1 year left, buy a house afterwards?

[ame8199]

I filed a chapter 13 back in August of 09. Looking back, I could have taken care of it outside of a bankruptcy, but what's done is done. I just got a little over my head in credit cards, and my parents were paying for my car. Anyway, I'm paying 566 and filed on my car (car is now paid off within the bankruptcy. Trustee is now paying student loans (which they told me they wouldn't be paying, but what the hey!) The student loans are my next huge debt. Should be finished next year around this time. I was only in for 3 years.

Im a special education teacher, making bout 36,000 a year. Making rent payment for about 680. I really want to buy a house after my bankruptcy is over. I've been reading that I have to wait for a year after my bankruptcy is discharged...Is this true? I know this is smart, but is it necessary?

I've read that you can "afford" a house two and a half times your yearly income. So, I could afford about 100,000 dollar house. I do not want one that big. I'd like a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house around 50,000-60,000.

I may have a 1-3 percent down payment...by the time Im ready to buy.

I just looked up my credit score and a year from discharge, its 686. I had pretty good credit before the bankruptcy but not sure if it will plummet once its discharged. I've checked my score bout every 6 months to a year and its gone up ever since I've filed and have been paying.

So question...Would I be able to get a loan a few months after my bankruptcy is discharged? I understand about the high interest rate, but would someone even deal with me with being finished with a bankruptcy.

I understand that it's probably not smart to buy a house...but I just want to know if banks will look at me.

I live on the Illinois side of St. Louis. Thank you

[papie]

Unless you are doing a special loan program, most banks now want a heftier down payment. Different banks have different requirements. I would say a lot of banks will give you the major side-eye if you run out and apply for a loan as soon as your bk is discharged.

And...please please please never pay attention to what people TELL you that you can afford. The best way to make sure you can afford something major like a house is to work out a complete and accurate budget with your estimated mortgage payment, utilities, etc. Live by that budget for a few months and see how it goes before you jump into homebuying. There are a lot of people on these boards who were told they could afford a house that cost X amount, and look where they are now.

[newbie2]

FHA (one of the most commonly used mortgage products) requires 2 years post bankruptcy discharge. They also require 3.5% down, and may require "reserves" depending upon your credit score and / or income.

papie (above) gave very good advice. Try living with a pretend housing budget for several months and see if you make that work without any struggle. If you can, then buying is right for you. If it's a struggle, then don't do it.

[forgotten]

The 2 years post discharge is for a Chapter 7. If you are in a Chapter 13 and have made all your payments on time you can qualify right away if all other conditions are met.

[tobee43]

forgotten...your correct as far as i know. i just wanted to add a recent experience we just had.

i'll try to make this short, but it's why i heard the "banks" side of the story recently. my daughter is buying a house. for some reason they were having a problem with the mortgage which i couldn't understand since she has perfect credit. she qualified herself for a rather large amount, but they still needed at least another 10k.

what i found out after i pulled all their reports was her husband's credit score was really low. checked it out...wrote all three agencies and upped his score over 100 points so they were good to go. (they were really only errors and it was a quick fix). all done by email over the net.

the reason i spoke with the two brokers working on the getting them the mortgage, was to see, as a last resort, if i could co sign. which since we were out over three years with a 7 they said YES...and also what i was just told and this is LAST week mind you, if i had filed a 13 i would have been good to go in a year!!! it was quicken loans by the way.

we really didn't want to co-sign, but if that was the only way, we would have. lucky for ME his score helped them qualify.