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Question Regarding a Canadian Purchasing a Residence in the US -


Hello David,
 
I noticed your email address on theinternet and thought you might be able to assist me.
 
What I would like todo:
 
I am a Canadian citizen fromNova Scotia and I work for anOil Company in Alberta.
 
I will continue to work in Alberta (orCanada) but I want topurchase a townhouse in Washington County,PA.
 
I contacted the Royal Bank ofCanada regardingobtaining a mortgage for the property in PA and was advised that you cannotobtain a Canadian mortgage on a US property becauseif there is ever a default they cannot obtain the property. I was advised toobtain a USmortgage.
 
I contacted a mortgage lender in PAand was advised that I needed a Green Card (which takes 5-7 years and I am notinterested in obtaining) to obtain a USmortgage.
 
 Any advise or anyone yourecommend that I contact?
 
Thanks,
 
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david ingramreplies:
 
Never head of such a thing.
 
If you have 35% down, you should be able toget a mortgage anywhere in the United States.
 
I likely have 300 clients who have USmortgages without a green card.
 
Try another bank, S & L, or a mortgagebroker.
 
Just watch out for 'up front' fees at amortgage broker's office. 
 
Unfortunately, there are many out there whowill charge you an up front fee and then say they cannot get a mortgage for youand keep the fee.
 
If you do decide to use a broker, make sureany fee is 100% contingent upon their arranging a mortgage on terms that aresatisfactory to you or approved by  your brother or mother or lawyer,etc.  That means they get nothing - not even $50.00 if you do not get amortgage.
 
For instance, your agreement might say thatthe broker is entitled to a fee of $4,000 upon obtaining a mortgage at 6%amortized over 30 years with no changes or interest rate adjustment for thirtyyears
 
The massive sub-prime mortgage meltdown in theUS at the moment has happened because 100's of thousands of people took outmortgages with low payments that doubled or even tripled two yearslater.
 
BEFORE you sign any purchase ormortgage agreement, have it vetted by a lawyer or KNOWLEDGEABLE real estateperson with knowledge of local law. 
 
Strangely enough, I know the area you arebuying in.   My sister lives in Wheeling, West Virginia, just acrossthe line, 35 miles to the West on highway 40 (the National PIKE), the firstFederally funded highway in the US.  If you go 60 miles southeast onhighway 40, you come to historic Fort Necessity, which few Americans remember orknow of as part of their history. (my 14 year old son Peter told me aboutit in 1998).
 
In the summer of 1754 a battle at FortNecessity was the opening action of the French and Indian War. This was aclash of British, French and American Indian cultures. George Washington surrendered to the French troops at the Fort which he built out of "Necessity"but was allowed to leave with his troops and most of his arms, surrendering onlyhis swivel guns. He also was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at Fort Duquesne atthe age of 23 at the start of this skirmish. In 1759, Wolfe won at the Battle ofthe Plains of Abraham and by 1763 the war that ended with the removal ofFrench power from North America. Remember that Gorge Washington was a BritishOfficer at this point.  However, the stage was set for the AmericanRevolution.  In 1755 George was made a full Colonel and in 1758, promotedto acting Brigadier General at the age of  26.  12years later, at the age of 43, George Washington raised the Continental Army atCambridge Massachusetts and Valley Forge outside of Philadelphia. Washington Country, your destination was formed in 1791 and named afterGeorge.
 
But it did not stop there. WashingtonCounty was the centre of the end of the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion.  In 1794,George Washington, now president of the United States, at the head of a12,500 member Militia marched into Monongahela and staunched or ended the rebellion with thearrest and imprisonment of a very small number of people.  2 were sentencedto death but Washington pardoned them because one was 'simple' and the otherinsane.  Two or three of the others did die in prison.  Lots ofhistory in Washington County.
 
My sister and her husband and three childrenlive in Wheeling West Virginia (30 miles away) and one of my favourite clientsof all time, Virginia Harper is buried in Wheeling.  One of my otherfriends has a mother and sister living in a Hutterite Colony 50 miles south eastat Uniontown. 
 
And, although Scranton PA  is 180 milescloser to New York City than it is to Washington County, I have an 82 CadillacEldorado convertible parked outside my house as I write this.  Of course,the Caddy was bought in Scranton.
 
Good luck on your purchase.  You can doit if you have the cash for the down payment.
 
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On February 11, 2008, David Ingramwrote:

It is very unlikely that blind or unexpected email to mewill be answered.  I receive anywhere from 100 to 700  unsolicitedemails a day and usually answer anywhere from 2 to 20 if they are not fromexisting clients.  Existing clients are advised to put their 'name and PAYING CUSTOMER' in the subject line and getanswered first.  I also refuse to be a slave to email and do not look at itevery day and have never ever looked at it when I am out of town. 
e bankruptcy expert  USCanada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax  service andhelp
However, I regularly search for the words"PAYING CUSTOMER" andalways answer them first if they did not get spammed out. For the last twoweeks, I have just found out that my own email notes to myself have been spammedout and as an example, as I wrote this on Dec 25, 2007 since June 16th, my'spammed out' box has 47,941 unread messages, my deleted box has 16645 I haveactually looked at and deleted and I have actually answered 1234 email questionsfor clients and strangers without sending a bill.  I have also put aside847 messages that I am maybe going to try and answer because they lookinteresting. -ebankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Taxservice and  help
Therefore, if an email is not answered in 24 to 48 hours,it is likely lost in space.  You can try andresend it but if important AND YOU TRULY WANT OR NEED AN ANSWER from 'me', youwill have to phone to make an appointment.  Gillian Bryan generally acceptsappointment requests for me between 10:30 AM and 4:00 PM Monday to FridayVANCOUVER (Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles) time at (604) 980-0321.  david ingramexpert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax service and help.
david ingram's US / Canada Services
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Disclaimer:  Thisquestion has been answered without detailed information or consultation and isto be regarded only as general comment.   Nothing in this message isor should be construed as advice in any particular circumstances. No contractexists between the reader and the author and any and all non-contractual dutiesare expressly denied. All readers should obtain formal advice from acompetent and appropriately qualified legal practitioner or taxspecialist for expert help, assistance, preparation,or consultation  in connection with personal orbusiness affairs such as at www.centa.com. If youforward this message, this disclaimer must be included." e bankruptcy expert  US Canada CanadianAmerican  Mexican Income Tax  service andhelp.
David Ingram gives expert income taxservice & immigration help to non-resident Americans &Canadians from New York to California to Mexico  family,estate, income trust trusts Cross border, dual citizen - out ofcountry investments are all handled with competence &authority.
 
Phone consultationsare $450 for 15 minutes to 50 minutes (professional hour). Please note that GSTis added if product remains in Canada or is to be returned to Canada or a phoneconsultation is in Canada. ($472.50 with GST if inCanada)expert  US Canada Canadian American  MexicanIncome Tax  service andhelp.
This is not intended to be definitive but in general I amquoting $900 to $3,000 for a dual country tax return.
$900 would be one T4 slip one W2 slip one or two interestslips and you lived in one country only (but were filing both countries) - noself employment or rentals or capital gains - you did not move into or out ofthe country in this year.
 
$1,200 would be the same with one rental
 
$1,300 would be the same with one business norental
 
$1,300 would be the minimum with a move in or out of thecountry. These are complicated because of the back and forth foreign tax credits. - The IRS says a foreign tax credit takes 1 hour and 53minutes.
 
$1,600 would be the minimum with a rental or two in thecountry you do not live in or a rental and a business and foreign taxcredits  no move in or out

$1,700 would be for two people with income from twocountries

$3,000 would be all of the above and you moved in and outof the country.
 
This is just a guideline for US / Canadianreturns
 
We will still prepare Canadian only (lives in Canada,no US connection period) with two or three slips and no capital gains, etc.for $200.00 up.
 
With a Rental for $400, two or three rentals for $550 to$700 (i.e. $150 per rental) First year Rental - plus $250.
 
A Business for $400 - Rental and business likely $550 to$700
 
And an American only (lives in the US with no Canadianincome or filing period) with about the same things in the same range with alittle bit more if there is a state return.
 
Moving in or out of the country or part year earnings inthe US will ALWAYS be $900 and up.
 
TDF 90-22.1 forms are $50 for the first and $25.00each after that when part of a tax return.
 
8891 forms are generally $50.00 to $100.00each.
 
18 RRSPs would be $900.00 - (maybe amalgamate acouple)
 
Capital gains *sales)  are likely $50.00 for thefirst and $20.00 each after that.

Catch - up returns for the US where we use theCanadian return as a guide for seven years at a time will be from $150 to$600.00 per year depending upon numbers of bank accounts, RRSP's, existence ofrental houses, self employment, etc. Note that these returns tend to beinformational rather than taxable.  In fact, if there are childreninvolved, we usually get refunds of $1,000 per child per year for 3 years. We have done several catch-ups where the client has recieved as much as $6,000back for an $1,800 bill and one recently with 6 children is resulting in over$12,000 refund. 

This is a guideline not etched instone.  If you do your own TDF-90 forms, it isto your advantage. However, if we put them in the first year, the computercarries them forward beautifully.
 
This from "ask an income trusts tax service and immigration expert" from www.centa.com or www.jurock.com or www.featureweb.com.David Ingram deals on a daily basis with expatriate tax returns withmulti jurisdictional cross and trans border expatriate problems  for theUnited States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, United Kingdom, Kuwait,Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, China, New Zealand, France,Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Georgia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia,Scotland, Ireland, Hawaii, Florida, Montana, Morocco, Israel, Iraq, Iran, India,Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Bangkok, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada,, Virgin Islands, US, UK, GB, and any ofthe 43 states with state tax returns, etc. Rockwall, Dallas, SanAntonio Houston, Denmark, Finland, Sweden Norway Bulgaria Croatia IncomeTax and Immigration Tips, Income Tax  Immigration Wizard AntarcticaRwanda Guru  Consultant Specialist Section 216(4) 216(1) NR6NR-6 NR 6 Non-Resident Real Estate tax specialist expertpreparer expatriate anti money laundering money seasoningFINTRAC E677 E667 105 106 TDF-90 Reporting $10,000 cross bordertransactions Grand Cayman Aruba Zimbabwe South Africa Namibia help USA US IncomeTax Convention. Advice on bankruptcy  ebankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Taxservice and help .

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