Bankruptcy or Foreclosure?

What you need to know about Derogatory Event waiting periods

By Therese A. Hartmann

A woman called me this morning needing help with her loan. It seemed like it was going to be a straightforward refinance since she was a W-2 employee, making a great salary with very little consumer debt. The refinance would save this woman over $600 a month so I was eager to get her loan going for her. However, in researching her property profile to get an idea on the value of her home, I noticed there had been a bankruptcy in 2015.

So, did this close the door on a new loan? The happy news is no, she will easily qualify!When we look at the waiting period for a “derogatory event” such as bankruptcies or foreclosures, you do need to take a look at the overall picture. Was the mortgage a government loan such as a VA, FHA or USDA loan? Was it a conventional Fannie or Freddie loan and if so, were there extenuating circumstances? If you, or someone you know, has had one of the following events, they can use this quick guide to determine eligibility to refinance or, buy a home:

· Foreclosure — Wait period is 7 years from date foreclosure was completed and transferred back to the bank if no extenuating circumstances.

· Foreclosure — Wait period is 3 years from foreclosure date if there is a down payment (or equity) of 10 percent and if there were extenuating circumstances.

· Bankruptcy Chapter 7 — When all debts have been discharged through bankruptcy, the wait period is only 4 years from discharge date or 2 years if there were extenuating circumstances

· Bankruptcy Chapter 13 — In this case, debts are paid back on a monthly scheduled payment plan. The waiting period is 2 years from discharged date or 4 years from dismissal date. Foreclosure waiting period for a conforming loan is typically seven years. However, when bankruptcy includes your foreclosure, you may qualify for a shorter waiting period. The key here is knowing if your foreclosure occurred before or after your bankruptcy. Different rules apply depending on those dates.

· The above information is based on a conventional loan (Fannie/Freddie) so if you have a government loan, the waiting period will be slightly less. Your best bet is to speak with a qualified loan officer to see what your options are as each case is different.

Therese A. Hartmann has 20 years’ lending experience. She is a Licensed Broker, California Dept. of Real Estate #01048403, NMLS # 298291, affiliated with C2 Financial Corporation. For a free consultation, call Therese today at (805) 798-2158.

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OJAI GARDEN MY

LESLIE LIPPINCOTT HIDLEY’S

In the past three days, I’ve become estranged from some important people in my life, gotten a poison pen letter from someone I deeply love, and had to sever a business relationship with yet another one — she’s had her last temper tantrum at me, by golly!

And no, it’s not my fault. This is Ojai ... the explanation is likely that Mercury is retrograde.

I will digress, but only apparently: the only thing worse than exercising authority you do not have is failing to exercise authority that you do. And confusing authority with power. If you fail to exercise your own authority, some dolt will move into the vacuum you’ve created and assume it for you, while you stand there like a mop, dithering. And the part of the neighborhood that you are responsible for will descend into chaos and disorder — if those are different.

If your brain is wired with something called “learned helplessness” — (look it up or ask an expert) — which is common to some victims of severe abuse, you will not even recognize your own authority, much less be able to exercise it. If that should change for some reason, you will be surprised. So will everybody else. These are the things that sometimes happen in complicated families. I have a pal, Scott Charles, a brilliant poet and a quick draw with a metaphor, who says that these problems are the junk drawer full of the electrical cords of unknown origin or value in every family.

After telling him my troubles today, I asked him, “What would you do? I’m by nature a cord-untangler.” He answered, “I have no family.” That’s a hell of an alternative, don’t you think?

I live in a nest in a live oak — a very very tall live oak — in a beautiful garden on North Ventura Street. I am awake before my other nestmates, as is usual. They are lazy and don’t get up till at least nine or ten. I am up and working by four a.m. at the latest. So much to do!

I have recently come out of a coma and resumed my place as Matriarch and Big Mouth of my family, which is why I find myself living in a tree with two strangers. You know what Czeslaw Milosz says: “When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished.” I over-email.

‘THE HARPIES NEST’

stationery.

My name is Elle. The other Harpies are Kay and Dee. We went through the expected chaos and nonsense of any triangle of women living together that the devil can devise and have now settled in to spring planting, the feeding of feral cats, writing more bestsellers, and making jewelry.

All three of us are in varying degrees of estranged from our kinfolk, for reasons that have put several psychiatrists’ kids through Harvard, and have settled into our little substitute, taking care of each other and ourselves in downtown Ojai. We live modestly. Kay lives on royalties from a best-seller, Dee is too circumspect to disclose, and I live on handouts from ex-hubands and relatives in a place that they no longer charge me for and on a little bit from writing.

We are very happy here. Like I said, the garden is very beautiful and where we really live. The house is inconvenient but almost has a kitchen and food is important to us. It is likely a substitute for the men lacking in our lives.

Two of us are old — Dee and I are in our seventies. But Kay is young and beautiful and I am on the look-out for a neurosurgeon who can dance and has nice table manners for her to marry. Contact the magazine if you know one. So I have been thinking and writing about family discord for the last few weeks – and if you think it’s not a serious matter but just squabbling at the dinner table, re-read the story of Cain and Abel. Mother Theresa — St. Theresa of Calcutta says, “If we’re supposed to love our enemies, just imagine how we’re supposed to treat our families.”

She also says, “If you want to save the world, go home and love your family.” She didn’t escape any of the problems of family life — she just enlarged them by being a nun and then founding an order of sisters. The problems possible in such an undertaking are unimaginable unless you’ve got Divine guidance.

The same for any family.

Even a family of Harpies.

‘Hope to see you next month with our news.

XXXOOO

Elle