During the boom, many homeowners took out home equity lines of credit (HELOC) and are now struggling to repay those loans plus their mortgage.  Can a debtor discharge their HELOC in Chapter 7 bankruptcy and keep their home?  The short answer is no.  A debtor can discharge the home equity loan in Chapter 7 bankruptcy but they cannot discharge it AND keep their home.  However, if a debtor would like to keep their home, they may be …

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… advice.  One of the worse pieces of advice given to debtors considering bankruptcy is to get a home equity loan.  That could be a big mistake.  Here a few reasons why getting a home equity loan to avoid bankruptcy might not be the right move for you:

Typically, you can’t use debt to get out of debt. Anyone who has filed bankruptcy can attest to that truth.  For most debtors considering bankruptcy, their financial troubles are caused by two problems, 1) lack of income and …

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Could your neighbor’s foreclosure affect your ability to resell you home even though you are not personally facing foreclosure?  Maybe. Many homeowners are finding that the large amounts of foreclosures in their neighborhood are having an indirect affect on their ability to resell their home at a profitable price or to break even.

When a mortgage lender has a home appraisal done, the value of that home is determined in part by what similar houses in the …

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If you’re in Chapter 13 bankruptcy and you want to sell your home, there are few things you need to know before you proceed:

The bankruptcy court must approve the terms of the sale before a debtor closes on the property.

The debtor’s bankruptcy attorney must notify all of the creditors in the bankruptcy before the property is sold.

You and your bankruptcy attorney must disclose the details of the proposed sale to both the …

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The Making Home Affordable foreclosure prevention plan was suppose to help millions of homeowners avoid foreclosure, however the foreclosure program has failed to attain it goals.  According to a Treasury Department report, 27 percent of homeowners taking part in mortgage modification trails are delinquent on their mortgage payments.  And while the foreclosure prevention plan was designed to help …

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According to an article in the Star-Telegram, the home buyer tax credits have been approved and are expected to be signed into law by President Obama. For first-time home buyers (or anyone who has not owned a home in the past 3 years), legislators extended a tax credit of up to $8,000 which was originally scheduled to expire at the end of the month and added another tax credit of up to $6500 for home buyers who have lived in their current home …

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… Star-Telegram, the Senate reached a compromise on extending the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers which was devised to combat the effects of the foreclosure crisis.

The article said:

“Under the Senate compromise, buyers must have sales agreements in hand by April 30, but they will have until June 30 to go to settlement, the sources said. The measure still faces votes in the full Senate and the House.”

Legislators also added a $6,500 tax credit for home buyers who are …

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… in the Dallas Morning News, the foreclosure crisis is still depressing Dallas- Fort Worth home prices, which have decreased 1.2 percent in August from a year ago.  Many analysts are considering that an improvement. However, before the foreclosure crisis, Dallas-Fort Worth home prices had reached their peak in June 2007 and have declined by 4 percent since then.  Nationwide, homes prices are down 11.3 percent from a year ago, and some cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Detroit …

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Using your home as an ATM to pay off your credit card debt could be a huge mistake.  When you take the equity out of your home to repay credit card debt, you are in effect turning an unsecured loan (credit card debt) into a secured loan (home equity loan).  Remember, a debt collector pursuing you for payment of credit card debt cannot attach your assets without a filing a lawsuit against you and winning a …

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… homes to their debts hoping that they can avoid bankruptcy.  But cashing out the equity in your home to repay debt may be a huge mistake here’s why:

When you cash out equity in your home to pay debt, you put your home at risk for foreclosure.  If you can’t repay that equity loan, the lender could foreclose.  And even if you were able to make payments on the loan, you may not be able to cover the cost of the mortgage (plus the equity loan) when you want to …

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According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, the Commerce Department reported that new home sales have dropped in September by 3.6 percent.  Some analysts expect that the drop off in sales is a result of potential homebuyers delaying their decision to buy a home due to the expiring tax credit which will end November 30, 2009.

The article said:

“It has been taking longer to close a transaction this year because it’s taking longer to get approved for a mortgage and to …

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… It seems as if Erickson’s creditors were willing to squeeze every dime out of the retirement home, even if it meant that the residents went without the essentials and with probably no way to recoup the money they poured into the development under the belief that they were investing in a secure retirement home. Without the Erickson bankruptcy filing we may have read a very different story highlighting the massive losses suffered by 23,000 retired residents. Hopefully with the Erickson …

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