Florida borrowers eligible for mortgage a year after foreclosure

Florida borrowers can receive a home loan only one year after a foreclosure, thanks to a state rule change announced last week.

Previously, the wait time was three years for a short sale and foreclosure, and two years for a bankruptcy. The wait is now the same for all of these. According to the Federal Housing Administration, borrowers are eligible if they went through a recession-era “economic event” that caused them to lose their house, by no fault of their own.

The wait begins the date of a final foreclosure auction, the discharge date on a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or the date of closing on a short sale. The new rule expires at the end of September 2016.

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“This is a pretty big event,” Alice Vickers, an attorney who represents the Florida Consumer Action Network, told the Palm Beach Post. “The housing bubble came about through no fault of consumers so it seems right to address this issue and allow them to more easily become homeowners again.”

Since 2007, more than 110,000 foreclosures have been filed in Palm Beach County. Across the state, about 340,000 foreclosures are pending. [Palm Beach Post]Mark Maurer