How Soon Can I Buy a New Home After Foreclosure? – Raeburn

“Dear Andy,

We refinanced our mortgage with the assurance we could refinance our home in two years. The company had our appraisal fixed to overstate the value of our house. The mortgage was sold to another comapny and when we went to refinance we were too far upside down for them to pursue helping us. In 2008 we tried for eight months to try and get someone to assist us, with no help.

Also, at his time Chase’s mortgages were sold to Bank of Americ and we were lost in the shuffle. Our payment went up $800/ month and we could not pay it. We offered to continue paying our old payment and was told that would not help. We told them we had no choice then except to move and did so in October of 2008, after relaying this information to them.

We are trying to purchase another home now and our credit report shows the foreclosure was in February of 2010. What can we do to get the date changed to reflect an earlier time? If we can get it changed, how much could this improve our credit rating?

We have been paying rent at the home we are in for a little over 2.5 years. Is there any way to reflect these payments on our credit report?

Do you know of anyone who might help someone get a second chance on a mortgage with past credit difficulties?

Raeburn”

Dear Raeburn,

From the sounds of it you moved out of your home in Oct 2008, but the lender didn’t foreclose on the property until Feb 2010. I’m assuming the property sat vacant for 14 months while BOA went through the foreclosure process. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any way to get your credit report to reflect the earlier date though. The credit bureaus are required to report accurate information and if the actual foreclosure didn’t officially take place until Feb 2010, then it’s probably going to be impossible to get that changed.

Your credit score will probably not be the largest obstacle you’re facing in getting a new mortgage in the near future, it’s the foreclosure being so close. Most underwriting guidelines require that a certain amount of time has passed since a foreclosure or short sale has occurred. In short, even if you had a 750 credit score right now, you would still have to wait the required waiting period before you would qualify for another mortgage. Here are some basic guidelines as they now stand for obtaining new Fannie, Freddie, or FHA backed loans.

Foreclosure with an FHA Loan

• 3 year wait before being able to get a loan
• Reduced wait if the borrower can show extenuating circumstances and re-establishes good credit

Foreclosure with a Fannie Mae Loan

• 7 year wait from the completed foreclosure sale date
• 3 year wait if the borrower can show extenuating circumstances. Additional underwriting requirements apply for 4 years after a 3 year waiting period.
• 7 year wait for a 2nd home, cash out re-financing, or an investment property

Foreclosure with a Freddie Mac Loan

• 5 year wait from the completed foreclosure sale date
• 3 year wait if the borrower can show extenuating circumstances

Banks typically have the authority to lend to whoever they want but will generally follow the guidelines set forth by the above entities. There are some lenders of course that will take greater risks with some borrowers than others, but I think your best bet would be to keep building your credit rating until a few years has gone by, and then look into your eligibility for an FHA loan at that point.

If you still have questions or would like to keep us posted on your progress please use the comment section below. I am subscribed to this post and will always do my best to respond promptly. Good Luck!
Best regards,

Andy is a licensed real estate broker in Massachusetts and is the founder of Northeast Properties in Norton, Massachusetts. His brokerage is designed to help homeowners in today’s difficult real estate market, specializing in short sales. Andy speaks with Massachusetts homeowners every day, helping them to address their questions or issues with short sale or loan modification. He enjoys helping consumers arrive at the correct solution to their problem, and believes that the only way to correctly do that is by presenting them with all of their options in an un-biased manner.

If you have a mortgage, short sale, real estate, or loan modification question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.