Overseas for years so can't qualify for loan, have $100K cash?

[JD Bock]

I've been living in Shanghai, China for the last 14 years where I was self-employed as project manager for start-up
restaurants & bars while also owning/operating/investing in them as well. I finally moved back to the US with my wife and 2 year old and can't seem to qualify for a mortgage because I don't have tax returns showing my income during this time. I have about $100k in cash to use for REI and have good to excellent credit. I assume I could look for partners that could co-sign, private lenders or hard money. But I was wondering if anyone else had an experience like this and how they got past it?

I'd love to hear your story.

[Brian Bagdasarian]

I had a similar situation a few years back, when I relocated from Switzerland back to the states. As @Chris B. said, you should have been filing your tax returns even though you were overseas. The FEIE allows you to exclude up to $105,900 per year as a benefit to expats. If you were making more than that you would owe taxes on the remainder. Lenders want to see your income, not your net earnings (depending on the situation). The other option is to speak to a local credit union, and see if they can work with you via story-based lending, which is a CU mandate.