Posted by Tom(MI) on March 21, 2004 at 10:38:15:
Well, hopefully your lawyer knows more about it than I do. I hope you get the slate cleaned for a new start. Good luck.
Going Bankrupt - Posted by Joe
Posted by Joe on March 20, 2004 at 14:49:52:
Had a business set back but I am back on my feet, but it looks like Im going to declare Chapter 7. I have questions about future RE investments.
Leaving BK, I should have one rental property (bought in 97) that has $10K in equity. I make about $110K per year and my wife makes $50-70K per year as a realtor.
How long until I can buy a property? or refinance my existing primary residence mortgage?
I appreacitate any feedback
Re: Going Bankrupt - Posted by Mark Williams
Posted by Mark Williams on March 29, 2004 at 04:40:18:
Joe:
I work with some conventional lenders who will finance you ONE DAY out of bankruptcy.
Mark
Re: Going Bankrupt - Posted by Peil
Posted by Peil on March 23, 2004 at 23:33:11:
I dont know your situation but a guy with a household income of 160k to 180k (you and your wife) i believe would make it really hard for you to claim chapter 7 unless you had a personal debt of like around 500K+ or somewhere around there, and even if you are allowed to claim bankrupty you will be getting letters from a ton of lawyers who are going to shout “fraud” and say “hey this guys making 110k a year, he can afford to pay us back” (take it from a guy who claimed bankruptcy at age 21) Of course i really didnt have a way to pay it back because i had no income, but i still got a few letters. Here I am 8 years later and the BK is still on my record 
Oh another thing about BK they dont tell you is, if you have any credit cards, even with zero balances, you can kiss those goodbye within 3 months of your BK. I tried to keep a few credit cards from my BK but soon as they found out…they canceled them. BEST case senerio is they lower your limit on your credit card to 250 dollars and charge you 24.99% interest. (one nice company did this to me when my limit was $4200. I had never missed a payment with that credit card company in 3 years and was never late either.) My advice is work something out with your creditors. Tell them you are going to claim bankruptcy unless you can work something out. Most of them would probably be willing to cut the debt down a bit or at least lower the interest rate if they know you are going to be filing for BK. You might have to have a lawyer write the letter otherwise any old joe could just call up their creditors and say that.
I guess what im saying is even though you will feel a great weight lifted off your shoulders the first year, you will regret claiming BK after that. I know i did. The ONLY regret i have in life is filing that BK. Good luck to you whatever path you choose,
Peil
How did you do that ? - Posted by Keith
Posted by Keith on March 20, 2004 at 18:57:24:
Just curious as to how you or your lawyer plan to structure your BK so that you end up keeping a rental property with 10K of equity after the BK. Are you sure the BK trustee isn’t going to want to seize that rental property along with any other asset he can get his hands on ?
Just curious,
Keith
Re: How did you do that ? - Posted by Joe
Posted by Joe on March 20, 2004 at 21:19:58:
Keith,
Good question – still learning about this process myself. In Michigan where I live, the law says you can keep up to $35k in home equity (primary residence) but if you don’t have equity in your house you and your spouse can take $9250 exemption each for any property (including RE). So I have about $18500 of property to protect in addition to personal affects and cars.
My biggest concern is that the trustee might not approve my BK because I have a high household income (over $150K) and a big house ($600k). I am thankful that BK is possible although I never dreamed I be heading there. I will learn from this lesson.
Re: How did you do that ? - Posted by Joe
Posted by Joe on March 20, 2004 at 21:12:16:
Keith,
I live in Michigan and the trustee could insist that I give up the rental property – never done this before. My lawyer says that if you don’t have any equity in your primary residence (I dont) that you and your spouse can take up to $9250 exemption. My biggest concern going into the bk process is that we have a high income ($150K) and an expensive home ($600k). According to my lawyer, the trustee might not like granting a chapter 7 to someone in a big house.
Re: How did you do that ? - Posted by Tom(MI)
Posted by Tom(MI) on March 20, 2004 at 23:02:44:
Joe, I have never heard of the 35k exemption in Michigan. I know you can either elect to take the federal exemption which is around $17,425 or the state exemption which I believe is $3,500 not 35k.
MICH BK Exemptions - Posted by joe
Posted by joe on March 20, 2004 at 23:13:43:
Tom,
I have a lawyer who only does BK law in michigan and Im only passing on what she tells me. From my discussion with my lawyer my understanding is that if there is no equity in the primary residence than the owner and spouse get an exemption of $9250 each. I hope I’m correct, but Ive prepared myself for anyting. I will be happy to get a clean start.
Re: MICH BK Exemptions - Posted by rm
Posted by rm on April 09, 2004 at 10:33:13:
Could you send me this atty’s contact info?
I work a lot with people who should be looking at BK.