Being on F-1 kinda sucks

[Murad Azimzada]

Hi folks,

I stepped away from researching and trying to buy a house after 10+ rejections from lenders. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but the system with the FDA (which initially got me interested) really beat me up. I was close to losing 5–10k if I hadn’t called the lender who gave me a pre-approval letter, only to later reject me. Then I spoke with someone at another institution who said being on an F-1 visa was fine as long as it wasn’t expired. But 5–6 banks still rejected me because my visa had less than 3 years left (now it’s expired, lol). I also didn’t have an AED, even though I was making decent money as a student.

After those fails, I decided to put most of my cash into stocks, crypto, and ETFs. I’m also testing out a car fleet rental for delivery (cheap and reliable cars at low rental cost). It’s going okay (btw let me know if you have a lead!), but cars need maintenance, insurance, and a lot of back-and-forth with people, which can be exhausting, to be honest.

Coming from a culture where I never paid rent, I still can’t get used to it. I’d rather put money into something that generates recurring income — ideally owning a place and renting it out to fellow students or friends.

Here in America, though, my patience is really tested. I feel like I should wait until I have the proper documents to qualify for lower mortgage rates, but I’m not sure if there are already options out there. My investments took a hit, but I think they’ll bounce back by the end of 2025.

What would you suggest?