The clock
Closing in 30 Days as a Foreign Buyer
The obstacle is almost never eligibility. It is that nobody gives you a straight answer fast enough, and the contract does not wait.
Our focus is $1M to $5M, where we move fastest and typically close in about two weeks. Have something larger? We can often place it case-by-case through our capital-partner network. Either way, send us the deal.
You signed a contract on a US property and you have roughly 30 days to complete. That is the constraint everything else has to fit inside, and nothing about being foreign makes the seller wait.
What stops most foreign buyers is not that they are ineligible. They are eligible. What stops them is that there is nobody who understands the problem from the foreign side, who can give an exact answer quickly, and who is still there in three weeks when it matters. So the days go by in the search for that person rather than in the transaction.
This page is about the clock. Where the days go, what each wrong turn costs, and how to tell on day one whether 30 days is realistic at all.
What the 30 days are actually spent on
The financing itself is not the long part. On a clean file, a term sheet comes back in 24 to 48 hours and the loan closes in roughly two weeks, 7 to 14 business days from term sheet acceptance. Traditional commercial debt takes 60 to 90 days, which is why it is the wrong instrument for a 30-day contract no matter who you are.
The parts that consume the calendar are the ones sitting on your side of the table, and for a non-resident there are three of them: the entity, the property inspection, and the paper trail behind the money.
- Forming the US LLC is often a matter of days. The EIN is the variable one: a non-resident applies by fax or mail rather than through the online tool, and that can take from a few days to a few weeks
- Opening and funding the LLC's US bank account happens after the EIN, so it inherits every day the EIN took
- Appraisal is the most common cause of slippage. Delay on appraiser access is the number one reason deals slip past ten days, and it is usually a scheduling problem with the occupant rather than a lending problem
- Source-of-funds documentation is routine on any cross-border file. It is quick when the money is already documented and slow when the trail has to be reconstructed
What each wrong door costs you, in days
Every foreign buyer knocks on some of these before finding the right one. None of the answers is dishonest. Each is correct for what that desk sells, which is exactly what makes them expensive: a correct no still costs you a week.
- Your own bank at home, about a week. It does not lend against US property, and the person telling you so has to check first
- A US retail bank, one to two weeks. No Social Security number and no US credit file means no consumer product, and you will often be passed between two people before someone says it plainly
- A private bank, two weeks or more. It can lend, but generally against assets you place under management rather than against the property, which is a different transaction from the one you are trying to do
- A US broker who has never handled a foreign file, the most expensive of all. This one does not say no. It says yes, then discovers the entity, the EIN and the source-of-funds requirements at day twenty, when there is no time left to start again
- A comparison form on a marketplace site, a few days and your phone number. What comes back is a queue of callers, none of whom has read your file
Why you cannot get a straight answer
There is a structural reason this is harder than it should be, and it is worth naming. Lenders rarely speak to borrowers directly, and more rarely still to foreign ones. Your question travels through intermediaries, each passing on what they believe the answer to be, and each layer costs a day and loses a detail.
So the question you actually need answered on day one, whether this specific property, in this entity, with this money, can close inside your contract deadline, is the one question the chain is worst at answering. You get encouragement instead of an answer.
That gap is the reason this firm exists. You speak to the person who structures the deal, in your time zone, and the answer you get on day one is the answer, including when it is no.
Start these on day one, not on day ten
If you do only one thing after signing, start the entity. Nearly every 30-day file that fails does so because the LLC, the EIN and the bank account were started once the financing was already agreed, and those steps do not compress.
- Form the US LLC and file for the EIN immediately, before the financing is finalised
- Ask the seller's agent to confirm appraiser access with the occupant in writing, in the first week
- Assemble source-of-funds documentation while you wait for the EIN, since the two run in parallel at no cost
- Send the deal to whoever will finance it on day one rather than once everything else is ready. A term sheet in 24 to 48 hours only helps if you ask on day two instead of day twenty
When 30 days is not realistic, and we will say so
A page like this is worth nothing if it only says yes. Some files cannot make the deadline, and knowing that on day one is worth more than an encouraging answer that collapses on day twenty five.
- Your country is not eligible. Some jurisdictions are excluded outright and no amount of time solves it, which is why it is checked before anything else
- You intend to live in the property. That is consumer lending, a different regulatory world, and not what we do
- The deal is well below $1M. We will point you elsewhere rather than pretend to be a fit
- The entity, the EIN and the funded bank account have not been started and the contract has two weeks left. That is a timeline problem rather than a credit problem, and the honest move is to negotiate an extension while you still have the standing to get one
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign buyer really close on US property in 30 days?
Yes, when the entity is started early. The financing is not the constraint: a term sheet comes back in 24 to 48 hours and a clean file closes in roughly two weeks from term sheet acceptance. What breaks a 30-day contract is starting the US LLC, the EIN and the bank account late, because those run on their own clock and cannot be compressed.
What takes the longest for a non-resident buyer?
The EIN. A non-resident applies by fax or mail rather than through the online tool, and it can take from a few days to a few weeks. The US bank account depends on the EIN, so any delay there is inherited. Starting both the day you go under contract is the highest-value thing you can do.
Why do US banks say no to foreign buyers?
Because they are being asked for a consumer loan, which requires a US credit file and US income a non-resident does not have. That answer is correct for that product. Investment property financing for a non-resident is business-purpose lending made to a US LLC and underwritten on the property, a different category entirely rather than a favour extracted from the same desk.
Do I need to travel to the United States to close?
No. The purchase and the financing can be completed remotely, and you never have to set foot in the United States to close. Travel is a preference rather than a requirement, and it should not be one of the things consuming your 30 days.
I am already under contract and have lost two weeks. Is it too late?
It depends on one thing: whether the US LLC, the EIN and the funded bank account exist. If they do, two weeks is workable on a clean file. If none of them has been started, the honest answer is usually to ask for an extension now, while you still have the standing to get one, rather than to discover the problem in the final days.
Ready to finance your US deal?
Tell us about the property and your timeline. We will come back with the structure and next steps, usually within 24 hours.