How do I Save my Home in Bankruptcy ?

Our home is our most important asset of all that we own. It represents everything from our personal taste to our financial and economical position as well as is deeply entwined with our sentiments and emotions. So by all means, securing our home is always a priority for us. When you are considering filing for bankruptcy, the security of your home is one of the vital doubts that are bound to come in your mind. Losing your house in any ways- be it through foreclosure or selling it to pay your creditors through a trustee, is not desirable. So what can you do to save your house? Do keep in mind that while you may be able to keep your house in some way or the other, whether you can maintain it in the long run is actually the factor to be considered.

Can I keep my house if I file for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy ?

If your house’s equity is exempt and you can afford the necessary payments then you can keep your house. However if there is some amount of non exempt equity in your home, keep chapter 13 bankruptcy in consideration as well. It is less than likely that you have some nonexempt equity on your house and the trustee is not going to attempt to sell off your house to pay the creditors.

Saving your house and the automatic stay :

The automatic stay will give you temporary relief from the lenders as they will be prevented from carrying on with the foreclosure proceedings under the court’s order of the automatic stay. The lender can appeal to the court for removal of the automatic stay and the court may accept that in case you are behind your payments which will eventually lead to losing your home.

Consider chapter 13 instead of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy :

Chapter 13 or Repayment plan bankruptcy is designed so that you can repay a portion of your debt through a plan of three to five years. This way you do not need to sell any of your property to afford the payment and hence keep your home.

Some other ways where you can save your home during bankruptcy :

Consider contacting your lender and discuss on entering into a reaffirmation agreement for your home. Reaffirmation agreement is like a contract between the lender and debtor by virtue of which the debtor can keep his or her home in lieu of regular payments of mortgage related loans in the future.

Conclusion:

If you are indebted to the verge of losing your house, it is high time to put a check on your financial issues. If you cannot afford to maintain your house, however difficult the decision may sound, you should actually consider selling it. The house is an asset that has a lot of attachments with our life and losing it will definitely bring a huge change in one’s life. Contact your lawyers for the best advices on this issue in further details.