Question about renting a house after bankruptcy

[ld2366eh]

Hi! We are filing our chapter 7 bankruptcy in October. Fyi, We will be 8 months behind on our mortgages by that time. (we were served on July 31 with a hearing date end of Nov.)We are hoping that we can get our first loan modified post-discharge, but are now mentally prepared to walk away if necessary. We are very underwater on our first and we have a second/third mortgage as well. My question-can any of you out there with similar circumstances tell me how difficult it was to rent a house after all was said and done? How did you go about finding a place? When did you start to look? We want to stay in the same area and we're thinking about eventually contacting a realtor who deals with rentals. Would that be the way to go? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks! Btw, we already plan to bank our monthly mortgage payment beginning with the payroll date following filing.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Don't bankroll too much as it could end up becoming an asset in your estate once you file. Remember, if a 7 your estate is owned by the Trustee. Now is the time for looking. There are many places here if FL that are vacant. It truly is a renter market, not a buyers market. I guestimate one third of our area are vacant houses. Where are they going?? To the kids, to the parents, or to renting. I don't think you will have a problem renting except for others who might bid you higher. Look now. 'Hub

[ld2366eh]

But I was under the impression that your bank account was not scrutinized so much following the day you file, just up to the filing? We want to start saving for a new place to rent (or save if we get a modification that we can work with and need to bring cash to the table). Do we have to keep the bank account balance to a minimum until after the discharge?

[tobee43]

we had to sit down and take a long hard look about whether to leave our home or not. it was the most difficult decision we every made (or at the time). if you do decide to leave me as smart as you can about it. save money, so you are able to make the move.

as hub suggests, look no, if that's what you are going todo. we secured a place before we filed. we left our home of over 30 years and then rented...and THEN filed. our rent was less than 1/4 of our mortgage and we didn't move in for a bit even after renting it. we stay for a few months and then moved to the house we had rented. we ended up staying there just about two years then rented another house here in florda with an option to buy. we ended up buying the house. so it worked well for us.

but dont' get yourself or your family into a corner. try and prepare so it's less stress on the entire family. in our case, looking back, it leaving the house was the best thing we ever did, besides filing bk. but each person has a different situation. best of luck!

[ld2366eh]

Thank you for your advice! It's all very overwhelming, but I know in the end we'll make the right decision whatever that ends up being. I'll start looking now even though I'm not sure if that's the route we'll decide to go. At a minimum, we'll see how difficult it will be to find a house to rent in our situation in our school district with our 3 dogs in tow! I've traded an email with a realtor in my area and we'll go from there. Hopefully she'll be able to tell me what difficulties I may be facing if we decide to try to rent. The town is small and not much available to rent in terms of houses (I found 7 available yesterday when I was on a house rental website.) Thanks again!