Bankruptcy law sets a maximum dollar amount of protection for your recently-bought home, but this really applies only to certain states. Our last blog post a couple days ago was about protecting retirement funds in bankruptcy. Today’s is about protecting your home, specifically if you bought ... Read More »
Upcoming Increase in Federal Property Exemptions
The federal exemptions are nudging up about 3%. But that only matters if you are allowed to use them, and are higher than your state ones. States with Access to the Federal Exemptions This blog post is not for everyone. It’s only for the residents of 19 states—Alaska, Arkansas, ... Read More »
A Fresh Start by “Stripping” Your Second Mortgage
Stripping your second mortgage could give your home the very best fresh start by saving you a tremendous amount of money. If You Can’t Afford the Monthly Payments on Your Home Last week we compared three ways to save a home in which you’re behind on your mortgage payments: ... Read More »
A Fresh Start with a Mortgage Modification
Mortgage modification may reduce your monthly payments but not likely reduce your balance owed. So it costs less short-term, not long-term. Quick Definition A mortgage modification is a permanent restructuring of one or more of the terms of the mortgage intended to make it more affordable on a ... Read More »
Chapter 7 and Chapter 13–Too Much Equity in Your Home
Most homeowners contemplating bankruptcy have their home equity protected by their homestead exemption. If not, consider Chapter 13. The Homestead Exemption Throughout the U.S. people filing bankruptcy have the equity in their homes protected by homestead exemptions. A property ... Read More »
Making Sense of Bankruptcy: Does Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Better Protect Your Home?
Although either kind of bankruptcy will stop an approaching foreclosure, which one should you choose? Today’s blog post is summarized by this sentence: Generally, file a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” if it buys you enough time, and otherwise file a Chapter 13 ... Read More »
Making Sense of Bankruptcy: Protecting Your Home from Foreclosure with the “Automatic Stay”
Either Chapter 7 or 13 will stop a foreclosure, even if your lender unintentionally or purposely proceeds with the foreclosure sale. Here’s a one-sentence summary of today’s blog post: Bankruptcy’s “automatic stay” will stop a foreclosure, forcing your mortgage ... Read More »
