selling your home after bankruptcy

I filed for bankruptcy about 7 years ago...I'm thinking about selling my home as the kids are grown up and we don't need a big house anymore. Does anyone know how long after you file you have to wait to sell your home? THanks!

I was told by my attorney that after filing a chapter 7 you can go down the next day and buy a car if you want, so as far as selling i dont think its a problem. But if you are lokking to buy another one you might have problems finding a lender with the bankruptcy on your credit. :)

Enough time has past in which you can sell your home. Normally they look at how much money you come into 180 days after filing. As far as finding another lender should you decide to buy another home, you shouldn't have any problems as long as you did not incur anything negative on your credit report after filing. There are a lot of mortgage companies who work with people who have filed bankruptcy. Also you may qualify for an FHA loan. With FHA it has to be 2 yrs since a case has closed and you can't have anything negative after filing.

Selling the house isn't the problem. Getting into another one may be. But most likely not be if your mortgage payments have been punctual since you filed BK, you have held steady employment and have at least 10% to put down you should be good to go, if you decide to purchase a smaller house or even rent.

Good Luck! :)

You're not going to have any problems selling your house or getting another one (assuming your've been making your mortgage payments on time). Some loan programs enable to you purchase a home the day after your chapter 7 is discharged. You qualify for an FHA mortgage with 3% down 24 months after a chapter 7 is discharged. If your credit is less than perfect, or your residence doesn't qualify for FHA standards, you'll qualify for a non-comforming loan and the down payment will be a bit higher. You'll qualify for 100% financing with good fees/rates if you've kept your credit clean. Reach me at www.bankruptcy-loan-officer.com if you have any questions.

I filed for bankruptcy about 7 years ago...I'm thinking about selling my home as the kids are grown up and we don't need a big house anymore. Does anyone know how long after you file you have to wait to sell your home? THanks!


You can sell pretty much any time after a BK. If you filed Chapter 7 you were probably under an exemption for the equity in your property. If not, they would have liquidated the asset and not allowed the discharge if you had a lot of equity. You should be safe to sell. My question is have you been able to re-establish your credit since then. Have you checked your credit scores and credit report. You may be able to get some of the negatives removed since it has been a while. The BK itself should not affect your credit as much now since it has been a while. I may be a little premature asking these questions but I assume you want to buy something smaller once you sell. By the way, What state are you in? Each state has somewhat different exemption limits for your equity and some states have Homestead Exemptions where you can retain a substanital equity for a period of time. Look up "equity exemption" or "Homestead exemption" on Google and see what they are for your state.

My house was listed before discharged. Offer accepted before discharge.
Discharge dates was 1/13 we closed on 1/27.

Worst thing is that the credit reports show it was IIB when it was not. It was paid in full.

My house was listed before discharged. Offer accepted before discharge.
Discharge dates was 1/13 we closed on 1/27.

Worst thing is that the credit reports show it was IIB when it was not. It was paid in full.

Have you tried to dispute it JeepMom??

Try contacting the Lender first and having them correct their reporting. Maybe remind them of Fair Credit Reporting Practices??!! :D

HAve you attempted to dispute the information being reported to the credit bureau? If the CB cannot verify it they have to remove it.

My house was listed before discharged. Offer accepted before discharge.
Discharge dates was 1/13 we closed on 1/27.

Worst thing is that the credit reports show it was IIB when it was not. It was paid in full.

Did you not dispute this?