Buying a House with Credit

Hamoud stopped by today with a leather folder and proudly whipped out a thick stack of official documents. He’s in the process of buying an apartment in a new complex under construction near the airport. He’d made an initial deposit many months ago, and has been waiting for the place to be completed. This week, he received notice that the building is finally finished and ready for him and his family.

We mentioned before the difficulties of obtaining a bank loan here (see post: Third World Construction) and that’s true for Hamoud, too. When he tells us proudly that he’s buying an apartment, he always qualifies it: “I’m buying a house with credit.” Of course, in Western countries, virtually all houses are bought with the assistance of banks, and all-cash offers are rare; the opposite is true here. But as Hamoud points out, only a small professional class receives paystubs from employers that can be verified. He counts teachers, doctors and policemen in that group. However, for the vast majority of Moroccans, establishing credit is not easy, so he’s quite pleased that his employer of six years has written letters (which have been notarized, legalized, stamped, and then stamped again) stating he’s been employed for six years. These papers are part of the stack he’s assembled and is off for his first attempt at a loan from a bank.

His enthusiasm is infectious, and we’re crossing our fingers that it all goes well. Given our knowledge of American mortgage lenders and Moroccan bureaucracy, we’re worried that he’ll have more hoops to jump through.