The waiting periods
All of these run to the date your FHA case number is assigned, which is early in the process rather than at closing — so the clock you have to clear finishes sooner than the day you get keys.1
| What happened | Standard wait | Measured from |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 7 bankruptcy | 2 years | The discharge date |
| Chapter 13, still in the plan | 12 months of the plan elapsed | The start of the repayment period |
| Chapter 13, discharged | None | — |
| Foreclosure or deed-in-lieu | 3 years | The date title transferred |
| Short sale | 3 years | The date title transferred |
This is what people get wrong, and it usually costs them months.
Chapter 7 runs from discharge, not from filing. The case takes months to work through; only the discharge date counts.1
Foreclosure runs from the date title transferred, not from the day you stopped paying — and not from the notice of default, the sale date you were told about, or the day you moved out. Foreclosures often run a year or more behind the last payment, which means people routinely count from the wrong end and conclude they have longer to wait than they do.1
Chapter 13 is two different situations
People use one phrase for both, and the rules are not the same.
Still in the repayment plan. You may qualify once 12 months of the repayment period have elapsed, provided every required payment in the most recent 12 months was made on time and the bankruptcy court gives you written permission to enter the mortgage transaction. The file is manually underwritten.1
Discharged. No additional waiting period at all under the manual underwriting guidelines. If the discharge was less than two years before your case number is assigned, the file goes to manual underwriting even where the automated system returned an approval.1
The first of those surprises almost everybody. You do not have to be out of a Chapter 13 to buy a house.
The exceptions
Each of the standard periods has a documented route to a shorter one. They are not waivers you ask nicely for — they are evidence you assemble.1
- Chapter 7 at 12 months rather than two years, through manual underwriting, where documented circumstances beyond your control caused the bankruptcy and you have shown responsible financial management since.
- Foreclosure or deed-in-lieu inside three years, for documented circumstances beyond your control — serious illness, or the death of a wage earner — with credit reestablished since.
- Short sale inside three years, where all mortgage and instalment payments were made within the month they were due for the 12 months before the sale. Documented extenuating circumstances may also qualify.
Note what is common to all three: a reason outside your control, documented, plus a clean record since. A rough patch you can evidence is a different file from one you cannot.
What clearing the wait does, and what it does not
It establishes potential eligibility. That is all it does. Credit, income, assets, the property and every other FHA requirement still have to be met — and the lender has its own requirements on top, which is a separate matter entirely.1
That last part is worth pressing on. Plenty of lenders impose longer waits than FHA's out of their own caution. If you have been told four years after a foreclosure, or that a Chapter 13 has to be discharged and seasoned, ask whether that is HUD's rule or the company's own. The difference is often a year or two of your life.
Three documents worth finding now
- Your discharge order, which carries the date the clock started.
- The trustee's deed or deed-in-lieu, which carries the transfer date.
- The settlement statement from a short sale.
Bring those and we can tell you your date in one conversation, rather than guessing at it for another year. Sometimes the answer is that you are already eligible and nobody has told you.
Sources
These references support the factual explanations above. Where this page states a preference rather than a fact, it says so — those are our editorial judgement, not a claim that any one channel always costs less.
Next
Automated approval, manual underwritingA low score does not automatically mean manual underwriting. Plenty come back approved.What a 500–579 score costsIt changes the down payment and it shortens the list of lenders. It does not end the conversation.Bring us the hard part
Whatever you have — a decline letter, a discharge order, a date you are not sure of. We will tell you honestly where you stand, including the version where the answer is to come back in six months. That conversation is free and it is not an application.