Tag: FHA home loan

Bankruptcy Law, Consumer Bankruptcy

Is It Possible to Refinance a Mortgage after Bankruptcy?

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One of the biggest fears expressed by bankruptcy filers is how a bankruptcy case will affect their ability to receive financing in the future.  While having a bankruptcy on a person’s credit report can make it more difficult to qualify for a mortgage, it is possible for someone who has completed bankruptcy to refinance his or her mortgage after the case is successfully closed.

A number of factors can influence how easy it is to refinance after bankruptcy, including the type of bankruptcy, whether it be a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The type of mortgage loan that the borrower is looking to refinance can also heavily influence this.

Bankruptcy Law

Applying for a Mortgage After Bankruptcy

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One of the biggest worries that filers have when proceeding with a bankruptcy case is how the matter will affect their ability to obtain financing in the future, including a mortgage for a new home. While a bankruptcy case does impact a person’s credit score, all hope is not lost for eventually being able to purchase a home and obtain a mortgage. It depends a great deal on the success of the bankruptcy case and the consumer’s financial habits after the case is closed.

A Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy case is a much faster bankruptcy route that takes several months to finalize, while a Chapter 13 reorganization bankruptcy case can take between three to five years to finalize. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy case can stay on a person’s credit report for up to ten years from the date of filing, while a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case can stay on a person’s credit report for seven years from the date of filing or ten years if the bankruptcy is not completed or discharged.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Foreclosure Myths Debunked

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The thought of losing one’s home is scary, and because the foreclosure process can be complicated there are a lot of misconceptions and myths surrounding it.  Here are some common myths disproved.

  1. Foreclosure happens fast. Even though the foreclosure process can happen in as few as 6 months in some states, it is taking much longer to process the average foreclosure. Recently, JP Morgan Chase revealed that their average borrower who loses a home to foreclosure has not made any payments in 14 months nationwide; 22 months in Florida and 26 months in New York. The fact that foreclosure is not happening nearly as fast, gives struggling families who are temporarily down on their luck some time to get back on their feet and figure out a financial plan to save their home.
  2. Buyers cannot get clear title or title insurance on foreclosed homes. Buyers of bank-owned properties in nearly every jurisdiction are protected from later title attacks by foreclosed homeowners by the “bona fide purchaser rule,” under which courts would prefer to simply award cash damages to be paid by the culpable bank to a wrongfully foreclosed-on homeowner, rather than reversing the sale or ownership to the new, innocent buyer.
  3. Having a foreclosure on your credit history means it will take five years before you can buy again. One of the most frequently asked questions from homeowners facing foreclosure or who have just lost their home is how long will it take before they will be able to purchase another home. Until recently, it was assumed that it would take 5 years, minimum, before being able to purchase a new home.  However, borrowers can obtain an FHA loan with the low, 3.5 minimum down payment requirement 3 years after foreclosure. Post-foreclosure buyers need a credit score of 620-640 to qualify for an FHA loan.  A foreclosure itself will diminish a consumer’s credit score by 100-150 points. Former homeowners who want to purchase again need to ensure they have no other late payments or credit dings after they lose their home.

Click here to read more on this story.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade Garcia McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

 

Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

October Shows Surprising Increase in Foreclosures

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Foreclosure filings increased in October from the previous month in Southwest Florida and the recent Florida Supreme Court ruling could lead to even more foreclosures in the coming months.  Lenders reported 469 foreclosure actions last month in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties- up 33 percent from September.

According to the October 2016 Foreclosure Market Report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a total of 105,481 foreclosure filings, default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions took place in October. This is up 27% from September’s 129-month low, but it is still down 8% from last year.

The state with the highest foreclosure rate is Delaware, with one in every 355 houses having a foreclosure filing, followed by New Jersey with one in every 564 housing units, Maryland with one in every 679 units, Illinois with one in every 704 units and South Carolina with one in every 801 units.

Florida could soon be joining the states with the highest number of foreclosures, given the October ruling by the state supreme court, which favors lenders and allows them to re-file a foreclosure action against a homeowner in default even if a previous foreclosure case against that homeowner was dismissed and that original foreclosure case was filed more than five years ago, outside the state’s statute of limitations for foreclosure.

The loans used in the housing recovery that are most susceptible to foreclosure are the FHA and VA with low down payments.  Data from ATTOM Data Solutions shows FHA and VA loans combined represent 49% of all active foreclosure inventory for loans originated in the seven years ending in 2015.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Related Resources:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20161110/foreclosure-filings-rise-in-october

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/38512-october-shows-surprising-30-increase-in-foreclosures

Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

FHA’s New Guidelines Help Struggling Homeowners Remain in their Homes

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New procedures put in place by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will help strengthen the process mortgage services currently use and help struggling families stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure.

The updated procedures will streamline the process servicers use to engage borrowers, specifically when evaluating them for the FHA-Home Affordable Modification Program (FHA-HAMP).  These changes will reduce the number of steps that a servicer and borrower must take to resolve a delinquency and enter into a loss mitigation home retention product.  In addition, FHA is removing certain obstacles that will allow servicers greater flexibility for evaluating an unemployed borrower for a special forbearance agreement.

Here is what homeowners need to know about the new provisions. Specifically, the FHA will:

  • Require servicers to convert successful 3-month trial modifications into permanent modifications within 60 days instead of the average four-to-six months;
  • Allow borrowers with three missed mortgage payments to qualify for a partial claim to bring their payments current versus the previous requirement for a minimum of four missed payments;
  • End the traditional stand-alone Loan Modification option so struggling borrowers can access the FHA-HAMP option, to receive payment relief quicker;
  • Eliminate the required 12-month term for FHA’s special forbearance option.  This will allow servicers to offer this option to more unemployed households.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Related Resources:

www.fhfa.gov

https://rismedia.com/2016/08/28/fha-streamlines-process-to-help-delinquent-homeowners-stay-in-homes/

 

Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

How to Get a Second Chance at Home Ownership after Foreclosure

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More than 9.2 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure between 2006 and 2014, according to the National Association of Realtors.  For many of those individuals, enough time has passed that they may once again qualify for another mortgage.

How long you have to wait varies by the program. Generally, you will need to wait seven years after a foreclosure or short sale to qualify for a conventional mortgage, three years to get a Federal Housing Administration or U.S. Department of Agriculture loan and two years to get a loan backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

But those time periods can be shortened to as little as one year for a VA or FHA loan and three years for a conventional loan, if borrowers can demonstrate their defaults were the result of a significant hardship from which they have now recovered.

Here are five tips to remember when seeking a mortgage after a foreclosure or short sale:

Your lender will see a different credit report. The report lenders pull when you apply for a mortgage is not the same report you receive from servicers that provide credit reports to consumers. Consumers are often provided with a “stepped-down version.”  The credit score is not the end all, be all. There are other factors that can potentially slow the loan.  You can figure at least 620 is needed for a conventional mortgage and 580 is necessary for an FHA loan.

On-time payments are important. Re-establishing your credit is one of the most important qualifiers for getting a mortgage after a foreclosure or short sale.  Lenders want to do everything they can to avoid lending to someone who will default, again- so they look closely at your bill payment history since the foreclosure.

You will need to demonstrate job stability. If you have a traditional job for which you receive a W-2 form, your lender will verify your income with your employer. People who work several part-time jobs or are self-employed, will face additional scrutiny and will have to demonstrate their income with several years of tax returns and additional documentation.

You will need to document everything. Since the housing crisis, the documentation required for mortgages has increased significantly. Anything a customer puts on the mortgage application will be verified, particularly financial information.

Not all lenders are the same. Each lender has different requirements.  There is no one size fits all when it comes to mortgage lender requirements. The basic guidelines are set by FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but individual lenders and even individual underwriters may interpret these in different ways.

Click here to read more on this story.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Don’t think you can buy a home after bankruptcy? Actually, you can.

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There are a number of myths associated with bankruptcy; the inability to purchase a home is one of them. Bankruptcy is certainly not the end of homeownership.  In fact, all major mortgage programs available today- conventional, USDA, VA and FHA home loans-have established guidelines that allow post-bankruptcy buyers to qualify for a mortgage.

Each loan type has its own waiting period requirement after bankruptcy. Waiting periods for the four major types of loans are as follows:

  • FHA loans: 2 years
  • VA home loans: 2 years
  • Conventional mortgages: 4 years
  • USDA home loans: 3 years

While these are the “standard” guidelines, you may qualify for a conventional or FHA loan even sooner.  Both of these loans have exceptions for “extenuating circumstances” or one-time events that caused income loss and were outside of the homeowner’s control.

In this case, an applicant can be approved for a conventional loan just two years after bankruptcy, and an FHA applicant can receive approval after one year in the “Back to Work Program.”

Below are some quick and easy ways to re-establish your credit after bankruptcy.

  • Re-establishing your credit involves opening credit accounts and paying them on-time for at least 12 months. These credit accounts must be kept open and active.
  • Begin with a credit card. Use it for gas and groceries and pay it down every month.  Keep a small balance on it so the credit bureaus can see that it is active, but keep the balance below 30% of your available balance.
  • The credit bureaus value a diverse credit profile, more than just credit card accounts. Personal loans, student loans and car loans are other types of credit.  Credit bureaus want to see that you can manage your credit responsibly.
  • Lenders may look for non-traditional credit. For example, 12 months of cell phone bill, gym membership, car insurance, cable bill, etc.

With proper planning, you can re-establish your credit to the level at which you can qualify for a home loan.

Click here to read more on this story.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.