure the realtors have already, but appeal to the sellers hearts. Perhaps it will help? If won't hurt I'd imagine. "Young couple, first home, international couple who are finally living together yada yada"