Non 485 - Home Buying

M

mavishka

Registered Users (C)
I'm waiting for the 485 approval. As you can see from my signature we submitted the RFE response on 5/6/04 (RD 5/10/04) and hoping that approval will happen anytime now. There's this home which we had seen in Nov 2003 that has come up for sale. We really liked it then (in Nov 2003) but I think the owner took it off the market. Now that it's back up on the market, if we had the 485 approval we would probably buy it right away but are kinda hesitating because we've waited all these years for the 485 to be approved before we bought a home. Since the 485 approval is so close (or so it seems) I was wondering whether I should just go ahead and put in an offer for the home and not worry about the 485 approval, i.e., it'll come when it has to, or should I take a chance and wait till the 485 is approved and possibly pass up the opportunity to buy that home. Wanted to know what you guys would do if you were in my place. Thanks in advance for your input.
 
Go Ahead

I guess you should go ahead and buy your dream house..Trust god and things will automatically fall in place.

We did the same for ourself's, really like our new house. We are still waiting on our approvals as well.

Just remember not to share your immigration details with anyone involved in the process like realtors,lawyers,sellers etc etc.. for all house buying purposes you are a US citizen period.

Best of luck!!
Laks
 
Dude, forget 485 and put an offer on the house... this is what I did last month, though my offer was too cold for the owner for what she didn't accept it;) I am also actively looking to buy a house and will buy it once I find one for my liking without caring for 485 (Thanks to USCIS who forced us to think like this).

Most important thing in life is House and if you like it then don't leave it. Who know whats going to happen with our I485, we can not stop living if it doesn't get approved in time.

Good Luck!
 
Yes, go for it

We did the same thing. Me and my wifes 485 was filed in october 2002 and still no sign of approval. We got tired of staying in an appt and loosing all that money so recently bought a house.

Worst case scenario (or best case scenario, depending on where life takes you from that point on)

GC gets rejected - in which case you can sell the house through a realtor or friend, hopefully make some money and go back to your home country

Tim
 
Thanks for your response. Yes, I've been thinking along those lines, my heart says buy the home, but my mind is playing games and telling me 'wait, the risks are too high if for some unforeseen reason the 485 is denied'. As far as I can see we have provided whatever they had asked for in the RFE and I believe our case will be approved soon. But since we'll be investing our life savings we're kinda apprehensive. Any further thoughts? Thanks.
 
Buy it.

I bought my house when I just had approved labor and had just filed my 140/485 concurrent. The only way I looked at it was to figure out how long it takes to sell a house. It just takes a month, so in case of the worst happening, you could still find yourself 30 days to sell it off. So don't worry and go ahead, everything will be alright. Nowadays, I even recommend guys coming on fresh H1 to buy saying, I dont know if you will be able to save yourself $100,000 if you leave this country, but you sure can get close to that if you buy a house now and sell it in case you have to leave.
 
Mavishka

Go for it now !!! Sooner the better. Dont waste your money in paying rentals where you dont get anything in return. GC has got nothing to do with home purchase. We bought our house 3 years ago when we just got our labor cleared. As you can see from my signature, still waiting for approval. With the house you at least get tax benefits every year. In a worst case situation, even if the GC gets denied for some reason we can sell the house and take the profit and go home.

Good luck and make a decision before rates go up sky rocketing.
 
I agree with everyone's comments, specially want2knowmore, you have to look at it from the selling point of view. When you are buying you have to think how easy it would be sell it when you want to sell it and then you are not in much trouble. Normally if you pay $1100.00 as installment, you pay $200 as principal, save $300 in taxes and another $300-$500 is build up in equity so you end up being even-steven i.e. saving your rent.

It's better to do it faster (I think you are already late) because if the interest goes up more that will reduce your buying power or would increase your MI.

We just bought in April and I love my new house. I-485 still away may be 6 more months.

Good luck
 
Go ahead and buy it. I bought after applying labor and my labor is still not approved. Worst case scenario is better than loosing money in rent. Remember - No risk no gain.
 
Mavishka,

If you use your mind you will be safe, if you use your heart you will be happy. Both are right from its perspective. Its what you want.
Your concerns are understandable. You could put a contingency in your offer (I've seen it done), that you have to have the 485 approved. This way you can get some traction on the offer while the RFE is being processed.

Good Luck
 
Thanks for all your valuable input. You guys have added fuel to fire. I'm going to see the home (again, already seen it once in Nov 2003) this afternoon. Will come back and decide whether we should make an offer.
 
If you are on H1, then amy be you are bit more safe - in case of an unfortunate denial to I485.
I also went ahead with home last winter after getting tired of waiting.
 
We bought even without filing for labor after 3 yrs been in the country. We didn't want to use all our saving so we put only 5% down. That way we had enough savings in case we needed to go back. Also we inquired about the rent for the house we were planning to buy and how easily it could be rented in case we had to back and come back after an year (i.e 6 yr H1 limit)
Based on that calculation it turned out we would still be in gain and even if we decided to stay in India and this would have been a good investment and could be sold any time.

So go for it but cover for emergency as they say do not put all eggs in single basket
 
Home is home...

We bought our house when I was just starting the GC process. Three years later, I am still waiting for the GC. But my wife, our son, and I have been enjoying our spacious house for three years. So my thinking goes like this: even if my GC is to be denied, at least we have lived the way we ought to.
 
Go for it. My wife and I got our house less than a month ago. I am 5 months away from the end of the 6 year H1 period and have applied for I140/I485 in oct 03, but we've decided that the GC process should not dictate our life.
A couple of advices that you probably are aware of:
Double-check with your bank if they lend money to non permanent residents, some don't, some do, some have special conditions (that you may learn about too late). We had very good luck with Bank of America. Also, some mortgage brokers would lie in the application that you have GC/citizenship, make sure you don't sign that !!!
Good luck
 
Yeah - like others have said go for it ... UNLESS your case has some elements out of the ordinary and there is a more than usual chance of a rejection.

If yours is a straightforward case, then approval is only a matter of time.

Enjoy
 
It's a clean case except that employment was terminated by LC & 140 sponsoring employer in less than 180 days after filing 485. In response to the RFE we've provided CIS with the new employer's employment letter and two months pay stubs. We're optimistic that our cases will be approved since AC21 requires that your 485 remain unadjudicated for 180 days and that the job description be same or similar. Our case satisfies both those conditions, but with CIS you never know, they might find some reason or the other to deny/transfer/RFE/etc. That's why we're a bit apprehensive about investing in a home before the approval.
 
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Hi Laks,

This is interesting. I am just in the initial stage of looking for a loan. I have heard that in order to include my wife (H-4 with no social security, and hence no credit history) on the title deed, they need to run her credit too. Running her credit is clearly a problem since she doesn't have one. My wife,
for good reasons, would like to be co-owner of the house. What to do there?

Thanks.
T

vlakha said:
I guess you should go ahead and buy your dream house..Trust god and things will automatically fall in place.

We did the same for ourself's, really like our new house. We are still waiting on our approvals as well.

Just remember not to share your immigration details with anyone involved in the process like realtors,lawyers,sellers etc etc.. for all house buying purposes you are a US citizen period.

Best of luck!!
Laks
Click to expand...
 
howlongmore said:
Hi Laks,

This is interesting. I am just in the initial stage of looking for a loan. I have heard that in order to include my wife (H-4 with no social security, and hence no credit history) on the title deed, they need to run her credit too. Running her credit is clearly a problem since she doesn't have one. My wife,
for good reasons, would like to be co-owner of the house. What to do there?

Thanks.
T
Click to expand...

Didn't she get her EAD card. She could get her social security card showing her EAD card. That's the way my wife built her credit history.
 
pralay said:
Didn't she get her EAD card. She could get her social security card showing her EAD card. That's the way my wife built her credit history.
Click to expand...

Well, she just got her EAD. We're waiting for her SSN. In any case, credit needs time to build up. I heard lenders will only take the lower of 2 FICO scores of co-applicants, in this case, a very low number for my wife.

-T
 
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