Buying a House and leasing a car -Been in the US for 5 years

[thetwistybits]

Hi

myself and my family will be returning to the south east of the UK early next year, we have lived in the US (NY) for the last 5 years

We own a house in the US that we will be selling before we move back.

Ideally what we would like to do is move back into a temporary/short term rental then buy

We would also like to lease a car (we will have enough stress over the first 6 months to be considering a second hand car and the potential bork factor of the wrong car)

Its also worth mentioning that i am working for the same company when i return, just the UK division rather than US division, i have worked for this company for over 10 years

I have also been keeping an eye on my credit profile in the UK and all seems well

So here are some questions

1: Assuming a 15%+ deposit and a decent income to debt ratio how difficult will it be to get a mortgage?, i have maintained a UK bank account and UK mobile phone throughout my travels for credit history purposes

2: Is there anything i should think about doing prior to moving back to smooth this process. e.g letters from US banks about mortgage payments, print out of my ES credit score/accounts etc

3. Assuming it takes around a month for us to find somewhere to buy, how long does it take for the whole process from that point....? 2 months?

4: Same general question about leasing, it is going to be difficult as i have been away for assume they want last 5 years address details but what will happen as I was out of the country

Any thoughts or ideas appreciated

[Sarnie]

1) Difficult but not impossible.

2) No letters or anything from the US will help you. You either pass the UK score or you don't.

3) Allow 8-10 weeks but could be +/-

4) I would assume you would have less problems with the leasing of a car than securing a mortgage.

[rfoster]

The car leasing is possible - the finance company will want to see evidence of your new residence and will ask for previous UK addresses just so that they can trace you - and then they'll need evidence of your income (a letter from current employer will often help in this instance to get things moving along.) Feel free to PM Me if you'd like to discuss as this is my field (I'll leave the mortgage side to Sarnie as this is his area!) Cheers, Richard