Cross-border financing for property abroad.
When Americans and Canadians buy property abroad, they need different mortgage products than locals do, and the lender ecosystem built for them is fragmented, barely advertised, and nothing like what your US retail bank will show you. We walk through the four real options buyers use, the honest trade-offs between them, the currency exposure on loans priced in pesos or euros, and we don't print a rate we cannot verify.
Start here
Two pieces that frame every cross-border financing decision before you get to country detail or run a calculator.
A walkthrough of the four real ways to pay for a $400K home abroad — paying cash, drawing a HELOC, taking a local non-resident loan, or going with a cross-border mortgage — and how to think about which one fits which kind of buyer.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is mostly a US invention — most countries finance property with 5-year resets instead, and that structure usually works better for buyers shopping across borders than anything a US bank will quote them.
By country
Cross-border financing routes through eight countries. Each page walks the math against the local non-resident alternatives, the FX exposure if the loan isn't USD, the friction specific to that market, and a worked example on a real listing.
How the bank trust, peso volatility, and USD cross-border lending all play out for a foreign buyer.
A heavily dollarized market with full freehold title — and the coastal strip you really need to watch out for.
Where local banks compete with cross-border lenders, because the country runs on US dollars.
Euribor resets, the foreigner tax ID, what the transfer tax really runs, and why closing costs land at 10 to 12 percent.
English-language closings and dollar pricing — with an 8 percent non-resident stamp duty buyers tend to miss.
How the tourism-zone tax break really works, why pricing runs in dollars, and where title diligence catches deals.
How regional transfer tax shifts at every border, what the Golden Visa repeal really changed, and why no one signs without a foreigner tax ID first.
How the Italian tax ID, registration tax on cadastral value, and a realistic renovation reserve all fit into the math.
Compare the four options against your numbers.
The HELOC-vs-cross-border-mortgage calculator runs both paths side-by-side at your principal, rate, and hold horizon — including the variable-rate scenarios that bite HELOC borrowers when Fed policy turns. The country pages walk the local non-resident alternatives.
HELOC vs. mortgage calculator →Rates move week to week and lender to lender. A stale published rate is worse than no rate. The country mortgage pages cite the most recent verifiable ranges from public lender disclosures, dated. For weekly rate moves and policy shifts, subscribe to The Brief.
One market read, one process explainer, one number to know.
Free, no sponsors. Cross-border property and retirement, written for North American buyers.