Great information about life after short sales and foreclosures

Thanks for the great information, Steve Lines...

If you have experienced a foreclosure, short sale and/or bankruptcy, you are probably in the process of re-establishing your credit and planning for your future.  You may have asked, can I buy a house again in Arizona and how long will I have to wait to do so?  Conventional guidelines do not have a very positive answer.  Fannie Mae now dictates that the minimum waiting period after a foreclosure is five years.  Further, for anyone wishing to purchase a home after five years and up to seven years following a foreclosure, the minimum down payment on a primary residence is 10 percent and the minimum credit score is 680.  For a short sale, there is a two year waiting period with Fannie Mae. Finally, the waiting period after a bankruptcy discharge or dismissal date is four years except in cases of extenuating circumstances.  However, Arizona FHA home loans are much more accommodating and should be considered as part of your plan to return to home ownership.  

The following FHA guidelines answer the question:  How long is the waiting period to qualify for an Arizona FHA mortgage after foreclosure, short sale or bankruptcy.

Foreclosure: FHA states that the minimum waiting period is three years for a borrower whose house has been foreclosed or who has given a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. If the foreclosure was the result of a documented extenuating circumstances that were beyond the control of the borrower and the borrower has reestablished good credit since the foreclosure the three year waiting period may be waived. Extenuating circumstances include serious illness or death of a wage earner.

If the previous foreclosure was not a FHA-insured mortgage, the three year period will typically begin on the date of the sheriff / trustee sale.  If the previous foreclosure was a FHA-insured mortgage, it will be reported on HUD’s Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS). CAIVRS is a Federal government-wide repository of information on those individuals with delinquent or defaulted Federal debt and on those for whom a payment of an insurance claim has occurred. In these cases, the three year exclusion period starts from the date that the claim was paid corresponding to the previous foreclosure. That date will need to be obtained from HUD. 

Short Sale: FHA does not currently have a policy regarding the time required to reestablish credit and obtain a new FHA loan after a short sale. However, the borrower must be able to qualify using standard FHA guidelines including the fact that they typically can not have any late payments on their mortgage for the previous 12 months.

Although this is the official FHA policy, many of the individual banks and lenders who are funding FHA loans have implemented their own policies regarding the waiting period after a short sale. I have seen a typical range between two and four years.  We anticipate that FHA will issue a written policy regarding short sales in the near future. 

Another area of potential concern is that even if you were able to successfully short sale your home, it is possible that the lender still reported the transaction as a foreclosure on your credit report.   Check with your lender if you have experienced a short sale to verify his or her company’s policies. 

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy:  FHA requires that the minimum waiting time is typically no less than two years from the discharge date. In addition, the borrower must have reestablished good credit or chosen to not incur new credit obligations.  If the borrower can show that the bankruptcy was caused by extenuating circumstances beyond the borrower’s control and that he or she has since demonstrated a documented ability to manage his or her financial affairs, the waiting period can be reduced to one year.  Again, extenuating circumstances include serious illness or death of a wage earner.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: FHA states that a Chapter 13 does not disqualify a borrower from obtaining FHA financing as long as the borrower can show that at least one year of the pay-out period has elapsed under the plan and that all of the required payments (and mortgage payments when applicable) have been made on time. Also, the borrower must receive permission from the court to enter into the mortgage transaction.

If you have questions or comments, please contact me or feel free to visit my FHA Loan website www.bestFHAlender.com.  Steve Lines, FHA Mortgage Specialist, email: slines@amerifirstloan.com

Comments

[Lidiya]

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[genica]

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Warm Regards

Homeloa-n.info Team

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