OK, I am one of those guys who bought a house and still haven't gotten my green card (still on EAD)- have been in this country for 12 years now and bought a townhome 7 years ago (in 2003) and have been very happy with it. Now, though I am thinking of moving back to India and unfortunately, given the economy and the number of foreclosures on the market, I would be losing a significant amount of money, if I tried to sell now. I am therefore, thinking of renting it out through a property management company and heading back. However, I am not sure if I will be able to come back to USA down the line to sell the house (since there's no guarantee I will get a visa to come back to USA after I abandon GC application and R2I). Anyone been in this situation? Can you sell your house through power of attorney, without actually making a trip here?
P.S: Sorry for the other two threads that have been created under the same title without any content - it looks like something screwy was going on with the website when I originally created the thread since the site kept erroring out and I guess I hit the "submit post" button one too often! Tired to delete those thread but don't seem to be able to do that either - admin, can you please help delete those threads? Thanks
Renting out home and R2I\'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
I would have told you not to take a chance and sell the house before you leave the country. However, I know of someone who was able to sell his house through his friends while he was away in India. I don't have all the details as to how he sold his house. Your realtor or property management company should be able to provide accurate information regarding that.
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
hope4best;288117I would have told you not to take a chance and sell the house before you leave the country. However, I know of someone who was able to sell his house through his friends while he was away in India. I don't have all the details as to how he sold his house. Your realtor or property management company should be able to provide accurate information regarding that.
I am actually still here in the US and the property management company I am talking to say they can handle the sale through Power of Attorney but I was wondering if anyone else actually had the experience of having gone through this type of sale process...
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
Thru POA you can do anything including buy,sell house.
However check the implications for Indian citizens owning house abroad, either you have to pay wealth tax or something related.
I read it somewhere and now can't seem to remember what it is.
However check the implications for Indian citizens owning house abroad, either you have to pay wealth tax or something related.
I read it somewhere and now can't seem to remember what it is.
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r2bangaloresoon
- Posts: 189
- Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 10:09 pm
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
svnlogin;288114. However, I am not sure if I will be able to come back to USA down the line to sell the house (since there's no guarantee I will get a visa to come back to USA after I abandon GC application and R2I).
Though there is no guarantee that you will get a visa (just like it is not guaranteed that a greencard holder is guaranteed to be admitted into US when returned from abroad), there is a good chance that you will get a tourist visa to US. Since, you had an opportunity to stay in USA legally, but you went back voluntarily, shows your intent to not stay in US. Unless you don't have any overstays in your past and you can show good connection to India you shouldn't have any problem getting a visitor's visa. Worst case you can use POA as suggested by others to dispose off your assets in US.
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direstraits88
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2007 2:10 am
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
You are more worried about visa than the state of your home if you rent it. Is your current home value lower than what you paid for it in 2003?
You mentioned that you'll be losing a significant amount of money, if uI tried to sell now. Is this based on the hyper-inflated home value in 2007 or is it based on the mortgage balance.
If you're leaving without a GC, there's less probability of you coming back to U.S. If your mortgage is more than current value, rent it to someone and let it go into foreclosure.. It'll take a year for the bank to foreclose. The rent you get until it goes into foreclosure becomes your equity in the house.
Do not expect prices to go higher for next 5-10 years. Particularly in Atlanta where there's no reason for price to ever increase like texas. And if you rent your home, it loses further value. A rental home is valued 5-7% below owner occupied home. THe renter has no incentive to maintain the house very clean. When renters move, you need to make the house look good before you can rent again. THat may be some cosmetic fixes like painting the interior. IF you are local, you can just buy 2-3 gallon of paint and do it yourself for 100 dollars. But it costs 1-2k to hire a painter. Maintenance cost will get deducted from rental income. And there's no guarantee that house will be rented all the time. So you'll have lot of issues that need to be addressed. The prop. management company will hire a contractor and get the work done if you want. But it costs big money.. The renter will call u every time there's a clog in the drain or dishwasher not working.
Put away 10% towards maintenance expense. 10% for the prop management co. And assume the house will only be rented for 11 month out of every 12 month. How'll you handle eviction if the tenant fails to pay rent?
Legal fees to get eviction can be 1-2k. It's not easy being a landlord.
So you need to consider all aspects before making a decision. Good luck
You mentioned that you'll be losing a significant amount of money, if uI tried to sell now. Is this based on the hyper-inflated home value in 2007 or is it based on the mortgage balance.
If you're leaving without a GC, there's less probability of you coming back to U.S. If your mortgage is more than current value, rent it to someone and let it go into foreclosure.. It'll take a year for the bank to foreclose. The rent you get until it goes into foreclosure becomes your equity in the house.
Do not expect prices to go higher for next 5-10 years. Particularly in Atlanta where there's no reason for price to ever increase like texas. And if you rent your home, it loses further value. A rental home is valued 5-7% below owner occupied home. THe renter has no incentive to maintain the house very clean. When renters move, you need to make the house look good before you can rent again. THat may be some cosmetic fixes like painting the interior. IF you are local, you can just buy 2-3 gallon of paint and do it yourself for 100 dollars. But it costs 1-2k to hire a painter. Maintenance cost will get deducted from rental income. And there's no guarantee that house will be rented all the time. So you'll have lot of issues that need to be addressed. The prop. management company will hire a contractor and get the work done if you want. But it costs big money.. The renter will call u every time there's a clog in the drain or dishwasher not working.
Put away 10% towards maintenance expense. 10% for the prop management co. And assume the house will only be rented for 11 month out of every 12 month. How'll you handle eviction if the tenant fails to pay rent?
Legal fees to get eviction can be 1-2k. It's not easy being a landlord.
So you need to consider all aspects before making a decision. Good luck
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
It's a no brainer in my view. It is difficult as it is to maintain a house from long distance and to sell it, and your residency status adds to the complexity. Who knows when the market will recover and you will be able to sell your house at a price you like? In the meantime, you have the agony of maintaining the house and making mortgage payments in US $. Get rid of the house somehow and move on. Even though it'll be a bit difficult to swallow the loss initially, you will be able to sleep a lot better after that. It will also make your R2I more successful as you would've cut ties with the US a lot more cleanly. Good luck!
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
[INDENT]Hi, i am wondering if you were able to sell/rent your home in Atlanta. I live in Alpharetta area and planning to R2I by end of 2011. I will be a USC in few months. I do have a home here and will be trying to sell before moving.
Any inputs from you would be appreciated. Thanks!
[/INDENT]
Any inputs from you would be appreciated. Thanks!
[/INDENT]
Renting out home and R2I'ing if you are not GC/US Citizen - is it advisable?
You can always send the documents via FAX, Scanned-Copy or by Courier/Speed-Post from India. In this High-tech world we are in these are not issues anymore! Though we have power of attorney but still the property management took all the signed documents that we sent to them via e-mail after scanning them. It works. BTW I have USC/OCI, though I can go if needed to close the transaction however if things can be done electronically then why not? My house is also in Atlanta for sale and I heard that the RE market is quite bad to sell, I am not sure about the renting part though as recently after leaving our house for sale for 9 months we decided to give it out for rent. :(
svnlogin;288127I am actually still here in the US and the property management company I am talking to say they can handle the sale through Power of Attorney but I was wondering if anyone else actually had the experience of having gone through this type of sale process...