Need Advice

[Hope2File]

We are awaiting discharge and had originally planned to stick it out for another 2 years in the house we are renting. We have another year on our lease. I talked to the landlord today and he said they are thinking about putting the house back on the market, because they can't afford to keep it. We are essentially making the payment but they have taxes and insurance, and are older and I am guessing on a fixed income.

He said he would be willing to do some kind of contract or purchase agreement if the bank will let him. We're not sure if this is going to be possible or if we want to make that commitment at this time. We really like the house but had thought we'd have time to look at other options and decide what we wanted to do.

The rental market here is not great (ie there are not a lot of rentals) since this is a rural area. You pretty much have to know someone who has something for rent. On top of that, we have dogs and anyone who has tried to rent with dogs knows how easy that is. We actually got lucky to get into the house we are in.

From what I understand we have a minimum of 2 years before we can qualify for any kind of mortgage. We have never had a mortgage, so we have never been foreclosed upon, and we have never been evicted.

Just thought I'd solicit advice from the experts - what would you do? Should we just hang around after it is back on the market and hope it doesn't sell? We have two young children so we are hoping to avoid having to move in a hurry......

[lrprn]

We are awaiting discharge....

Are you a no-asset or asset Ch 7 case? I'm asking to see if there's a realistic possibility that if you could afford it, you could assume your landlords' loan if your case discharges soon. It looks like you've already been waiting a long while.

The rental market here is not great (ie there are not a lot of rentals) since this is a rural area.

If the rental market is bad, the selling market may be just as bad. Have you talked with an experienced realtor or two in your area to see how well the home sales market is current doing in the down economy?

From what I understand we have a minimum of 2 years before we can qualify for any kind of mortgage.

This is typically true. However, there are exceptions. We've had members who've been able to get mortgages faster than this because they had significant down payments and a long history of good credit scores before filing.

Just thought I'd solicit advice from the experts - what would you do? Should we just hang around after it is back on the market and hope it doesn't sell?

Tough question to answer given all the 'maybes'. I'd be finding out what the current housing market is like in the rural area and taking a good look at my post-discharge income vs. expenses to see if I could assume the existing loan or create an agreement with the current landlord to pick up more of the costs in order to guarantee staying longer. I'd also be taking a look at the current rentals to see what is actually on the market right now. If the home market remains very depressed in the area, I might take a chance that the house wouldn't sell right away. But I would definitely have a back-up plan in case the house (against all odds) sold right away.

After I had all that information in hand, then I'd sit down with my spouse and make a decision about what makes the most sense in the long run for the family and how much risk we're willing to live with.

Good luck - I hope everything works out in your favor!