Can you get a new loan/home without reaffirming Ch 7 discharged mortgage(s)?

My husband & I filed Ch 7 BK (Connecticut) in 2009 after I lost my job in 2008 and our 1st & 2nd mortgages were discharged (our credit reports state as such, with no payment history since then - as expected). We did NOT REAFFIRM the debt and never planned to (why risk being liable again?) We moved out of the home and rented it out so we wouldn't lose it. The home has been tenant-occupied 100% of the time since 2009. What we make in rental income covers what we pay for both mortgages, so we're able to keep up with the payments & would prefer never to have to let it foreclose with the hopes to one day sell it and not be a short sale - we aren't expecting to make money on the deal, we just don't want to be short. In the meantime, we have awesome tenants who have over 2 years left on their lease. We moved down to SC in 2009 and are now trying to buy a new home.We are now being told (talking to Bank of America) that the underwriter will not work with us until we either reaffirm the debt or "give back the house to the bank" and therefore have to wait 3 years.So it begs the question - will every single reputable lender make this same request? Or is there a lender who will see our situation, run the numbers and trust we aren't doing the buy & ditch scenario (like I said, we have no intention of foreclosing on the existing home)?And it boggles my mind why would a lender want us to suddenly become personally liable for $164,000 of debt that we currently aren't responsible for. Give us more debt so you can grant us even more? Does that not make sense to anyone but us? And a part 2 question:If we do reaffirm so we can get a new mortgage, I found an interesting new(er - since 2008 apparently) rule that FHA has (and a conventional loan's rule is even stricter - only FHA works for us because we only have 3.5% for a down payment)... if you have 25% or less worth of equity in the existing home (true, the market turned down again so it is technically upside-down), you cannot count the rental income from that home as part of your total income to get approval for your new loan. In other words, if you're upside-down in the discharged/reaffirmed home, your income excluding rental income must be able to afford the new & existing mortgages.If this rule is for real & enforced, that's over $16,000 per year we wouldn't be able to count as income, and no way would our regular income alone afford all the mortgage payments... when in reality we CAN afford all the payments because of the rental income. I just don't want to reaffirm only to find out we don't financially qualify for a new home anyway. Thoughts? by wacreations293 from Columbia, South Carolina. Sep 17th 2014 Reply