Buying a home in California from abroad

In the same NAR report, 48% of foreign buyers paid all cash, compared with 28% of all buyers.

Fannie Mae buys loans made to non-citizens only when the borrower lives in the US legally. Since May 25, 2025, FHA loans have been open only to citizens and green card holders. If you live abroad, what's left are separate programs for foreign buyers, called foreign national loans. Every lender sets its own terms, so I compare actual offers.

For a rough idea: a 2024 Urban Institute study found that ITIN loans usually take 10 to 20% down, at a rate 0.5 to 2 percentage points higher than a standard loan. On top of that, on June 8, 2026 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reminded lenders that when they check whether a borrower can repay, they may, and sometimes must, take the borrower's immigration status into account.

I tell buyers to get the money ready before they pick a home. The seller will want to see proof of funds, and the bank and escrow will ask where the money came from. It's easiest when the full amount is already sitting in an account that can send a wire to the US, and the statements for it are already pulled together.

The biggest risk at this stage is fraud. Scammers break into agents' and escrow officers' email and send the buyer a message with "new wire instructions." The CFPB suggests a few rules:

• Pick two trusted people ahead of time, for example me and your escrow officer, and write down their phone numbers.
• Never send money based on instructions in an email.
• Before you wire, call escrow at a number you already knew and confirm the recipient and the account number.
• Don't send financial information by email.
• If the money went to the wrong place, call your bank right away and ask them to recall the wire, then file a complaint with the FBI at ic3.gov.

In California, escrow holds the money and the documents for the deal. It's a neutral third party: it follows the written instructions of the buyer and the seller and releases the money only once every condition has been met. The escrow officer doesn't represent you or the seller and doesn't take part in negotiations. Joe and I are the ones who represent you in the deal.

At the same time, the title company searches the public records for who owns the home and what debts and liens are on it, and sends a preliminary title report. The lender's policy protects only the lender. To protect yourself you need an owner's policy. It covers you for as long as you own the home, and you pay for it once, at closing.

The standard California purchase contract gives the buyer time to investigate the property, 17 days by default unless the two sides agree on something else. In that time you need to check both the home itself and whether it can be insured. The seller hands over the required disclosures during those same days. If a disclosure arrives after the contract is signed, the buyer has 3 days after it's handed over in person, or 5 days after it's mailed, to back out of the deal.

I walk through the home with the inspector on video, send you the reports, and explain what in them is serious and what's normal wear. If it's a condo or a home in an HOA, we read the association's budget and rules. Contingencies are removed only in writing. In the last 5 days before closing I do a final walk-through on video to make sure the home is in the same condition and the promised repairs were done.

If you're buying with a loan, the lender will require homeowners insurance. I ask for a quote during the inspection period, because whether the home can be insured is part of that investigation. If regular insurers turn you down, there's the California FAIR Plan. It's a limited policy, mostly for fire, with a $3 million limit per residential property. Coverage for water damage, liability and theft is added with a separate Difference in Conditions (DIC) policy.

A standard homeowners policy doesn't cover earthquake damage, except for fire after a quake. The insurer has to offer you a separate earthquake policy, and whether you buy it is up to you.

A document that gets recorded with the county, like the deed of trust when you buy with a loan, has to be signed with a notarial acknowledgment. Outside the US, California law allows two main ways to do that.

• A US consul. You book a notary appointment at the US embassy or consulate in your country, and the fee is $50 per seal. Each embassy posts its own rules for the appointment, for example that the documents come complete and unsigned and the name on them matches your passport. I check those rules for your embassy, and we go through the whole package together before you go.
• A local notary and an apostille. The US is part of the Hague Apostille Convention, and so are many other countries, including Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Israel. Before you go to the notary, I confirm with the title company what form of acknowledgment they'll accept.

Not with a California notary yet. Under SB 696, notaries in the state will be able to notarize over video once the California Secretary of State finishes its system for it, and no later than January 1, 2030. As of September 2026 the Secretary of State says plainly that a video call doesn't count as a personal appearance, and there's no launch announcement.

California does recognize an acknowledgment made under the laws of another place. But whether a particular title company will accept an online notarization from another state is up to that company, and I find out ahead of time. Another option is a power of attorney for someone in the US, which escrow and the lender also have to approve in advance.

The simplest way is to buy in your own name. The downside for a foreign buyer has to do with inheritance. If a foreigner dies with more than $60,000 in US assets, the home included, the heirs have to file a US estate tax return (Form 706-NA). If the home is in your name only and there's no trust, your heirs will most likely also have to go through probate court, and according to the California courts, even the fastest probate takes about 9 months.

A living trust helps pass the home to your heirs without probate. People usually pick an LLC to keep the home separate from their personal assets, but it costs money to run: an LLC registered or doing business in California pays at least $800 a year in tax. And if more than half of the LLC's interests pass to one new owner, the home gets reassessed for property tax the same way it would in a sale.

FinCEN's residential real estate rule required escrow or title companies to report all-cash home purchases by a company or a trust to FinCEN, along with the people behind them. Reporting was supposed to start March 1, 2026, but on March 19, 2026 a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas struck the rule down. FinCEN and the Department of Justice are appealing, and two other federal courts upheld the rule in February 2026. As of September 2026 no reports have to be filed, but the rule could come back after the appeal.

This isn't legal or tax advice. The rules below were checked against official sources as of September 2026, and your decisions should be made with a CPA and an attorney.

Property tax under Proposition 13 is 1% of the assessed value plus rates for voter-approved debt, and those add-ons vary from area to area. After you buy, the assessed value usually equals the market value on the date of the sale, and from then on it goes up by no more than 2% a year. Newer areas can also carry a Mello-Roos special tax, for example CFD 2013-3 in the Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine. That's why I always look at the last tax bill for the specific home.

The tax is paid in two installments: the first is due by December 10 and the second by April 10 to avoid a penalty. After you buy, you'll also get a supplemental tax bill for the difference between the old and the new assessed value. The Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector warns that these bills usually aren't paid through the lender's impound account and aren't sent to the lender. If you're abroad, make sure the bills go somewhere you'll see them. The homeowners' exemption takes $7,000 off the assessed value, but only if the home is your main residence. Rentals and vacation homes don't get it.

If you rent the home out, the default federal tax for a nonresident is 30% of the gross rent (or a lower tax treaty rate, if the treaty provides one). You can instead elect under section 871(d) to pay tax on the income minus expenses at the regular rates, by filing Form 1040-NR. California also requires the property manager or another payer to withhold 7% from payments to nonresidents, rent included, once they add up to more than $1,500 in a year. You'll need an ITIN for the returns. The W-7 application is usually filed with your first return.

When you sell, FIRPTA applies. The buyer has to withhold 15% of the price and send it to the IRS. If the buyer is buying the home to live in, the rate is 10% for a price up to $1 million and zero up to $300,000. The withholding counts toward the tax the seller works out on their return, and with Form 8288-B you can ask the IRS ahead of time to reduce it. The IRS usually answers within 90 days. California separately withholds 3⅓% of the price (or an amount under an alternative calculation) unless the seller certifies an exemption on Form 593.

I moved to the US at 20 with almost no English, and I passed the California license exam in English on the first try. So I remember well what it's like to read American documents for the first time. That's why I show homes on video and tell you what I actually see, street noise and a creaky floor included. Every document, from the contract to the inspector's report, I go through with you, in English or Russian, before you sign it.

I coordinate with escrow, the title company, the lender and the inspectors, keep the calendar of deadlines, and book the signing at the consulate or with a notary ahead of time. My broker, Joe Goodman of Hayden & Bach, has worked on California deals for more than 25 years and runs them together with me. You can check my license (DRE #02323623), like any agent's, on the California Department of Real Estate website.