You can get a Polish mortgage to buy real estate in Poland, if you are from the USA or from the EU. However the requirements are more. You might even be a Polish citizen like me with US-based income and the scenario is different than if you are a Polish guy working in Poland with a work contract. You basically need a larger down payment. The purpose of this post is to give you a little more detail based on my personal experience.
Here are some Polish real estate words: – hipoteka – the Polish word for Mortgage or Kredyty (not uncountable like in English) or Doradca Finansowy, kredyty hipoteczne, pożyczki which is the Polish language word for loan, etc.
This is the way you get a Polish mortgage
- having Polish income – just like in the USA (credit check income proof small down payment)
- having EU income – like a normal mortgage above, but need to take additional steps. So if you are a Polish guy working in London lets say, you need more money down and proof from your employer and a few extra things and a larger percentage down.
- having USA or no non-EU income – Most banks do not touch this but a few do. I recommend going through some special companies that search for mortgages for you, some mortgage brokers in Poland, like Expander. expander.pl – but they are young sales agents guiding your towards their banks, but still they work. bnpparibas.pl
Where to get credit in Poland for real estate
I guess I recommend to try a bank like BNP Paribas, first the Polish subsidiary, not the parent in France.
I think they are pretty good and they do these types of loans in Poland. They are pretty nice and professionals that work there know what they are talking about.
Citibank Poland does not do these types of loans even for Americans, surprise.
Basically the first answer when you look around at bank or call place will be no.
Even Banks that do these loans will tell you no because the people that working are like this, are just low-level clerks, like postal workers and they are really whatever and do not want to be bothered or do not know their job outside of the ordinary day to day tasks.
For example, I asked at a bank where my American friend just got approval and did his loan in Poland and the manager told me ‘we never have done or will do this type of load’ her assistant was nodding in the background. Then I told them that my friend just did, right here. They still said no and gave a nasty look.
This is Poland. People will give you definitive answers even though they have not research it further (communism did this I think). The reason I tell you this is to tell you yes you can, do not give up.
You can get a loan but you need to really look around. For a non-Polish loan, you will need about 100,000 pln as a down payment, maybe 50,000 your target home is not too expensive. But that is only 30,000 us dollars. If you have this doors open. But Poland is not poor Poland anymore and US incomes and bank accounts do not impress, so foreigners getting loans in post a post economic crisis world have a hard time now.
This is in start contrast with 2007 before the real estate bust in Poland and the world where you walk into any bank and you would get 110% loan.
What you need to a Polish mortgage as a foreigner
- 100,000 Polish zloty down payment
- Then you will need to show your source of income from your US tax return and or employer. Then a US credit check. If your source of income is large they may lower the down payment. So it is easy except they require a large down payment.
- Take your age, the total years of the mortgage is shorter, they take it and subtract it from like 65 and that is the maximum length of the mortgage you can take. Remember mortgage comes from the Latin word ‘mort’ and you know that that means.
An alternative is take a personal loan in the USA and use it to buy something in Poland but that is really not enough money or a high interest rate. Also look into UK banks or US banks that finance foreign property, but in this market, everyone wants not only proof of income but a large down payment if you are going to buy the new four letter word in financing that is Real Estate.
Building instead of buying a home in Poland – self finance with a stream of income
Also consider building and home and doing it in stages, it may take like 5 to 7 years but you can pay cash. This is what we are considering doing. Let me know if anyone has questions of need clarification on Polish mortgages and financing.
I think the idea of a dream place in Poland is a good dream and it is our dream too, to have a home in the USA and a cottage in Poland. I just think you have to either pay for building it in cash over many years, which we might do, have 30,000 USD to put down and good USA income, or buy a cheap place in the Polish countryside and fix it up.
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