Buying a place in the US--Mortgages, etc..

[Ryan Coke]

Hey, reading the thread yesterday about Mortgages and mortgage brokers got me thinking that maybe there is some good info out there from CP community.

We are looking at buying a place in Phoenix, and am trying to decide how to finance it. I have a HELOC that I should be able to use for most, if not all the new place. But I am wondering about pros and cons of doing this versus getting an actual mortgage, or doing it 50/50 US$ mortgage/canadian$ HELOC (provides a hedge on the exchange rate).

I understand I would need to get a mortgage from a US lender, but was wondering if maybe there were ways that a mortgage broker up here can be of any help.

Any thoughts would be appreciated form anyone who has any insight or experience with this sort of thing.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Hey, reading the thread yesterday about Mortgages and mortgage brokers got me thinking that maybe there is some good info out there from CP community.

We are looking at buying a place in Phoenix, and am trying to decide how to finance it. I have a HELOC that I should be able to use for most, if not all the new place. But I am wondering about pros and cons of doing this versus getting an actual mortgage, or doing it 50/50 US$ mortgage/canadian$ HELOC (provides a hedge on the exchange rate).

I understand I would need to get a mortgage from a US lender, but was wondering if maybe there were ways that a mortgage broker up here can be of any help.

Any thoughts would be appreciated form anyone who has any insight or experience with this sort of thing.

RBC Bank is a good place to start if you want american financing. They have an american arm that will let you open american accounts and get mortgages based on your canadian credit. I'm sure there are other companies that do the same.

US mortgages are tax deductible of course, you're probably not in a situation to take advantage of that though.

[ResAlien]

A good site to start with, just so you know what you're getting into

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/AZ-...value/r_40326/

That is the trending of home prices in Phoenix. Zillow isn't the end all and be all, but it is a very good gauge for the market. This is what I do pretty much every day. But I do not know about splitting it with Canadian financing, sorry. Suffice to say, imo any home purchase right now will depreciate for a while, so if you're ok with having no equity in the property for a good amount of time, go for it.

The one thing I can say - with an american mortgage, get a fixed rate. Period. Anything else is asking for trouble. I can probably answer more specific questions if you have them. Who knew I was good for something other than drive bye one liners!