The cold U.S. housing and mortgage markets have lenders looking for warmer possibilities, and a few are sending more efforts to finance Americans looking to purchase primary residences and second homes south of the border.

New York-based Lehman Brothers Resort Home Lending (1-866-233-4799) will enter the market in a big way, offering U.S. consumers mortgage packages this year in Mexico and Costa Rica, beginning July 1. The company plans to offer borrowers in Canada and the United Kingdom similar loan programs in Mexico and Costa Rica by the end of the year.

The programs, featuring one-, three-, five- and 10-year adjustable-rate mortgages amortized over 30 years, also will be available in the next year to U.S. borrowers who wish purchase in the Bahamas, according to Lehman Brothers. The company also is targeting the second-home market in Canada, the United Kingdom, Panama and the Dominican Republic, but specific roll-out dates were not released.

GMAC was the first national lender to introduce a 30-year, fixed-rate product south of the border but pulled out of Mexico late last summer when the U.S. mortgage market meltdown began to influence international partner companies. Lehman Brothers purchased some of GMAC’s Mexico back-office operation late last year.

Wachovia Bank also has launched a program that enables the bank to purchase vacation-home loans made in Mexico. The vacation-home origination process is designed to look and feel like the loan origination practices in the United States, according to Wachovia.

"Having the support of a successful U.S. bank like Wachovia really speaks to the strength of the vacation-home market in Mexico," said Joe Schneider, project administrator for Cascadas de Manzanillo, a 530-acre planned-unit development on Santiago Bay just north of Manzanillo, Mexico.

How have Americans financed second homes outside the United States? Traditionally, it was get out your line-of-credit checkbook, add any savings you could muster, and then pray that the seller would "carry the paper" until you found another way to refinance the balance.

Bryant said the company will scrutinize builders and developments in specific destinations. For example, Lehman Brothers will focus on waterfront and view communities in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.

Lehman Brothers is willing to gamble that it can make cross-border lending work, and that the number of Americans buying in Canada — and elsewhere — continues to rise.

To get even more valuable advice from Tom, visit his Second Home Center.

***

What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

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