Help me buy a house in the US.
March 22, 2012 8:25 AM Subscribe
Filipino, currently living in the Philippines and have never been to the USA. I want to buy a house in the Indianapolis area, one I saw online for $20,000 and can pay in cash. Now my question is: Can someone who have never been to the USA purchase a property? If yes, how? And will it entitle me to be able to live there legally, since I already bought a property in their country?
What are the requirements? What are things I need to know?
What are the requirements? What are things I need to know?
I can answer only one part of this: Owning property in the US will not automatically entitle you to reside in the US. If you require a visa to enter the US (Which I believe is the case for citizens of the Philippines), owning property here will not affect that requirement.
Is there a particular reason you're looking at this property near Indianapolis, or are you just thinking of this as "Buy a cheap house in the US?"
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:34 AM on March 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Is there a particular reason you're looking at this property near Indianapolis, or are you just thinking of this as "Buy a cheap house in the US?"
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:34 AM on March 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
You don't have to be a citizen to buy property in the USA but owning property will not give you the ability to legally reside in the country. (And because you are not a US citizen, you would probably have to do it in cash anyway.)
posted by sm1tten at 8:38 AM on March 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by sm1tten at 8:38 AM on March 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
You'll want to talk to an immigration lawyer if you want to come to the US. Owning property here doesn't help you at all.
posted by empath at 8:41 AM on March 22, 2012
posted by empath at 8:41 AM on March 22, 2012
You should really discuss this with a qualified US immigration lawyer: Googling US immigration lawyer Philippines suggests that there are a number of them with offices in Manila.
I'm not a lawyer of any sort, but in addition to what everybody is saying about owning property not entitling you to immigrate at all, it occurs to me that owning property in the US could actually count against you if you ever want to visit the US on a non-immigrant visa, since it could be construed as evidence that you intend to overstay your visa and permanently remain in the US.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 8:42 AM on March 22, 2012 [7 favorites]
I'm not a lawyer of any sort, but in addition to what everybody is saying about owning property not entitling you to immigrate at all, it occurs to me that owning property in the US could actually count against you if you ever want to visit the US on a non-immigrant visa, since it could be construed as evidence that you intend to overstay your visa and permanently remain in the US.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 8:42 AM on March 22, 2012 [7 favorites]
Also: houses that are $20,000 are that price for a reason.
There are ways to essentially buy residency in the US. They're waaaaaay more expensive than $20,000 and they require the alien to make business investments.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:45 AM on March 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
There are ways to essentially buy residency in the US. They're waaaaaay more expensive than $20,000 and they require the alien to make business investments.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:45 AM on March 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
The median home price in Indianapolis is about $123,000. Six times that house you saw. Which mean sit is either a great opportunity, or likely an unbelievable shit-hole perhaps slated for condemnation, or requiring several tens of thousands of dollars worth or work to bring it up to code.
Can you purchase it? Yeah sure. Contact the listing agency, express interest in buying the property unseen for cash, after they stop hyperventilating over their good luck (and/or laughing hysterically) they will tell you how to go about it. You will now be responsible for property maintenance and property tax or else could end up forfeiting it in a few years. All this and, as others have said, it will do little to nothing to actually help you emigrate.
Much better is to find an offer of employment, but that is all stuff you got to talk to an immigration lawyer about, not us.
posted by edgeways at 9:05 AM on March 22, 2012 [4 favorites]
Can you purchase it? Yeah sure. Contact the listing agency, express interest in buying the property unseen for cash, after they stop hyperventilating over their good luck (and/or laughing hysterically) they will tell you how to go about it. You will now be responsible for property maintenance and property tax or else could end up forfeiting it in a few years. All this and, as others have said, it will do little to nothing to actually help you emigrate.
Much better is to find an offer of employment, but that is all stuff you got to talk to an immigration lawyer about, not us.
posted by edgeways at 9:05 AM on March 22, 2012 [4 favorites]
I'm Pinay, and it works both ways -- I can't buy a condo in Makati as a means of regaining my Philippine citizenship, for example. It's entirely possible to purchase property in the US without ever having set foot in the country, but it will not entitle you to any change in your immigration status.
posted by evoque at 9:15 AM on March 22, 2012
posted by evoque at 9:15 AM on March 22, 2012
There have been a few scams in the news lately where people have bought houses listed online, only to find that the address, photos and description were taken from someone's rental listing and the property was never for sale. Don't buy a house over the internet.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:33 AM on March 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by hydrophonic at 9:33 AM on March 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
Agreeing with those who warn you about buying property sight unseen. Detroit Progress, a real estatate company, has a blog post on "structurally sound houses for under $20,000", which notes that even in Detroit, $20,000 will only get you so much.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:58 AM on March 22, 2012
Azar said the properties are structurally sound but often need work, like a new roof, new furnace or wiring.If this isn't a complete scam, you could be buying a shell of a house, empty of all fixtures and wiring, and in need of serious repairs. $20,000 would only be the beginning of the costs of owning that house.
Sometimes this is a result of the house having been partly stripped by vandals as it sat empty between owners, even though Detroit Progress does “our best to secure” them.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:58 AM on March 22, 2012
If you have $20K, spend it on a good immigration attorney instead of an uninhabitable house.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:30 AM on March 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:30 AM on March 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
nthing "You do not want to buy a house for $20,000 here." That is far too inexpensive pretty much anywhere in America.
posted by sugarbomb at 10:40 AM on March 22, 2012
posted by sugarbomb at 10:40 AM on March 22, 2012
Such a house is probably not a bargain.
There were a number of questions on here about these very-cheap houses a few years ago. Many cities in the US that are former manufacturing areas have lost a lot of jobs and population, and as a result have whole areas of housing that is dilapidated, falling apart, abandoned.
The houses are in terrible shape, sometimes with the wiring and plumbing torn out, roof falling apart, mold and water damage, etc. They would be very costly to repair enough to be rentable (assuming you wanted to rent a house out for someone to live in).
Also in many cases the owners owe a large amount of back taxes, water bills, etc - which must be paid by the new owner if the house is purchased - so purchasing the house would bring additional costs over the costs of purchase and repair.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:52 PM on March 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
There were a number of questions on here about these very-cheap houses a few years ago. Many cities in the US that are former manufacturing areas have lost a lot of jobs and population, and as a result have whole areas of housing that is dilapidated, falling apart, abandoned.
The houses are in terrible shape, sometimes with the wiring and plumbing torn out, roof falling apart, mold and water damage, etc. They would be very costly to repair enough to be rentable (assuming you wanted to rent a house out for someone to live in).
Also in many cases the owners owe a large amount of back taxes, water bills, etc - which must be paid by the new owner if the house is purchased - so purchasing the house would bring additional costs over the costs of purchase and repair.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:52 PM on March 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
And of course, another reason these houses are cheap is that there are not enough people looking to rent them. Buying a house in one of these areas to rent it out is also a bad plan because you will likely have a hard time finding suitable tenants.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:55 PM on March 22, 2012
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:55 PM on March 22, 2012
$20,000 is not absurd for a house in Indianapolis. There are two newly rehabbed houses a few blocks from me that are listed at $30k each. You have to be careful since there are a lot of stripped shells for $5-25k and you certainly wouldn't want to do it over the Internet but it wouldn't be very unusual to get a livable house on the near east side of Indy for $20k.
That said, owning a house will not help with immigration.
posted by ChrisHartley at 10:12 AM on March 29, 2012
That said, owning a house will not help with immigration.
posted by ChrisHartley at 10:12 AM on March 29, 2012
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