Ohio Lender Offers New Loan Program for Foreign Buyers

Following a recent industry ""report"":http://www.dsnews.com/articles/report-immigrants-contribute-greatly-to-housing-demand-2013-03-06 on the prevalence of immigrants in the American housing market, ""Residential Finance Corporation,"":http://www.residentialfinance.com/ a Columbus, Ohio-based national lender, announced a new program for foreign and immigrant homebuyers.

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Named the ""Foreign National Loan Program,"" the company designed the program to offer loans to foreign buyers, a growing segment of the home-buying population, according to the report released this week by the ""Mortgage Bankers Association."":http://www.mbaa.org/default.htm

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The report revealed steady growth in the market among foreign-born buyers over the past three decades and projects the demographic will contribute about 2.8 million home sales over the decade ending in 2020.

""The U.S. market is being increasingly viewed as attractive to non-citizen homebuyers,"" said Mark Fowler, chief revenue officer at Residential Finance.

""We're seeing growing interest from foreigners in securing home loans, particularly in coastal areas,"" Fowler added.

The MBA report pointed to California and New York as two states where foreign-born buyers made up the majority of growth from 2000 to 2010.

The ""Foreign National Loan Program"" will offer fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage loans for single-family homes, condominiums, townhomes, and second homes, according to Residential Finance.

The program will accept loan-to-value ratios up to 65 percent and loan values of up to $600,000. Pre-payment penalties will not apply to these loans, according to the company.