Foreign National Mortgage Loans in Texas

Brandon Huynh is a Houston mortgage loan officer, NMLS #2522494, with Lock It Mortgage, a trade name of Swift Home Loans, Inc., NMLS #2075228. He helps self employed buyers, real estate investors, and foreign national buyers, in English and Vietnamese. Licensed in 40+ states.

Who a Foreign National Loan Is For

This loan is for people who live and work outside the U.S. You want to own property in Texas. That is the whole test.

Maybe you want a second home your family can use. Maybe you want a rental that pays you each month. Either one works here.

The two look different to a lender. A second home is one you use yourself. A rental is one a tenant lives in and pays you for. Tell me which one you have in mind on the first call. The program follows that answer.

What it will not do is buy you a home to live in full time. Foreign national loans are written for second homes and rentals only. That part is firm, and no lender bends it.

Two groups get sent to this page by mistake. I want to save you the reading.

Do you already live in Texas on a work visa? Then you are not a foreign national buyer in the lending sense. You have better choices. Start with loans for H1B visa holders instead.

Do you live here and file taxes with an ITIN? Same thing. ITIN loans are built for you. They can buy a home you live in, too.

And if the home you want is in Houston, I have a page just for that market. Read foreign national loans in Houston for the local side.

What You Need to Qualify

Your file will look different from a normal loan file. It is also shorter than most people expect.

Here is what we gather.

• Your passport and a valid visa
• A credit report from your home country, or letters from your banks
• Proof of the money you are bringing to the deal
• Proof of the savings you keep after closing
• A letter from your accountant at home about your income, on some programs

Those savings you keep after closing have a name. Lenders call them reserves. Every program sets its own amount. Foreign national loans often ask for more of them than other loans do. That is the line that surprises buyers most, so I bring it up on the first call.

None of this has to arrive at once, either. Send me the passport and the visa first. We can talk through the rest while you gather it. Most buyers get the bank letters last, and that is normal.

Now the loan side. Foreign national loans often go up to 70 to 75 percent loan to value, so you bring the rest. Where your file lands inside that range depends on a few things. The property type is one. The loan amount is another. Your credit is the third.

You do not need a U.S. credit score to start. You also do not need a Social Security Number. If you have neither one, nothing is wrong with your file. It just means we build it a different way.

Call Brandon, 832-997-1527

Buying a Rental in Texas as a Foreign National

Many of my foreign national buyers are investors. The rental side is where these programs are strongest.

A lot of them qualify on the rent. The lender compares the rent the home brings in with the payment on it. That is the same way a DSCR loan works. Your own income stays out of that math.

For most buyers abroad, that is the part that matters. You earn in another currency. You may be self employed at home. None of that has to slow the file down.

These programs are for rentals only. They also tend to ask for more savings in the bank after closing. Send me the address and the rent you expect. That is enough for me to run the first look. For the full picture of how rental qualifying works in this state, read Texas DSCR loans.

Where Foreign Buyers Look in Texas

Texas is a big state. Five markets come up most in my calls.

Houston is the first one. Buyers here look at single family rentals and townhomes. The city spreads out, so the suburbs come up a lot.

Dallas and Fort Worth sit right next to each other. Buyers often shop both at once. Single family homes and new build homes are common.

Austin draws buyers who want a condo or a smaller home. Many of them look near the center of town.

San Antonio comes up with buyers who plan to rent the home out and hold it for years.

I'm based in Houston and work with buyers across Texas.

Closing From Outside the U.S.

This is the part people worry about most. It is also one of the easier ones to solve.

Some lenders allow a remote online closing. Some lenders and title companies accept papers signed before a notary at a U.S. embassy or consulate. Each one sets its own rules, so we plan how you will sign early.

Planning it early is the whole trick. We pick the lender knowing how you want to sign. The other way around is how people get stuck. Nobody wants to find out at the end that the signing plan does not fit.

For the full walk through, read the foreign national homebuyer guide. It covers your first call through your signing day.

When You Sell Later

I would rather tell you this now than let it surprise you in a few years.

When you sell, a U.S. tax rule called FIRPTA can require the buyer to hold back part of the price and send it to the IRS. Talk with a tax pro before you buy and before you sell.

It is not a reason to skip the purchase. It is a good reason to have a tax person on your team from day one.

Help in Vietnamese and English

I speak Vietnamese, and I use it with clients every week. If English is not the language you want to talk money in, we do not have to use it.

Call or text me in either one. I will answer in the one you start with. If you would rather read about this program in Vietnamese, đọc bằng tiếng Việt.

Time zones are fine too. Tell me the hours that work where you are. I will work around them.

Is a family member here in the States helping you with the search? Loop them in. I am glad to keep two people updated at once.

Frequently Asked Questions