Buying real estate in Kansas City, Missouri isn't just an attractive idea to Americans from other parts of the country. It's even trickled into the minds of Canadians who have previously only considered buying a condominium in downtown Toronto. If you're one of the many Canadians who are interested in buying a home in Kansas City and making a new life there for yourself, you might want to read this article first.
Buying a house in another country is not like buying a Mississauga home for sale in Canada. While you may be able to buy property there without getting any type of official paperwork, you'd have to use it as a vacation property unless you had a visa. A visa is essentially permission from the United States government to live and work in the country for a specified period of time. Canadian citizens can go to the United States to study or vacation for up to six months without a visa.
Six months is plenty of time to buy a home, and if you wish to do so while you're down there you could get a realtor to help you just as easily as you could get one to help you buy real estate in Scarborough, Toronto. Be aware, however, that all transactions will be in American dollars, which will need to be converted into Canadian dollars. You'll also have to convince a mortgage lender to accept you without a previous US credit rating. Your Canadian credit will have to be excellent to be approved.
Though you can apply for extensions to your visa while you are already in the United States, you must not enter the United States on a vacation visa if you intend to live and work there. It could result in you being permanently barred from the country and then how would you get that franchise of the American English language school to Canada? To apply for a visa, contact the United States department of citizenship and immigration.
Once you have your visa you can officially buy a primary residence, but you'll need to secure American employment first, so expect to have some lag time between putting your old house on the Kitchener Waterloo real estate listings and getting approved for a mortgage on an American property. You'll have to have present to the bank your long term visa and proof that you'll have continued employment for three years to be approved in most cases.
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