How long do you have to wait to buy a house after your Chapter 7 bankruptcy?
Video Transcript
Remember that Chapter 7 is a complete discharge of debts. It’s not a repayment plan. And unlike Chapter 13, it’s not going to go on for a few years; it’s going to go on for a few months.
From the time you file your Chapter 7 (most of the time, unless there’s some problem with it that has to be resolved), in a period of three to four months it’s going to be discharged and completely finished as far as you’re concerned.
And that means that all of your debt – unsecured and so forth – will be gone, and the only debt that you’ll have left are debts that you intentionally kept, like your home mortgage and perhaps a car.
Then you can start looking for a home, if you choose to do that. You can look for a non-qualifying assumable deal that you can find in your local newspaper usually, or you can go through the government-backed mortgage companies Fannie and Freddie that you’ve heard about or any other mortgage company; but they’re going to require you to wait some time, normally.
They are interested in seeing your Chapter 7 discharge, because they know that:
- You can’t file again for 8 years, at least not a Chapter 7 and
- You don’t have any debt. You should be in better condition and able to pay.
But they will require a waiting period of some type usually before getting a mortgage.
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It is critical to discuss the timing of bankruptcy with your bankruptcy lawyers Memphis, TN respects so that you can minimize negative impacts to the process.