How soon could I sell house after last payment on 13?

[KCC]

We have been paying for 26 months on a 36 month plan. My husband lost his job here last month and is looking for work in another part of the state (since thats where the jobs are). It is a four hour drive to where he'll probably be working and so we want to sell the house as soon as possible, but really don't want to do anything to disturb or disrupt the plan, or do anything that might extend it. I'm very ready for my life to be "my own" again.

I've been reading on this forum that it often takes several months after you've finished your monthly paments before you get your formal discharge. This is dismaying news. Is this the case for everyone? How long should we expect this to take in Washington State?

Our big question is how long will we have to wait to sell this house? Would we be able to sell it as soon as we have completed our payments, or will we have to wait until we have official papers? Will we get to keep the equity? We're not likely to get much more out of it in equity than is exempt, though it's possible we'd get a little more. How can I expect the trustee/courts to handle all this?

Thanks

[StaciMM]

My first thought is to talk to your attorney about filing a motion to either convert to a ch.7 or request a hardship/early discharge due to your husband losing his job. Since you're more than 2/3 of the way thru, those are likely both options for you.

[KCC]

He's been out of work a month, but prospects for employment look pretty good right now. I think he'll probably be employed again before too much longer. He's worked on commission, and income goes up and down great deal from month to month. Sometimes that is a challenge, but luckily for us, income had been fairly high over the summer, and, anticipating a "low" time, we had some money in savings. So we can get by for several weeks. Not everyone has that luxury, particularly when in chapter 13. But because of that, I think they'd look at his recent income and say "no way" to converting to 7. Would they consider a hardship discharge if he's likely to get a job in the next month or two?

[KCC]

Any one else have information/thoughts on this -- both on my question about selling the house and on converting to a 7?