Buying a US home from Belgium

Your route into the United States

Belgian citizens can visit under the Visa Waiver Program, which is enough to view homes. Living in the United States takes a status of its own, and the mortgage depends on it: mainstream loans are for people who are lawfully resident, on a green card or a temporary visa. Entrepreneurs have the E-1 and E-2 categories, available to Belgians since 1963. An E-2 is an investment in an operating business, never in a house.

If you buy a second home and stay resident in Belgium, expect a foreign national loan with a larger down payment and a higher rate. The guide to visa status and US loans covers every route.

What a US lender sees of your Belgian finances

A US credit score is built from what US lenders report, so nothing from Belgium appears in it. Consult your record in the Central Individual Credit Register before you go, and keep the extract with your tax assessments and bank statements.

Under Fannie Mae's rules, income paid by a foreign employer in foreign currency needs two years of US federal tax returns behind it, documents must be in English or translated, and savings held abroad have to be exchanged into dollars and held in a US-regulated institution before closing. For most newcomers this means the lender looks at the US job and at money already in a US account.

A purchase without a notary

In Belgium the notary carries out the searches, drafts the deed and handles the money, and that work is the reason months pass after the compromis. The United States splits those tasks. A title search and title insurance cover ownership, a title or escrow company or an attorney conducts the closing, and the deed is recorded with the county.

Because nobody is appointed to look after both sides, the contract does the protecting. Make the purchase depend on financing, on the appraisal and on an inspection, and you can usually withdraw with your deposit if one of them fails. Our guide to the US timeline compared with Europe sets out the steps.

Belgian tax on a home abroad

If you remain Belgian tax resident, you must declare the US property, and it receives a cadastral income as a Belgian property would. The United States taxes any rent at source, at 30% of the gross amount unless you elect to be taxed on net income and file a US return each year. How Belgium then treats that income under the treaty should be confirmed with an adviser.

If you emigrate, ask about three things before you leave: what happens to tax relief linked to your Belgian home loan once the home is no longer your own dwelling, how rent from the Belgian home is taxed once you are non-resident, and whether a sale is better done before or after departure. We have not been able to verify these against the FPS Finance's own pages, so we do not state rules here.

No estate tax treaty

Belgium has an income tax treaty with the United States and no estate tax treaty. For a non-resident, non-citizen owner a US estate tax return is required once US assets exceed $60,000, and a home will pass that figure. Belgian inheritance tax and reserved shares for heirs come on top. Settle how the property will be held with a specialist first.

Questions people moving from Europe ask

Continue your research

• Getting a US mortgage after moving from Europe
• Funding a US home with European savings or home equity
• How long a US home purchase takes, compared with Europe
• Where in the United States? Destinations for Europeans
• Start a personal US mortgage scan