Buying a property in the US as a UK citizen
Discussion
Is it possible for a UK citizen to buy a property in the US while continuing to live and work in the UK? On a recent business trip to Phoenix my OH discovered that £125k will buy a property there that would cost upwards of £600k where we currently live in England, so we’re wondering about buying something in the US that we can pay-off relatively quickly and ultimately retire to.
We realise that the implications are probably quite complicated and that the rules may vary from state to state, but can anyone give a basic indication of what may be possible?
We realise that the implications are probably quite complicated and that the rules may vary from state to state, but can anyone give a basic indication of what may be possible?
As already mentioned it is very possible! Other things you need to take into account are that you will need to open a bank account (which was relatively simple when I did mine) a lot of the utility companies for Florida now have their websites set up to accept UK debit cards for the monthly payments (don't know about other states), there will also be a yearly property tax (equivelant to our council tax) this is worked out on the property value every year so can go either up or down.You will also have to pay for someone to 'look after' the property for you with associated fees like grass cutting etc, gated communities are strict and issue fines if the grass isn't cut on a regular basis,there are other things but you will need to look hard into the 'retiring there' aspect, at the moment I don't think it is possible to retire there full time (I'm sure someone will confirm) but I heard mention a while ago that UK and US governments were having talks to enable UK citizens to retire to Florida in much the same way as they do to Spain.
Apart from anything else, the big issue with retiring there would be health care - I deal a lot with colleagues in the US and they're terrified of retiring and losing their company health benefits. It's one of the main reasons why you get very old people working there in Walmarts etc - as employees they and and their families are covered.
MitchT said:
so we’re wondering about buying something in the US that we can pay-off relatively quickly and ultimately retire to.
This is where your otherwise perfectly reasonable plan potentially comes to a screeching halt.Owning a US property does not enhance your qualification to immigrate. In some cases, it may actually be quite detrimental.
Without qualifying as a legal permanent resident, (do you feel you may qualify BTW?) the very best you could ever hope for is a B-2 (sometimes called 'snowbird') visa, which could allow you up to 6 months in the US per visit. This visa is usually (but not exclusively) only available to retirees with property in the US. If you are still of working age and qualify for VWP, it's not usually granted.
B-2 is not a visa you can use back-to-back, i.e. INS likes to see B-2 holders spend as much time outside the US as in, so it is ill-advised to max-out six months, go home for a week and then attempt entry for another 6 months. If the visa is revoked due to misuse, you really are screwed.
Also bear in mind that you need to somehow provide for your healthcare in retirement - the costs of which can be quite astronomical. Getting health coverage in retirement (as a non resident alien) might not even be possible and without accrued social security credits, you're pretty much on your own, in terms of healthcare provision. Tollerable if you are wealthy - a nightmare otherwise.
Mitch, to give you a handle on the health costs, my mother, who lives in a retirement community in Pennsylvania, recently collapsed and was ambulanced away to the local hospital where she spent some time in the ER and was then transferred to Intensive Care, where she spent 3 days (IIRC - nice way to spend Thanksgiving), then transferred to Observation & finally discharged. Here's the bill;
Intensive Care Unit $12,861.00
Cardiac Care Unit $2,305.00
Pharmacy $370.00
Med/Surgical Supplies $316.00
Laboratory $1,835.00
Emergency Room $689.00
Pulmonary Function $91.00
Cardiology Services $1,569.00
EKG $140.00
Observation Room $384.00
TOTAL $20,560.00
The physician's bills have yet to come (I think the $1500 for the ambulance ride is missing, too). Fortunately, she is covered by Medicare and my late father's insurance, so all she will have to pay is a few hundred dollars. Perhaps the NHS isn't so bad?
Intensive Care Unit $12,861.00
Cardiac Care Unit $2,305.00
Pharmacy $370.00
Med/Surgical Supplies $316.00
Laboratory $1,835.00
Emergency Room $689.00
Pulmonary Function $91.00
Cardiology Services $1,569.00
EKG $140.00
Observation Room $384.00
TOTAL $20,560.00
The physician's bills have yet to come (I think the $1500 for the ambulance ride is missing, too). Fortunately, she is covered by Medicare and my late father's insurance, so all she will have to pay is a few hundred dollars. Perhaps the NHS isn't so bad?
Edited by Zumbruk on Wednesday 22 December 17:58
Zumbruk said:
Mitch, to give you a handle on the health costs, my mother, who lives in a retirement community in Pennsylvania, recently collapsed and was ambulanced away to the local hospital where she spent some time in the ER and was then transferred to Intensive Care, where she spent 3 days (IIRC - nice way to spend Thanksgiving), then transferred to Observation & finally discharged. Here's the bill;
Intensive Care Unit $12,861.00
Cardiac Care Unit $2,305.00
Pharmacy $370.00
Med/Surgical Supplies $316.00
Laboratory $1,835.00
Emergency Room $689.00
Pulmonary Function $91.00
Cardiology Services $1,569.00
EKG $140.00
Observation Room $384.00
TOTAL $20,560.00
The physician's bills have yet to come (I think the $1500 for the ambulance ride is missing, too). Fortunately, she is covered by Medicare and my late father's insurance, so all she will have to pay is a few hundred dollars. Perhaps the NHS isn't so bad?
Or perhaps the US system is better where she received excellent care at little expense to herself, as opposed to "free" NHS left-on-a-gurney-for-days, dirty-hospital, awake-for-four-days-houseman care?Intensive Care Unit $12,861.00
Cardiac Care Unit $2,305.00
Pharmacy $370.00
Med/Surgical Supplies $316.00
Laboratory $1,835.00
Emergency Room $689.00
Pulmonary Function $91.00
Cardiology Services $1,569.00
EKG $140.00
Observation Room $384.00
TOTAL $20,560.00
The physician's bills have yet to come (I think the $1500 for the ambulance ride is missing, too). Fortunately, she is covered by Medicare and my late father's insurance, so all she will have to pay is a few hundred dollars. Perhaps the NHS isn't so bad?
Edited by Zumbruk on Wednesday 22 December 17:58
Assuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
texan said:
Zumbruk said:
Mitch, to give you a handle on the health costs, my mother, who lives in a retirement community in Pennsylvania, recently collapsed and was ambulanced away to the local hospital where she spent some time in the ER and was then transferred to Intensive Care, where she spent 3 days (IIRC - nice way to spend Thanksgiving), then transferred to Observation & finally discharged. Here's the bill;
Intensive Care Unit $12,861.00
Cardiac Care Unit $2,305.00
Pharmacy $370.00
Med/Surgical Supplies $316.00
Laboratory $1,835.00
Emergency Room $689.00
Pulmonary Function $91.00
Cardiology Services $1,569.00
EKG $140.00
Observation Room $384.00
TOTAL $20,560.00
The physician's bills have yet to come (I think the $1500 for the ambulance ride is missing, too). Fortunately, she is covered by Medicare and my late father's insurance, so all she will have to pay is a few hundred dollars. Perhaps the NHS isn't so bad?
Or perhaps the US system is better where she received excellent care at little expense to herself, as opposed to "free" NHS left-on-a-gurney-for-days, dirty-hospital, awake-for-four-days-houseman care?Intensive Care Unit $12,861.00
Cardiac Care Unit $2,305.00
Pharmacy $370.00
Med/Surgical Supplies $316.00
Laboratory $1,835.00
Emergency Room $689.00
Pulmonary Function $91.00
Cardiology Services $1,569.00
EKG $140.00
Observation Room $384.00
TOTAL $20,560.00
The physician's bills have yet to come (I think the $1500 for the ambulance ride is missing, too). Fortunately, she is covered by Medicare and my late father's insurance, so all she will have to pay is a few hundred dollars. Perhaps the NHS isn't so bad?
Edited by Zumbruk on Wednesday 22 December 17:58
Assuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
texan said:
Or perhaps the US system is better where she received excellent care at little expense to herself, as opposed to "free" NHS left-on-a-gurney-for-days, dirty-hospital, awake-for-four-days-houseman care?
Assuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
Assuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
I'm STILL trying to sort out a $15,000 bill for an 8 hour hospital visit last April because the hospital decided they'd try charging me the full amount by claiming I'd never giving them my insurance details rather than contacting my insurance company and settling for a lower amount. After speaking to American friends I was shocked to find out that every one of them knew someone that this had happened to, or they had experienced something similar themselves.
The service I received in the hospital was no better or worse than the service I received the last time I was in an NHS hospital. The only differences were that I was on a ward in the UK and had a "private" room and TV in the US (even if the door was wide open and I couldn't close it or change the TV channel because I was wired up to the machine that goes "ping!" and couldn't move) and in the US the first person I saw apart from a nurse was an admin assistant demanding that I pay a $200 deposit or I wouldn't be allowed to see a doctor.
The NHS may be a deeply flawed healthcare system, but US healthcare is deeply flawed, corrupt (If I could be bothered I'd tell you about the doctor who deliberately kept my wife ill because he was scamming her insurance company) and doesn't cover 30 million of it's own citizens. I know which one I prefer.
(Or perhaps I'm just bitter because I was forced to watch Jimmy Kimmel on the hospital TV...)
Edited by branflakes on Monday 3rd January 04:57
branflakes said:
doesn't cover 30 million of it's own citizens.
I thought your figure was too large. A quick search reveals that it is indeed wrong, but it's way too small. According to http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65D632201006... it was 46 million in 2009. That's an obscenity.branflakes said:
texan said:
Or perhaps the US system is better where she received excellent care at little expense to herself, as opposed to "free" NHS left-on-a-gurney-for-days, dirty-hospital, awake-for-four-days-houseman care?
Assuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
Assuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
I'm STILL trying to sort out a $15,000 bill for an 8 hour hospital visit last April because the hospital decided they'd try charging me the full amount by claiming I'd never giving them my insurance details rather than contacting my insurance company and settling for a lower amount. After speaking to American friends I was shocked to find out that every one of them knew someone that this had happened to, or they had experienced something similar themselves.
The service I received in the hospital was no better or worse than the service I received the last time I was in an NHS hospital. The only differences were that I was on a ward in the UK and had a "private" room and TV in the US (even if the door was wide open and I couldn't close it or change the TV channel because I was wired up to the machine that goes "ping!" and couldn't move) and in the US the first person I saw apart from a nurse was an admin assistant demanding that I pay a $200 deposit or I wouldn't be allowed to see a doctor.
The NHS may be a deeply flawed healthcare system, but US healthcare is deeply flawed, corrupt (If I could be bothered I'd tell you about the doctor who deliberately kept my wife ill because he was scamming her insurance company) and doesn't cover 30 million of it's own citizens. I know which one I prefer.
(Or perhaps I'm just bitter because I was forced to watch Jimmy Kimmel on the hospital TV...)
Edited by branflakes on Monday 3rd January 04:57
Admittedly I prefer the idea of a doctor having a surgery, rather than an office, which makes it feel like a business.
On any visit to a doctor or a hospital I've never had a problem with teh billing. Sounds like you either need better insurance or better admin of your claims. My company has always backed me up on any problems with the insurance company and they've always been resolved very quickly and without trouble. I understand that many of the stories you hear about people being chased around for thousands of dollars are usually down to not providing correct details or having questionable insurance.
Mitch, I own two places in Florida and have an excellent US proerty lawyer. The paperwork is simple, transferring funds is not a problem nor is getting a mortgage so long as you qualify. Opening a bank account was simple, but insurance was less so, possibly because I am on the beach. The big question is who will look after it when you are not there and how often will you use it? Do your research and use a local property specialist, finding one is simple, just look for those with accreditation. Any issues just pm me.
Hi all,
I'm toying with the idea of getting a place in Colorado, which I would ideally rent out as a holiday home to help cover some costs with a view to spending 3-6 months a year once retirement comes around. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing or could point me in the direction of who to speak to?
I'm toying with the idea of getting a place in Colorado, which I would ideally rent out as a holiday home to help cover some costs with a view to spending 3-6 months a year once retirement comes around. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing or could point me in the direction of who to speak to?
djt77 said:
Hi all,
I'm toying with the idea of getting a place in Colorado, which I would ideally rent out as a holiday home to help cover some costs with a view to spending 3-6 months a year once retirement comes around. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing or could point me in the direction of who to speak to?
The principles of buying a property to rent are no different to those you would use if you bought in France. Location is everything if you want to ski.I'm toying with the idea of getting a place in Colorado, which I would ideally rent out as a holiday home to help cover some costs with a view to spending 3-6 months a year once retirement comes around. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing or could point me in the direction of who to speak to?
The best thing to do is get in touch with a realtor there - so Google "Realtors Aspen" or wherever it is you are looking. That will help you understand the pricing & Google maps helps with understanding the location. Google will also help you find agents for rental homes - so they can rent yours out.
The hardest part in all this will be financing the property. Quite easy if you live in the US, but if you live outside I would be clueless.
Captain Cadillac said:
Look into Property Tax costs as well.
Unlike the UK, occupied or not, you still pay them. My house is worth, I dunno, $500,000ish (I'm right near NYC in Northern NJ, it's not a fancy house at all) and I pay over $10,000 a year in property taxes.
Food for thought.
$10k? Florida valuation would be nearer $1750.Unlike the UK, occupied or not, you still pay them. My house is worth, I dunno, $500,000ish (I'm right near NYC in Northern NJ, it's not a fancy house at all) and I pay over $10,000 a year in property taxes.
Food for thought.
But spare a thought for anyone in South Dakota and Wisconsin at the 9% and 7.75% mark respectively! Imagine $500k place with property tax in the order of $40kpa! I'm assuming that's why there are no nice houses out there.
texan said:
Or perhaps the US system is better where she received excellent care at little expense to herself, as opposed to "free" NHS left-on-a-gurney-for-days, dirty-hospital, awake-for-four-days-houseman care?
Assuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
You'd think so, but US life expectancy is worse than UK, even when you control for income and ethnicity. Just because you pay more here doesn't mean all the care is better (although the UK sucks balls when it comes to cancer care), and don't kid yourself there aren't waiting lists or the like. I spent 3 months with a fAssuming one has insurance / Medicare, I'd take the US system anyday.
ked lung waiting to see a specialist and I had decent insurance.If you want to lionize another country's healthcare, France topped the WHO's rankings for a long time, they have a good mix of public and private, and unlike the US they don't leave 40+ million out in the cold.
It's a serious problem - I can't start my own business with a couple of friends because that will mean leaving my work insurance (covers me and my wife as she's a freelancer) and entering the personal market, or trying to negotiate a group policy for 3 people that will then exclude everything any of us have ever had as preexisting conditions, assuming I could find a company that would say yes in the first place (people get refused coverage for things as measly as an ingrown toenail). It might get better in 2014 when PPACA kicks in and recission is outlawed, but I'm not optimistic.
Meanwhile, ever escalating healthcare costs are set to bankrupt the entire country. Wages have been stagnant since the 1970s, and the US is set to spend up to 20% of GDP on healthcare, which is well in excess of where it should be.
Unless you actually live here and know what's going on, pronouncements like yours fly in the face of reality.
Double edit - ROFL, you actually live in the US. My God.
Edited by Dr JonboyG on Monday 21st March 19:23
Edited by Dr JonboyG on Monday 21st March 19:24
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