The United States is unusually open to foreign property buyers. There is no federal restriction on non-citizens owning residential real estate — no visa required, no green card, no residency test. You can buy a house in the US having never set foot in it.
What the US does have is a tax and financing system that treats you differently from a domestic buyer at both ends of the transaction. Understanding those differences before you buy is the difference between a clean investment and an expensive surprise on exit.
Financing: two realistic paths
Foreign buyers without US credit history do not use conventional Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans. They use portfolio products designed for this profile.
Foreign national full-documentation loans qualify you on verified overseas income and assets. Expect roughly 25% to 40% down depending on the lender and property, rates typically one to two percentage points above conforming rates, and no requirement for US credit history. Documentation is the constraint: bank statements, income verification from your home country, often translated and sometimes notarised or apostilled.
DSCR loans (debt service coverage ratio) qualify on the property’s projected rental income rather than your personal income. If the rent covers the debt service at the lender’s required ratio, the loan works. These have become the default route for overseas investors buying US rentals, and down payments commonly start around 20% to 30%.
Closing typically takes three to six weeks. Cash purchases are of course faster, and a meaningful share of international buyers pay cash to avoid the documentation cycle entirely.
Green card holders and many work-visa holders are treated differently — they generally access standard conforming financing on the same terms as citizens.
The ITIN: get it early
Non-residents without a Social Security number use an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), obtained by filing IRS Form W-7.
You will need it in two situations that are easy to postpone and expensive to postpone: filing a US tax return on rental income (Form 1040-NR), and applying for a reduced FIRPTA withholding certificate or refund when you eventually sell.
Getting an ITIN through a Certified Acceptance Agent is generally the fastest route for someone outside the US, because the agent can verify your original documents without you mailing your passport to the IRS. Apply before closing rather than after — the timeline is much friendlier when you are not under a deadline.
Costs at purchase
| Cost | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Closing costs | 2%–5% of purchase price |
| Title insurance and escrow | Included in the above; varies by state |
| Annual property tax | ~0.5%–2.5% of assessed value, depending on state and county |
| Homeowners insurance | National average roughly $2,500–3,000/year; far higher in coastal states |
| HOA / condo dues | Varies; often significant in condo markets |
State choice matters enormously here. Texas and Florida have no state income tax but relatively high property taxes and, in Florida’s case, the most expensive homeowners insurance in the country. A low purchase price in a high-carrying-cost state can produce worse net returns than a higher price elsewhere. Model the carrying costs, not just the entry price.
FIRPTA: the rule that catches sellers
The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act applies when you sell, not when you buy — which is exactly why so many foreign buyers forget about it until it is too late to plan around.
When a foreign person sells US real estate, the buyer (usually through the closing agent) must withhold a percentage of the gross sale price — not the gain — and remit it to the IRS, generally within 20 days of closing. The default rate is 15%.
That distinction matters. On a $600,000 sale, $90,000 is withheld even if your actual profit was $40,000, or even if you sold at a loss. You reclaim any over-withholding by filing a US tax return the following year, or you can apply in advance for a withholding certificate (Form 8288-B) to reduce the amount withheld to something closer to the real tax liability.
Reduced rates and exemptions exist in specific circumstances — for example, where the buyer will use the property as a residence and the price falls below certain thresholds. These are technical and fact-specific. Confirm with a US tax advisor before closing, not after.
Practical pre-planning at purchase: get the ITIN early, document your cost basis from day one (purchase price plus every capital improvement, with receipts), and discuss ownership structure before you buy rather than after.
Ownership structure and estate tax
Property can be held personally or through a US LLC. Structure affects liability protection, privacy, and — most importantly for non-residents — US estate tax exposure.
This is the risk most often overlooked. Non-resident aliens face a far lower US estate tax exemption on US-situs assets than US citizens do, which means a directly held property can create a significant estate tax liability for heirs. Holding structures can address this, but they carry their own compliance costs and tax consequences, and the right answer depends on your home country’s tax treaty with the US.
This is a question for a cross-border tax advisor before purchase. Restructuring afterwards is possible but often triggers tax events.
State-level restrictions to check
While there is no federal restriction on residential purchases, several states have enacted laws limiting property purchases by nationals of specific countries, and others restrict foreign ownership of agricultural land or land near military installations. Florida and Texas both have such statutes.
These laws are relatively new, actively litigated, and vary in scope. If you hold citizenship in an affected country or are looking at rural or near-base land, get a local real estate attorney’s opinion before signing.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a visa or green card to buy US property? No. There is no federal residency or immigration requirement to own US real estate.
Does buying property give me a US visa? No. Unlike Dubai’s Golden Visa or Greece’s residency programme, US property ownership grants no immigration status whatsoever. The EB-5 programme is an investment route to residency, but it is a separate framework with different requirements and much higher thresholds.
Can I rent the property out? Yes. Rental income is US-taxable and requires a federal return. Most non-residents elect to be taxed on net income after expenses rather than a flat rate on gross rent — an election worth making, and worth making correctly.
Do I need a US bank account? Practically, yes. It makes closing, rent collection, tax payments and carrying costs far simpler, and many lenders require one.
Should I buy in my own name or an LLC? It depends on liability preferences, privacy, your home country’s tax treaty, and estate tax exposure. There is no universal answer — this is the question to take to a cross-border tax advisor before you commit.
Before you buy
The purchase is the easy part. The parts that determine your actual return are the carrying costs in the state you choose, the structure you hold it in, and the 15% that will be withheld from your gross sale price years from now.
Line up an ITIN, a cross-border tax advisor and a local real estate attorney before the offer, not after the closing.
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