topic Re: Waiting on final approval / closing now want foreign property info in Mortgage Loans

Waiting on final approval / closing now want foreign property info

nzbgsf — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 01:39:22 GMT

We found our perfect new "empty nesters" home and sold our home of 16 years. We're renting back from the new owners for 2 months and need to vacate by Jan 18th

My wife inherited a commercial building in Bulgaria in the 1990s after the fall of communism and she is part owner with 11 other family members, she receives regular rent payments and the income is reported on our US tax returns. We recently applied for a loan with a major bank and have provided all they need for underwriting including the investment property and recieved conditional approval with a few small items needed for final. Now they came back and request evidence that her property in BG is free and clear, it's a very small part of our income / assets. We are able to produce a copy of the title documents or title deeds (in Bulgarian) and will forward on a translated copy but we're not able to locate "evidence" of no encumbrances on the property in such a short time. Our loan is scheduled to close on Dec 28th and builder wants sale to be finalized by Dec 30th or our purchase contract is a risk of cancellation including liquidated damages.

If it's even possible to obtain any paperwork similar to a property title report from Bulgaria it could take weeks or months (especially with COVID, holidays etc). We could not find any credit reporting agencies in Bulgaria for Bulgarain citizens. We called and talked with the loan processor and he suggested we send in what we can - translated title deed and explaination that property was inherited and has no liens.

Any further insights or advice would be helpful ...in case. Many thanks.

Re: Waiting on final approval / closing now want foreign property info

mike-fico — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 03:11:40 GMT

The only thing I can imagine they are concerned about is that building is not is free and clear that someone could attach to your wife, and that means your property, which means their property since they are giving you the loan.

This likely came from the Title company as they are often the ones that dive into the possible claims on the property and they are often involved near the end of the process, unfortunately.

One option you could ask them about is to not have your spouse on the title. That would remove the possibility of an encumbrance perhaps? Something to ask your loan officer about. That would allow you to close and give you time to research what documents you need to prove there is no claim that could come back onto your spouse. Then you can do a quick claim deed to get your spouse onto the title (or something similar, depending on the state where your home is on how easy that is. Super easy in Minnesota). And if you are married, she will automatically have a claim on the property without being on the title, it's just a question of what creditors or judges can get at through the spouse.

That's based on a lot of guessing what is going on, so chat with your loan officer to understand what your options are, letting them know that you simply don't have the expertise available to meet those terms for your spouse within the timeline.

Re: Waiting on final approval / closing now want foreign property info

VALoanMaster — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 20:07:23 GMT

@nzbgsf wrote:
We found our perfect new "empty nesters" home and sold our home of 16 years. We're renting back from the new owners for 2 months and need to vacate by Jan 18th
My wife inherited a commercial building in Bulgaria in the 1990s after the fall of communism and she is part owner with 11 other family members, she receives regular rent payments and the income is reported on our US tax returns. We recently applied for a loan with a major bank and have provided all they need for underwriting including the investment property and recieved conditional approval with a few small items needed for final. Now they came back and request evidence that her property in BG is free and clear, it's a very small part of our income / assets. We are able to produce a copy of the title documents or title deeds (in Bulgarian) and will forward on a translated copy but we're not able to locate "evidence" of no encumbrances on the property in such a short time. Our loan is scheduled to close on Dec 28th and builder wants sale to be finalized by Dec 30th or our purchase contract is a risk of cancellation including liquidated damages.
If it's even possible to obtain any paperwork similar to a property title report from Bulgaria it could take weeks or months (especially with COVID, holidays etc). We could not find any credit reporting agencies in Bulgaria for Bulgarain citizens. We called and talked with the loan processor and he suggested we send in what we can - translated title deed and explaination that property was inherited and has no liens.
Any further insights or advice would be helpful ...in case. Many thanks.

The quickest and easiest solution would be to remove your wife from the loan and add her to the title if the lender does not accept the title deed and your letter of explanation. This is assuming you qualify for the mortgage on your own.

Re: Waiting on final approval / closing now want foreign property info

nzbgsf — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 17:27:47 GMT

Thanks for the excellent advice. Fortuntely they accepted the translated title deeds and didnt need to take drastic action.

We received final approval and our loan was sent to the closing department yesterday.

Re: Waiting on final approval / closing now want foreign property info

CreditInspired — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 11:17:09 GMT

@nzbgsf wrote:
Thanks for the excellent advice. Fortuntely they accepted the translated title deeds and didnt need to take drastic action.
We received final approval and our loan was sent to the closing department yesterday.

This is wonderful news!! Congratulations and Happy Holidays.

Is it possible to edit your title to "Update: Got Final Approval"