How Soon Can You Buy a House After a Foreclosure?
Waiting periods to buy again after a foreclosure, short sale or deed in lieu under Fannie Mae, FHA, VA and USDA rules, and when the clock starts.
Losing a home to foreclosure doesn’t mean you can never own one again. Every major loan program lets borrowers come back after a waiting period, and most allow a shorter wait when the foreclosure was caused by something outside your control. This guide covers the waiting periods for conventional, FHA, VA and USDA loans, when the clock starts and how a short sale or deed in lieu compares if your house hasn’t been sold yet.
The waiting periods at a glance
These are the minimums each program sets. Meeting them makes you eligible to be considered. The lender still reviews your credit and decides whether it has recovered.
| Loan type | Standard wait after a foreclosure | With documented extenuating circumstances |
|---|---|---|
| Conventional (Fannie Mae) | 7 years | 3 years, with limits |
| FHA | 3 years | Lender may make an exception |
| VA | About 2 years | About 1 year |
| USDA | 3 years | Lender may weigh the circumstances |
“Extenuating circumstances” means a documented event you couldn’t control. FHA’s handbook gives a serious illness or the death of a wage earner as examples, and says divorce and being unable to sell after a job transfer don’t count.
Conventional loans: seven years, or three with a documented reason
A conventional loan that will be sold to Fannie Mae has to meet Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide. It requires seven years from the date the foreclosure was completed.
If you can document extenuating circumstances, the wait drops to three years, with limits that last until the seven years are up:
- The loan must be for a home you’ll live in as your principal residence. Second homes and investment properties have to wait the full seven years.
- The loan can be no more than 90% of the home’s value, so you’d need at least 10% down.
- Cash-out refinances aren’t allowed until the seven years have passed.
Fannie Mae also wants to see a traditional credit history rebuilt after the foreclosure. A thin credit file, or one built only on nontraditional credit like rent records, isn’t enough.
FHA loans: three years
FHA generally won’t insure a new mortgage if you had a foreclosure or a deed in lieu of foreclosure in the three years before your lender gets an FHA case number for the new loan. The three years start on the date ownership passed to the foreclosing lender, or the date of the deed in lieu.
A lender can make an exception for documented extenuating circumstances, as long as you’ve reestablished good credit since. FHA makes one narrow allowance for divorce: if your mortgage was current when you divorced, your ex-spouse kept the house and it was later foreclosed, an exception may be possible.
VA loans: usually about two years
VA’s underwriting rules say a past foreclosure doesn’t disqualify a veteran by itself. Lenders apply the same standards VA uses for bankruptcy:
- Within the last 12 months, it generally isn’t possible to qualify.
- Between one and two years, you generally need both new credit that you’ve paid as agreed over time and proof that the foreclosure was caused by something beyond your control, such as unemployment or uninsured medical bills.
- After about two years, those extra requirements generally fall away, though the lender still reviews your overall credit.
There’s a second issue if the foreclosed loan was a VA loan. If VA paid the lender a claim, the entitlement used on that loan can’t be restored until the government’s loss is repaid in full. Until then, you may only have your remaining entitlement to use on the new loan.
USDA loans: three years
USDA’s rules for its rural home loans treat a foreclosure completed in the 36 months before you apply as significant derogatory credit that needs further review. It isn’t an automatic denial. The lender can consider whether the problem was temporary, whether it was beyond your control and whether the new loan would significantly lower your housing costs.
Short sales and deeds in lieu usually mean a shorter wait
If your house hasn’t gone to a trustee’s sale yet, how it ends matters for how soon you can buy again:
- Fannie Mae requires four years after a short sale or a deed in lieu, or two years with documented extenuating circumstances, compared with seven after a foreclosure.
- FHA treats a deed in lieu like a foreclosure: three years. After a short sale the wait is also three years, but there’s no waiting period if every mortgage payment and every installment debt payment was made within the month it was due during the 12 months before the short sale.
- VA and USDA rules don’t set a separate period for short sales. The lender reviews your credit, including any late payments before the sale.
A regular sale that pays the loan off in full isn’t one of the events these rules list. The late payments before it still appear on your credit report, and lenders weigh them, but no foreclosure waiting period applies.
When the clock starts
Waiting periods run from the end of the process, not from your first missed payment. Fannie Mae counts from the date the foreclosure was completed, and FHA counts from the date title transferred. A foreclosure that drags on for months pushes the starting date back with it.
Credit reports don’t always show these dates clearly. If they don’t, lenders ask for documents such as the recorded deed or the short sale’s closing statement, so keep copies.
The foreclosure itself can stay on your credit report for up to seven years, like most negative information. For FHA, VA and USDA loans, that means you may be applying while it still shows.
Making the waiting period count
The wait goes faster if you use it. Pay every account on time, since each program looks for credit you’ve rebuilt since the foreclosure. Check your credit reports to make sure the foreclosure is reported with the right date, and dispute errors with the credit bureau. If you’re aiming for a conventional loan within seven years, plan for a down payment of at least 10%.
HUD funds free or low-cost housing counseling nationwide. You can find a HUD-approved counselor at hud.gov/findacounselor (opens in a new tab) or by calling (800) 569-4287.
If the foreclosure hasn’t happened yet
If you’re behind on payments but the house hasn’t been sold, you still have choices that can mean a shorter wait or none at all: catching up, a loan modification, a short sale or selling the house yourself. Our guides to every option when you’re behind on your mortgage and to short sales versus foreclosure walk through them.
If you have equity and selling makes sense, a sale before the trustee’s sale pays the loan off at closing. EZ Home Offer buys houses as-is for cash across Alameda County and can close in as little as 3 days once title is clear. A cash offer is usually below full market value, so compare it with what a listing could bring. Our page on selling a house facing foreclosure explains how that works.
Sources
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-5.3-07: Significant Derogatory Credit Events (opens in a new tab)
- HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (opens in a new tab)
- 38 CFR 36.4340: VA underwriting standards (opens in a new tab)
- 7 CFR 3555.151: USDA single-family housing loan eligibility (opens in a new tab)
- CFPB: How long does negative information remain on my credit report? (opens in a new tab)
General information about California rules as of October 3, 2026, not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws change and every situation is different, so check the details with an attorney, CPA or other professional.