When can I buy or refinance my home after a foreclosure, shortsale, bankruptcy chapter 7 or 11, or after a modification?
There are different times in which one must wait before they can apply for a home loan after a bankrutpcy, shortsale, foreclosure, or modification, and depending on the type of loan you are using, they are all different. This chart is a GREAT illustration on those timelines, or as we say in the mortgage industry, seasoning time after the loss.
To view this bankrutpcy, foreclosure, shortsale, or modification chart more legibly, click on the chart below.
Keep in mind, if you had a foreclosure during your bankrutpcy or after your bankruptcy, you will use the chart to find out what your wait time is after the foreclosure. If you have more questions, please feel free to contact me directly.
Take a look at these other FHA guidelines for more questions.
Take a look at these other USDA guidelines for more questions.
General information regarding Conventional financing guidelines.
Tina says
Although this does not apply to me, I have often wondered about this, and I thank you for posting it. The President was in Phoenix the other day talking about the recovery (I don’t know what recovery he was talking about, but he seems to think there is one). I wonder if he knows how many years it takes to be able to qualify for a new loan after a foreclosure/short sale? And what about an applicant’s FICO score?
Vene' says
If you filed bankruptcy, should you rush back into debt, especially with a new mortgage???
Brad Lynch says
Vene, you are going to want everyone to hear this answer! You caught me at an inspired morning.
The system has to prepare options for those people who are responsible financially, but truly got caught in a life situation that forced them to go BK (Bankrupt). Oh, how I have more for this question though Vene. 🙂 If someone has a proven track history of poor financial decisions, I think they should have to prove a “seasoning” of stability in finances before they can apply, but in America, that can be miscontrued as discrimination, so we can’t go there. I collect quotes and I can’t remember it word for word, but reading into this quote shows how tough it is for someone to “CHANGE”. Change takes committment, and requires the ability to change, “call it a gift”. This means to me, the ability, or God given gift to change is not necessarily in everyone, nor in most of us. Knowing what I just shared, being in the good ole United States of America, the lending industry is influenced and “forced” by the government to give everyone that chance, even though some and most don’t always deserve it.
Vene, thanks for your comment and question.
YMGFL
Brad Lynch
Brad Lynch says
Tina,
I’m not an Obama lover or hater, so to speak. Hopefully that will set the precedent of my comment to yours. I’m in the industry of seeing incomes, credit reports, and sitting in on economic forecasts of the most respected economists in America. On the other hand, I’m not an economist and do not pretend to be. That being said, I definitely see recovery in the state of Texas, and I’ve heard those aforementioned ecomomists say the same. History defines the present right? Well, in every case in the past when we had a recovery, the Real Estate market growth was the first to change. In Texas a couple years ago, the amount of inventory of homes that was on the market was measured to be 3 years or more. That meaning there were too many homes on the market that could not be gobbled up by buyers due to the lack of buyers because of the inability of enough buyers to afford. In Texas, recent studies showed that we have reduced that inventory number to only 3 months! That is huge. Another important note, the rest of America still has quite a bit more inventory, but signs show even those getting better, instead of worse. So, I believe too that we are recovering slowly. I also think it’s important that we recover slowly rather than rapidly. When things happen rapidly, irrational record keeping and attention to detail suffers.
YMGFL
Brad Lynch
Meli says
Thank you for explaining all of this. I am so fortunate not to have even been in the position to need this!
Rob says
just finished my 3 year short sale issue… so no i am on the mend..
Savannah-Lin Dofa says
Great information to know.. thank you for sharing…
Bradley Finnearty says
I have never owned my own home. The recent problems with financing and things have made me realize that I really do not want to. But for those who do and are having problems that the bad economy has caused I think they should check out this chart and get a hold of you.
Sharlene says
This chart was very helpful to me…thanks for posting!
tomsfoodieblog (@tomsfoodieblog) says
Great chart showing the options and implications for liquidating your property. Thanks for sharing this, I know there are a lot of people who need it.
Irene S. says
Wow some really great information. I am thankful that I am not in the boat but know that those who need this info thank you for taking the time to put it out there.
Deborah says
Those timelines are much shorter than I would have thought them to be.
Dov Shapira says
As a contractor i sure do see a recovery in Arizona for the last 12 months.
Your info here is news to me and I like it.
Jo Casey says
I didn’t know any of this! It’s an education
Anita Breeze says
Good information for people to know about. Seems that there is life after debt!
Karen Bradley says
I am two years post short sale and have really been working on my credit score. I am almost up to where I was before the short sale so my efforts have been good. I think it helps that all my other credit was excellent.
Tyler says
Very glad I don’t need this. Thank you for the advice
Deanna says
Oh I am so glad i have not had to go through any of this , but i will share it cause i am sure lots of people need this info.
Don Purdum says
Thank you for putting this in perspective!!!
Jim Striegel says
Brad…great article and enjoyed reading your comments back to help understand and explain this process.
Casey Gardner says
I agree with Jim. This is a really great article and worth sharing.
Brad Lynch says
Thank you all for the comments on the reads. I felt this was a very applicable and useful post.
YMGFL
Brad Lynch
Daniele Holmberg says
Very informative chart..i am always looking for new info about the mortgage industry considering my situation.
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Joe says
The chart says 3 years for a USDA loan but I was approved after 1.5 years. I had strong credit before the short sale and my credit recouped fairly quickly (705 at the time of the approval) so maybe my timeline is unique.
Brad Lynch says
Joe,
Without being the loan officer seeing the file and running it through USDA’s automated underwriting system, I can’t accurately say why…their automated underwriting system is call GUS. All of the governing bodies for home loans have these systems…Fannnie, Freddie, FHA, USDA, etc. The governing bodies of home loans in America have a minimum underwriting standard, but most banks have a more restrictive standard on top of that. So this means that you may get an approval on the automated underwriting system but with the “overlay” of underwriting guidelines from the bank, the loan wouldn’t be acceptable to some banks. My understanding is the GUS does not accept loan applications on buyers with short sales until the are 3 years out in most cases and with very strong credit, at a minimum of 2 years. The good thing is, YOU GOT YOURS DONE. 🙂 Have a great 2014 sir!
Thanks,
Brad Lynch
YMGFL