Case reports: financing with an overseas link
Real, anonymised case reports from my work — how financings succeed that first banks initially reject. People, places and individual figures have been changed to protect privacy; each case is an individual case and not a guaranteeable statement for other projects. Practice financing in Germany follows its own logic — separate from a standard home mortgage.
By topic
Residence abroad
Spain, Dubai, USA — financed despite a residence abroad.
Residence abroad →Cross-border commuters & neighbouring countries
Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy.
Cross-border commuters & neighbouring countries →From practice
Financing with a residence in Spain
An investment property in Düsseldorf despite living in Spain — three rejections, then the commitment.
Financing with a residence in Spain →Income from Switzerland
A home near Freiburg with income from Switzerland — the place of residence was not the problem.
Income from Switzerland →Financing with a residence in Dubai
An international career in Dubai and German property — no contradiction.
Financing with a residence in Dubai →Financing with a residence in the USA
Why a six-figure US income alone is not enough — and how it succeeded anyway.
Financing with a residence in the USA →An entrepreneur from the Netherlands
Two rejections, then a Dutch entrepreneur financed his investment property.
An entrepreneur from the Netherlands →A Swiss dentist finances in Germany
Despite excellent creditworthiness, no financing at first — and why.
A Swiss dentist finances in Germany →A US investor & the source of funds
Not the money, but the origin of the money became the real hurdle.
A US investor & the source of funds →A pilot with variable income
A flat in Munich despite fluctuating pilot pay.
A pilot with variable income →An entrepreneur from Italy
Why German banks read Italian balance sheets differently — and how it succeeded.
An entrepreneur from Italy →A software developer from India
Why a top salary alone does not guarantee financing.
A software developer from India →A couple from Luxembourg
Why even bank employees can fail with their own financing.
A couple from Luxembourg →A family from Austria
A detached house on Lake Chiemsee — why residence mattered more than income.
A family from Austria →A job in London, a home in Germany
Brexit and a job in London — almost the end of the home-ownership dream.
A job in London, a home in Germany →Tax-free income from Dubai
Tax-free income, high savings, two rejections — then Munich worked out.
Tax-free income from Dubai →A manager from Singapore
Why employee shares almost caused the financing to fail.
A manager from Singapore →An engineer from Japan (fixed-term)
Why a fixed-term contract almost ended the home-ownership dream.
An engineer from Japan (fixed-term) →Emigrants without a SCHUFA record
Why a missing SCHUFA record was not the real problem.
Emigrants without a SCHUFA record →A heart surgeon from Brazil
Why the German employment contract alone was not enough for the bank.
A heart surgeon from Brazil →An entrepreneur from Israel, Munich
Why a seven-figure account balance alone does not guarantee financing.
An entrepreneur from Israel, Munich →A rejection tells you about the bank, not about you
Almost everyone who reaches this page has been through the same thing: they approached a bank, were turned down, and drew the wrong conclusion — that the purchase is not financeable.
It almost never is. A rejection means that one particular lender could not fit one particular case into its rules. Those rules are not a law of nature. They are an internal policy, and they differ so widely between houses that the identical constellation produces a refusal at one bank and an approval at the next.
For internationally mobile buyers this matters more than for anyone else, because the reasons for refusal are usually structural rather than financial: which law governs the contract, whether your residence permit outlasts the fixed-rate period, whether your income can be documented in a form a German bank recognises, whether your equity can be traced to its source.
What a single case shows — and what it does not
- Anonymised, but not invented. Names, places, professions and individual figures are changed so that no one is identifiable. The structure of the case — the obstacle, the route around it, the order of the steps — is not.
- Not a prediction for your case. Creditworthiness, the property, your residence, your income type and the timing all decide. What worked in one case can fail in an apparently similar one because of the third detail. That is why any engagement starts with an assessment, not with a promise.
Pick the field closest to your own situation. If none fits, that is not a rejection — the hardest cases are usually the ones without a category yet.
Your case not here yet?
Almost every situation with an overseas link is solvable. Describe your situation to me — the initial call is free.